All Things D — the people who host the D: All Things D conference — have managed to get their hands on three pictures Apple is presenting in court in the much-hyped Apple vs. Samsung trial. The pictures are timelines of Samsung’s products before and after the iPhone’s release in 2007, as well as a timeline of Samsung tablets before and after the iPad. From the pictures, it is plain to see that Samsung changed their smartphone strategy, from keyboards — RIM-style — to full-front touchscreens — Apple-style while Samsung’s tablet strategy — non-existent pre-iPad — sprung into life with iPad-like tablets.
The smartphone change wasn’t instant, however, with Samsung phones continuing to have keyboards up until around the release of the iPhone 3GS. This makes sense. A while back, Engadget did a piece (in their popular Distro) on how long it takes to bring a smartphone to the market, using Motorola’s Atrix as the example. Engadget discovered it takes roughly a year (sometimes 18 months) to design, manufacture and convince carriers to take the phone. Then, it is released to the public. When the original iPhone was released, many discounted it as a poor product which would fail. Keyboards were what people wanted on a smartphone, they said. Outrage ensued; Apple couldn’t just float into the already-formed phone business and expect instant success. Except, that’s (partly) what they’ve achieved. Not instant — it took Apple around 5 years to really, truly embed themselves into the business, but they’re here to stay. If the year to make a smartphone analysis was true, then Samsung started designing such phones as the Jet (S8000), Omnia HD etc. when the iPhone 3G was released. To me, this supports the claim. Samsung had seen that people wanted the iPhone. The fact that Apple was bothering to release another one showed them that demand was high — Apple is notorious for dropping failed/failing products quickly, especially in the second coming of Steve Jobs. So, the cogs got turning and things started moving until these phones were made available. Then, Apple released the iPhone 3GS. The phone that really anchored Apple’s success. And, true to form, a year later — almost to the day — the Samsung Galaxy S was unveiled. Touting Android and very similar specs to the iPhone 4 (released earlier the same month), Samsung planted themselves as Apple’s competitors. In a year, Samsung had gone from small-screen-and-keyboard phones, to a big-glass-screens-and-no-keyboard phones. How odd, where did they get that idea?
Apple understands exactly what Samsung have done. Here is a quote from Apple’s lawyers concerning the Samsung Galaxy S devices, as well as their Galaxy Tab devices:
“Samsung chose to copy Apple, not to innovate,” [...]“The message that Samsung conveys to consumers with its imitative smartphone design is simple: ‘It’s just like an iPhone.’ Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet sends a similar message: ‘It’s just like an iPad.’”
But that’s smartphones. What about tablets? Well, the tablet dispute is weighted even more heavily in Apple’s favour. Samsung had made one tablet pre-iPad (the Samsung Q1 in 2006) which was a failure. The iPad was released in April, 2010 and — just like Samsung smartphones — exactly a year later, Samsung released the Samsung Galaxy Tab. It looked identical to the iPad. Samsung’s phone range changed slowly, over several years. In just one year, Samsung was making tablets that looked like the iPad. In fact, they look so like the iPad that customers were returning them because they thought they were iPads. The smartphone battle will be hard-fought and the winner will be, either the one with most money to pour into lawyers (Apple), the one who presents the most convincing argument (Apple, so far) or the one who can prove they’ve been the game the longest (Samsung). Tablets, however, are very different. Samsung had little history of making tablets, and suddenly exactly a year later — the time it takes to produce a product — Samsung had an iPad-apeing tablet.
I’m not trying to predict an outcome, Samsung could still win (in the phone batter, at least), but I think, even if Samsung manage to claim a victory, I will always think of Samsung as the people who stole — perhaps not “stole”, but borrowed — the concept of the iPhone and iPad and used them. As Phil Schiller said, Samsung is using billions of dollars of Apple’s R&D — as well as advertising — budget for free. And for that, they must pay.
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