Friday, September 14, 2012

Hey Apple: Imitation Is The Surest Form Of Flatery

Recently Apple won a lawsuit against Samsung claiming that they had stolen Apple's technology.  There are lots of problems with this, which I am not going to tackle, but there is something I head about this that is kind of funny.  According to a report on Marketplace on NPR yesterday, news of this suit has actually helped Samsung's sales rather than hurt them.  How?

Well people have heard that Apple claims that Samsung's phones and tablets are just like Apple's and so rather than spending a lot more money they are instead deciding to buy Samsung instead.  There are people who have to own "Apple" but they are by far the minority.  Most people want good technology at a reasonable price, and therefore don't care that it doesn't have a certain logo on it.

Therefore if Apple wants to claim in court that Samsung is just like the Apple, and the jury says they are right, then for consumers who want that technology but don't want to pay for the name, they now have an alternative and they are taking it.  According to the report for many retailers Samsung's Galaxy 3 is now outselling the Iphone. What's even worse is that the phones that Apple didn't like are older models that will be phased out soon anyways.

This case is far from over, as the appeals process has yet to begin, and Apple must also deal with the fact, or maybe Samsung should, that Apple is Samsung's biggest customer for modile-device components.  Oh what strange tangled webs we weave.

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