Apple's Schiller Suggests Galaxy S "Weakened The View That The World Has For Apple"
This week Apple and Samsung are back in court to further speak on the former's patent case against the latter. Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, went to the stand this week to speak up on a variety of topics, not least of all the effect Samsung's smartphone and tablet brands have had on Apple's products and product sales. Schiller was questioned by Apple's lead attorney as well as Samsung's attorney Bill Price.
Questioned by Samsung's Bill Price, Schiller was asked if Apple doesn't "own a patent on a product being beautiful or sexy," or if "Apple doesn't own the right to preclude the design of its software." Replying to this line of questioning, Schiller suggested that he did not know "which Samsung devices are allowed to copy [Apple's] devices and which ones aren't".
It was at this point that Schiller was asked by Price if Samsung had the right to sell the tablet he held aloft. According to AllThingsD's Ina Fried, Schiller replied:
"I can't tell. From here it looks like an iPad."
According to the Wall Street Journal, it was a 10-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab. Schiller was also pressed by Price on the idea that tech companies often mimic rival products. Price suggested -in so many words – that the iPad mini was produced to respond to a 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab device.
Responding to the idea that Apple created the smaller tablet only to respond to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7-inch table (any of them, at that), Schiller said that developing the iPad mini "wasn't about the competition." He went on to suggest that the iPad mini only began as an experiment to see if Apple would have been able to successfully maintain what they'd driven home with the iPad on a smaller display.
Questioned by Apple's lead attorney on the first Samsung Galaxy S, Schiller made clear that the device was not seen as an everyday passerby. When the Samsung Galaxy S was first shown to Schiller, he said, "I was quite shocked. They went and copied the iPhone."
Schiller went on to suggest that Samsung's release of the Galaxy S "weakens the view that the world has for Apple." He said also that what was described as a similar-looking device had consumers "question our innovation and design skills in a way that people never used to."
This case is far from over. According to IDG News Service senior correspondent Martyn Williams, Judge Koh (in charge of this case) expressed as much. Koh suggested today to lawyers in the courtroom: "I'm well aware that everything I've done on this case is going to be appealed."