Apple vs Samsung: Who won?

You probably already know that Apple won a major victory in their court battles against Samsung this weekend. The jury awarded Apple more than 1 billion dollar, because it felt that it was proven that Samsung did indeed shamelessly copy the Apple iPhone and the Apple iOS. That verdict was to be expected. Just one look at Samsung’s mobile phones before and after the introduction of the iPhone shows clearly that Samsung copied Apple up to the smallest details. The question was not ‘Did Samsung copy Apple?’, the question was if they violated patents by doing so. The jury now says they did, so now it’s payday. You may think that this is a clear victory for Apple and I would agree. But is it also a clear defeat for Samsung? That’s what I doubt. Other phone manufacturers (Nokia, RIM, Palm) tried to compete with Apple by making their own new designs. Look where that got them. Today, apart from Apple of course, Samsung is the only mobile phone manufacturer that is making money. That 1 billion dollar fine (the judge can still triple it because the jury concluded that it’s ‘willful’ infringement) is still a pretty cheap price to pay for Samsung. I bet Nokia et all are jealous!