Disclaimer: This article is my opinion only and not the opinion of Windows8Update.com. If you want to yell at anyone, yell at me. Reading tech news is like reading about politics, especially when the news is about Apple and other tech companies. You have Apple making allegations about companies stealing their patents then you have companies that fight back and say Apple stole their patents. Recently it’s been between Samsung and Apple. Apple claims that Samsung is using their patents and wants Samsung to stop and pay them 2.5B dollars. A Cnet article writes: “Drilling down the price tag per unit, $2.02 covers the “overscroll bounce” technology cited in the ‘318 patent. That technology lets users know when they’ve reached the bottom of a screen or list by responding with a bounce. Another $3.10 covers the “scrolling API” technology from the ‘915 patent. Another $2.02 is for the “tap to zoom and navigate” feature from the ‘163 patent. And finally, $24 covers the use of any of Apple’s “design patents or trade dress rights.” Overall that means the damages cover both design and technology, but the bulk of the $2.5 billion is more about design.” In an article from The Wall Street Journal you have Samsung that says they will prove that Apple stole patents from them and that they in fact have a document from 2006 that “show rectangular phones with rounded corners, large displays, flat front faces, and graphic interfaces with icons with grid layouts.” Also “Prior to the iPhone‘s announcement in January 2007, Samsung was already developing numerous products and models with the same design features that Apple now claims were copied from the iPhone. In the summer of 2006, Samsung began designing its next generation of mobile phones, based on the market trend of ever-increasing screen size. At that time, Samsung‘s designers envisioned a basic design: a simple, rounded rectangular body dominated by a display screen with a single physical button on the face.” “As . . . documents confirm, Samsung independently developed the allegedly copied design features months before Apple had even announced the iPhone. It did not switch its design direction because of the iPhone.” Apple uses Samsung technologies in their iPhone and iPad. Apple uses Samsung flash memory, main memory and application processor. Apple also uses “standards-essential technology required for Apple‘s products to interact with products from other manufacturers, and several device features that Samsung developed for use in its products.” This technology Apple hasn’t paid for. Samsung has all the major players in a cross platform patent deal except Apple. This I think makes Apple look bad. Personally if I were the CEO of Samsung I’d see if I could get out of the contract I have with Apple and then do to Apple what they do to others and sue to stop the construction of iPads and iPhones. Apple wants to be the Microsoft of mobile and they were for a while, but now they’re not, there is a lot of competition out there so Apple should live with it and try and beat the competition by making better products, not these scare tactics. When it comes down to it if they got Samsung, HTC and other companies to stop making Android phones they’d still have to deal with Google who owns Motorola and Google is a big dog with deep pockets and that’s why Apple is going after the smaller companies. They know if they go after Google it would be bloody blow after bloody blow and Apple would come out with far worse than a black eye. Also when Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 come out they’ll have more competition. Windows Phone does a lot of the things that Apple is suing over but like Apple won’t go after Google I don’t think they’d go after Microsoft. Maybe making Surface is not only to show other Microsoft Developers what they’d like in a tablet, but also as a warning to Apple “we can make our own hardware too, so watch out who you sue”. If Apple goes after companies that make Windows Phone’s then Microsoft might be pushed into making their own phone and if they push Google and Microsoft into making their own hardware that would not be good for Apple. I don’t think it’ll come to that though, if Samsung has the evidence they say they have this law suit is dead in the water for Apple. I think this is a last ditch effort for Apple because if they lose this then I don’t think they can sue Samsung for anything else, plus it will make Apple look bad in any new suites they bring on. Even die hard Apple lovers like Leo Leporte are saying Apple is going too far with these suites. I’m not saying I want Apple out of the handheld business, but if they keep these junk law suites up someone will have to teach them a lesson and if by doing gets them out of the handheld market, then so be it. No one company not Apple, Google, or Microsoft should bully other companies like Apple is doing. I think it’s spineless and wrong. What do you think? Do you side with Apple or Samsung? What do you think should happen?]]>
I used to love Apple products but now I hate them because of these lawsuits. It’s becoming too much