Windows 8 Next Up in Apple"s Android War?
Before he died, when talking about Google's mobile operating system, Steve Jobs told his biographer that Android was "grand theft" and warned that he was willing "to go thermonuclear war on this".
After Apple won its recent "war" last week with Samsung however, there has been no call to arms nor any indication that the company and its coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Google, at least not implicitly.
Instead, Apple have a global mission to sue product makers like Samsung, which was hit with a claim of just over US$1 billion in damages in Apple's US patent infringement case against them.
Now that Google is making its own devices through the acquisition of Motorola Mobility, it may now be a different story. But one wonders what would happen if Apple really did go to war with Google and ended up harming its own products by Google retaliating and removing certain features from the iPhone. The lines of battle would then be drawn, perhaps leaving Microsoft to pick up the spoils of battle.
Last week the jury decided that several of Samsung's mobile devices had infringed Apple's software and design patents used to display text and icons. Samsung said it would appeal against the verdict handed down by the jurors in Judge Lucy Koh's courtroom and announced it "a loss for the American consumer," adding "it will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices."
As soon as the verdict was out, certain pundits were crying "conspiracy" and that it was really a US vs PRK battle. But interestingly, the federal district judge in the case is a Korean-American, who was more than likely selected not because of her origins but that she had formerly been a patent litigator.
Meanwhile, as the case was being heard, a Seoul Central District Court fined both Apple and Samsung, ruling that each infringed the other's patents and banned some of their products from sale in Korea.
A patent attorney in the peninsula, Jeong Woo-sung, said: "This is basically Samsung's victory on its home territory," which sounds like it has nationalistic overtones, but that never was the reason for the case being heard.
Mr Woo-sung went on to add: "Out of nine countries [including the Netherlands, France, Italy and Germany], Samsung got the ruling that it wanted for the first time in South Korea." Nam Ki-yung, a spokesman for Samsung, said: "Today's ruling also affirmed our position that one single company cannot monopolise generic design features."
But in the US, in a case where smartphones contain between 10 and 20 thousand patents, it was curious that the jury found Samsung's devices had copied Apple's design, bounce-back feature and the ability to zoom, tap and pinch.
As Forbes magazine put it: "Design is not invention. It arises from a common pool of creativity. I happen to think Apple's icon designs are superlative...take a close look at Opel, which are as similar to BMW as Audi are to Mercedes and not just because Opel designers finally know how to do curves..."
As Samsung quite rightly added before it cried "appeal", it was "unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners."
The jurors, after facing over 700 questions on sometimes highly technical matters, returned a verdict that Samsung infringed on Apple's patents and awarded the company more than US$1 billion in damages.
An Apple spokeswoman applauded the court for sending a "clear message that stealing isn't right." However, it may well have won a decisive victory in its epic lawsuit against Samsung, but this verdict could give Apple ample ammunition to seek out more prey, which could turn out to be none other than the search titan Google.
Google released a statement following the verdict saying the claims brought against Samsung were not directly related to the "core" of its Android operating system. But if Samsung loses its appeal and the market takes a negative view that Android is associated with Samsung's "stolen" products, Microsoft could hunker down in this smoke-filled wasteland and come out of the smartphone shadows to challenge both iOS and Android with Windows 8.
Samsung has already unveiled their powerful new Windows tablet running Windows 8, and with Ate by its side, cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war.
After Apple won its recent "war" last week with Samsung however, there has been no call to arms nor any indication that the company and its coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Google, at least not implicitly.
Instead, Apple have a global mission to sue product makers like Samsung, which was hit with a claim of just over US$1 billion in damages in Apple's US patent infringement case against them.
Now that Google is making its own devices through the acquisition of Motorola Mobility, it may now be a different story. But one wonders what would happen if Apple really did go to war with Google and ended up harming its own products by Google retaliating and removing certain features from the iPhone. The lines of battle would then be drawn, perhaps leaving Microsoft to pick up the spoils of battle.
Last week the jury decided that several of Samsung's mobile devices had infringed Apple's software and design patents used to display text and icons. Samsung said it would appeal against the verdict handed down by the jurors in Judge Lucy Koh's courtroom and announced it "a loss for the American consumer," adding "it will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices."
As soon as the verdict was out, certain pundits were crying "conspiracy" and that it was really a US vs PRK battle. But interestingly, the federal district judge in the case is a Korean-American, who was more than likely selected not because of her origins but that she had formerly been a patent litigator.
Meanwhile, as the case was being heard, a Seoul Central District Court fined both Apple and Samsung, ruling that each infringed the other's patents and banned some of their products from sale in Korea.
A patent attorney in the peninsula, Jeong Woo-sung, said: "This is basically Samsung's victory on its home territory," which sounds like it has nationalistic overtones, but that never was the reason for the case being heard.
Mr Woo-sung went on to add: "Out of nine countries [including the Netherlands, France, Italy and Germany], Samsung got the ruling that it wanted for the first time in South Korea." Nam Ki-yung, a spokesman for Samsung, said: "Today's ruling also affirmed our position that one single company cannot monopolise generic design features."
But in the US, in a case where smartphones contain between 10 and 20 thousand patents, it was curious that the jury found Samsung's devices had copied Apple's design, bounce-back feature and the ability to zoom, tap and pinch.
As Forbes magazine put it: "Design is not invention. It arises from a common pool of creativity. I happen to think Apple's icon designs are superlative...take a close look at Opel, which are as similar to BMW as Audi are to Mercedes and not just because Opel designers finally know how to do curves..."
As Samsung quite rightly added before it cried "appeal", it was "unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners."
The jurors, after facing over 700 questions on sometimes highly technical matters, returned a verdict that Samsung infringed on Apple's patents and awarded the company more than US$1 billion in damages.
An Apple spokeswoman applauded the court for sending a "clear message that stealing isn't right." However, it may well have won a decisive victory in its epic lawsuit against Samsung, but this verdict could give Apple ample ammunition to seek out more prey, which could turn out to be none other than the search titan Google.
Google released a statement following the verdict saying the claims brought against Samsung were not directly related to the "core" of its Android operating system. But if Samsung loses its appeal and the market takes a negative view that Android is associated with Samsung's "stolen" products, Microsoft could hunker down in this smoke-filled wasteland and come out of the smartphone shadows to challenge both iOS and Android with Windows 8.
Samsung has already unveiled their powerful new Windows tablet running Windows 8, and with Ate by its side, cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war.
