Apple Vs Samsung legal tangle is indeed shaping the smartphone battlefield but it is not healthy if dominance of only one giant in the mobile device market prevails as it leaves a little choice for consumers. Although it will push other mobile phone makers to go back to their drawing boards and bring in some innovating and superb ideas incorporated in their future devices.
Apple winning the $ 1.05 Billion lawsuit against the Korean giant could also be attributed to the fact that they have a home advantage as the verdict was given by an American court. But the fact is that Apple’s claims of ‘infringement’ was not proved in courts of European and Asian countries. Apple is not only targeting the Korean company but it is also taking a shot at Google’s Android OS platform and manufacturers using it in order to gain complete dominance over smartphones and tablets market. But the dispute and is not going to get over soon. Samsung does not need to sign a billion dollars check anytime soon. The company is determined to appeal in a higher courts against the verdict .
Looking at the history of world’s most valuable company you might get a glimpse of what I call it as bullying. What they try to do is to spread the message that steer clear of their designs or face the possibility of a lawsuit. Three decades back they tried to prove that earlier versions of Windows uses their designs, although they lost the battle to their adversary Microsoft. They are also trying to bring down Google’s open source Android OS . According to Apple Android OS uses many of the features of their close gardening mobile OS. Some of the features like inertial scrolling, slide lock, speech recognition etc. Even Apple is bringing out new apps and services which will reduce their dependence on similar services by Google which include their own maps and navigation systems . Earlier Apple products used Google Maps as default application.
Coming back to the overtalked Apple-Samsung war and the hype around its impact on future devices one must not overlook Apple-Samsung relations and their collaborations. The American giant is ironically very much dependant on the Korean manufacturer for supplying them with screen, IC’s and other hardware components. Apple is the biggest customer of Samsung made mobile components. Unlike his predecessor, Tim Cook is not interested in ruining his company’s relations with their major supplier owing to the fact that they are each others biggest rivals. Neither Apple nor Samsung wants to lose their revenues.
Samsung’s 30.60% share in smartphone segment is the largest and its closest rival Apple grosses in a distant 24.10% which is still huge. Both the giants are trying to eat into each others business, either by bringing out new designs and products or by dragging each other into courtrooms around the world.
In my view these patent wars would not be of much help to Apple in the long run. With the launch of Apple iPhone 5 it is clear that Apple is not investing in new ideas (after the Steve Job demise) and the Iphone 4, 4S and 5 have not much difference among them. Other manufacturers should not rely on Apple’s ideas anymore and should rather come up with their own innovations in mobile phones segment.
The bottom line is that these patent wars would have little impact on future mobile device dominance. It should be left to consumers to decide who wins the battle, because they are the ultimate jurors.
No comments:
Post a Comment