It’s a huge victory for Apple, make no mistake. Vindication of their assertion, and fulfillment of Steve’s promise at the 2007 announcement: “We’ve patented the hell out of this thing and we’re going to defend it.”
The emerging narrative is this: while Samsung mostly escaped sanction on tablets and newer phones, they got seal-clubbed with regard to the earlier phones. Especially with TouchWiz, their own proprietary UI, they made the deliberate decision to imitate Apple as best they could in order to close the gap with Apple as quickly as possible. And in doing so, they gained an advantage over companies that didn’t go that route. In short, Samsung’s position as the leading Android device maker was jumpstarted by the wholesale plagiarism of Apple’s intellectual property.
As stories go, it hangs together pretty well, makes sense, and fits with Samsung’s track record in phones where imitation has always been the sincerest form of stealing a march. (“Blackjack” and “Blade” for Blackberry and RAZR, again.) And as some are already saying, if it costs Samsung a billion dollars and an injunction on their old hardware AND a few bucks on subsequent devices, that may prove to be a price worth paying for the undisputed lead in Android devices.
Of course, Apple has a hundred billion in the bank. It’s less about the money – or the future earnings – than the pride of place. Apple asserts that they changed the world and that Samsung only got close by ripping them off. Vindication in a court of law is probably worth more to Hisself than any money at this point – and would certainly have been most important to Himself.
Meanwhile, it looks like the event in September will be followed by one in October. Others got to the 7-8 inch form factor first, and Amazon and Google (with Asus) finally made it viable, but if Apple really is jumping in, they’ll have to make it worthwhile.
On current form, I wouldn’t bet against them.