Report: Apple used distorted Galaxy Tab image in tablets spat

[Ben]

Oh dear. I'm not sure if this is amateur or just Apple being underhanded, but the image does rather speak for itself.

http://blog.webwereld.nl/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Apples-Flawed-Evidence.jpg


Apple has been accused of underhand tactics in its legal efforts to block shipments of Samsung’s latest Galaxy Tab, by allegedly attempting to make the Samsung device look more like its own iPad in legal documents. MocoNews reports that a Dutch IT publication, WebWereld, examined one of the images in Apple’s EU complaint and found that the picture of the Galaxy Tab had been made to look wider than it really appears and had been cropped, which brought it more in line with the iPad. It claims that the aspect ratio of the 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab is actually 1.46, but in the picture used in the complaint it appeared to be 1.30. See images here.

Apple has been successful in obtaining injunctions against the rival Samsung tablet in Australia and most EU countries, blocking the vendor from shipping the Galaxy Tab 10.1 into these markets until the legal dispute is resolved. It alleges that Samsung’s tablet infringes ten patents used in Apple's iPad, including – unusually for a patents case – some that cover the “look and feel” of the device.

Launching its action in the US last April, Apple accused Samsung of choosing to “slavishly copy Apple’s innovative technology, distinctive user interfaces, and elegant and distinctive product and packaging design.” Samsung has countersued Apple in several markets and is expected to appeal against Apple’s inunctions.

MocoNews notes that, while there is no suggestion that Apple manipulated the images on purpose, the doctored images could give Samsung some "ammunition" in the dispute.
http://www.mobilebusinessbriefing.com/articles/report-apple-used-distorted-galaxy-tab-image-in-tablets-spat/16868/

[miffed]

I can't help thinking that Apple trying to block the sale of the Tab on the grounds that it is "too similar" to the iPad , is the best bit of positive marketing Samsung will ever achieve !

[Ben]

"Samsung Galaxy Tab. Such a good copy, Apple don't want you to have it!"

[DaveC]

If the ban get's overturned I think a good advertising slogan would be something like - "The Tablet the Apple did not want you to have"

[3GScottishUser]

Excellent .... Samsung should use that slogan or one which puts folks in touch with the fear Apple have about competition and the lengths they will go to to prevent it. The Tab is the tablet Apple don't want you to have is 100% right!

It's far from a copy as it has proper connectivity for USB etc and has an entireley different operating system.

Good news is that the German court has decided to suspend the ruling banning the sales of Galaxy Tabs and questions how appropriate the ban was in the first place.

So now folks have a choice which is good news not just for current customers but for future customers who can benefit from new innovation and refinements on tablets.

Apple have been playing hard ball trying to protect a market that they kind of refined for themselves re tablets but they might just find their efforts to force customers to consider only their product may backfire as few people have respect for companies that attempt to restrict consumer options.

[Ben]

I really don't think Apple are petty or stupid enough to think they can stifle tablet competition. They do have genuine beef with Samsung, as has already been discussed. This particularly excellent post from DBMandrake goes into detail. https://talk3g.co.uk/showthread.php?8987-Apple-blocks-Samsung-Galaxy-Tab-10.1-in-EU-with-Legal-Action&p=43485#post43485

Here's the link re: the suspension of the ruling, btw: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14548895

[3GScottishUser]

Poor Apple are caught between a rock and a hard place.

They can't hold on to the tablet market indefinately and are trying their best to stop competition.

Bad move I think as legisilators will back competition to promote innovation and price reduction allowing the technology to become accessable to the widest market.

Apple have done well with iPad and iPhone but their high margin pricing that has provided them with huge profits and revenues won't gain them any sympathy and just like the overpriced Mac their products have more than delivered more than thier development cost and a generous profit margin. Others have to be able to compete and extend the market whether that affects Apple sales.

Lets see what the cusotmers decide given the choice, especially when Apple's compeditors pitch with similarly priced products.

[miffed]

I agree Apple will have only dominated the market so far because everyone else's tablets have been utter sh*te so far .... If this ever changes they'll have to watch their backs ! I am sure they are suitably worried.

[Hands0n]

Sitting here with an iPad and an Asus Eee Pad Transformer with the latest Android 3.2 Honeycomb, also having handled the Motorola Xoom, I think that I can very safely say that Apple have absolutely nothing to worry their heads about at the moment. Android tablets are excellent hardware, gorgeous even, but utterly pants in the OS. Honeycomb 3.2, like 3.1 before it, is dire. Yes, it is pretty and has a lot of potential, but there are so many aspects of the OS that make it feel like a version 1.01 of a brand new OS. The great white hope is supposedly in Ice Cream Sandwich that promises unification between smartphone and tablet, and fixes to all of the 3.x issues. A shame really, because it is leaving the game wide open for Apple and that is doing the latter no harm in entrenching itself in the psyche of the buying public and corporates.

It took Android a few years to get up sufficient steam to take on iOS, and then Apple are still officially recorded as the largest single Smartphone manufacturer on the planet right now. The crown that Nokia once wore. There is no single Android smartphone manufacturer that is even close, yet. Right now, the same is true on an epic scale for tablets.

Returning to the topic of this thread - if Apple really have committed this action it is more than likely the fault of one or more over zealous employees. I can't imagine that it is corporate policy. The bad press that this is causing them will be a serious embarrassment and won't be tolerated by the firm who are very protective of their reputation.

These patent wars are turning out to be no good for anyone.

[miffed]

Let's see what the customers decide given the choice, especially when Apple's compeditors pitch with similarly priced products.

Interesting ! Have the hate brigade dropped this notion that Android / Competitor's tabs are going to be similarly specced at a fraction of the price ? - At least thats one good thing then because that was just silly .

[Ben]

These patent wars are turning out to be no good for anyone.
HTC just slapped Apple with 3 more infringements via a court in Delaware. Where's it all going to end, eh?

I wouldn't have thought any of the companies involved were too worried about the actual impacts of the actions until Samsung found that it couldn't sell the 10.1 in Europe! That will have surely raised the profile of all these patent spats within the big brands. I'm worried that, far from stifling innovation, the actual process of engaging in the now extremely complex web of lawsuits will ultimately distract top management of players including Apple and result in missed deadlines and poorer quality products for the buying public.

Excuse me for a moment, I just need to dribble over my iPad 2 for a bit.

[DBMandrake]

I can't help but wonder whether the fact that Apple (and to a lesser extent other big, news worthy tech companies such as Google) are involved in these patent disputes is the only reason they get any coverage in the press. This coverage makes it seem as if patent lawsuits like these are an unusual and newsworthy events.

I think the reality is that in corporate America (and for those foreign companies who choose to play in this space) patent litigation like this constantly flying back and forth between an array of different companies is (sadly) a normal part of doing business, much like paying taxes or hiring and compensating employees. I remember seeing a Venn diagram a few months ago showing that most big tech companies in this space were suing or being sued by at least one of the others at any given time. :D

Companies treat patent portfolios as ammunition in a war of bluffs and mutually assured destruction. If you think you might be violating someone else's patent and that they're likely to come after you, it doesn't matter - buy a few billion worth of other patents that you think they might be violating and threaten them back! The end goal is often not to prevent sale of a competitors product (this is mainly used as a threat) but to either ensure royalty payments, or cross licensing.

One need look no further than Apple vs Samsung to see how "normal" these sort of litigations are - on the one hand Apple are suing Samsung claiming their Galaxy Tab is a copy of the iPad, and yet Apple is one of Samsung's biggest customers (if not the biggest) for components like Flash memory, ARM based CPU's, and so on, which are essential to make iPhone's and iPad's. Without Samsung, Apple can't make these products as there is no other supplier that can currently make sufficient quantities to meet Apple's demands. (Although others are ramping up)

One might argue that Samsung's importance in Apple's supply chain might have been a factor in emboldening them into making somewhat more blatant copies than other manufacturers, on the assumption that Apple wouldn't sue one of their major suppliers but if so, that gamble didn't pay off...

On the face of it it would seem to be an incredibly stupid thing for Apple to do - sue the company supplying key components of your own products when no suitable second source (with enough quantity) is currently available. On the other hand, Samsung are hardly going to want to lose their biggest customer if Apple do get pissed off enough, and unlike some other companies that are more bottom line focused, Steve Jobs led Apple has a history of taking its ball and going home, and reacting quite vindictively towards those who it believes have screwed them over.

It will be interesting to see whether this blows over with Samsung just releasing a slightly less iPad-like tablet, or whether it is the beginning of the end between Apple and Samsung, with Apple gradually moving their component sourcing elsewhere, when and as they can...

[Ben]

Indeed, I'm also surprised Apple is still using Samsung for supply. There are plenty of stories of other manufacturers getting their fingers in, but Apple does seem rather happy with Samsung as a supplier for the time being.

I'm also surprised Apple has continued its relationship with Google for search and maps.

Why? Because as DBMandrake mentions, Steve Jobs is a vindictive SOAB and a few year ago one can imagine him being far more forceful. Now, things have been left to legal wrangling, which again as DBMandrake points out isn't necessarily unusual in the slightest. Perhaps these things, and the conspicuous absence of a new iPhone, are signs of Jobs' leave of absence affecting the company as a whole.