Apple VS Samsung

The Debate

As you have probably heard if you read just about any news source you will know about the massive case of Apple vs Samsung. I have found myself in the middle of a few debates between some colleagues and realized that I do not actually know which side to support. Apple has recently received the almighty image of creating all ideas smartphone while Samsung is the thief which ran off to make millions off someone else's idea. But is this correct? Has Apple just been trying to grab as many sales as possible? This is what I have wanted to find out so this post contains all my research towards the issue. I have tried to keep a neutral view on the issue and get down to actual facts even though many parts of this issue are down to opinion.

The Looks

Lets start with the look of both devices. This is the iPhone 3GS, the phone that kick off a lot of this debate.

Source: http://www.jailbreakyourphone.net/iphone-3gs-4-0-jailbreak

Compare this with the Samsung Galaxy S

Source: http://mobiles.hamaraprice.com/samsung-galaxy-s/

Looking purely at the physical aspect and not the UI on the screen there are some big similarities. Apple is suing for "a rectangular box with minimal metallic silver lettering and a large front-viewpicture of the product prominently on the top surface of the box". While I do agree that the look of both devices are very similar it does sound like a fairly out-landish claim. If this claim was applied to everything you would have many devices with a rectangular box breaking this patent, my old phone from before the iPhone was around was rectangular with a large screen on the front. This brings me to an interesting point, was Apple to actual original inventor of a large screened device with a rectangular design.

Galaxy F700

Source: http://www.yankodesign.com/2007/02/08/samsung-f700-smartphone-the-next-iphone/

This phone was released in February 2007, four months before the original iPhone was released. Comparing this phone to the Samsung Galaxy S you notice a lot of similarities in the design with its rounded black casing, large screen on the front, the black band above the screen, a lot of the design elements are very prevalent in Galaxy S. The patent for this phone was filed in December of 2006 which is prior to the first pictures released by Apple of the iPhone.

History

Infact looking back over the history of Samsung's phones you can see the evolution of the phone.

Source: http://www.osnews.com/story/26230/Samsung_reveals_its_pre-iPhone_concepts_10_touchscreen

This image was recently released showing the designs leading up Samsung's modern day phones and I find it fairly clear that Samsung's design was a direct copy of the iPhone and was a process started and created through-out the design stages.

Layout

While on the subject of these newly released images I feel it is a good time to bring up another of Apple claims. Viewing the iPhone 3GS and Samsung Galaxy S side by side you notice the user interface looks fairly similar. Apple is filing for "the display of sixteen colorful icons." as they claim to have created this display. But notice the display of the F700, it has these sixteen icons and this was released by Samsung before the iPhone was. Now I thought that perhaps Samsung quickly snapped up this user interface as images of the iPhone were displayed before the F700 was released however from the same set of recent images Samsung released shows this design:

Source: http://www.osnews.com/story/26230/Samsung_reveals_its_pre-iPhone_concepts_10_touchscreen

The design is from mid 2006, well before the iPhone had been announced to the public and clearly shows the use of square icons in a grid format on the phone. Samsung does not appear to have stolen Apples idea, they simply both came up with a similar idea at the same time. Infact it could even be claimed that the idea was first seen in PalmOS which uses a grid in mobile devices to display its user interface.

Icons

Apple has placed claims against many of Samsung's icons. I feel the best way to approach this claim is to compare these icons side by side.

Samsung - Apple

In this situation Apple was the first to create and release their icons. It is pretty hard to think that Samsung came up with a completely original idea for their phone icon, using the same color scheme, same angle and same lightning. Similar ideas can be applied to the other images which are in many aspects different, are also very much the same.

The Looks - Summary

With the knowledge gained from the above I believe that there are some areas that Samsung has probably stepped into the wrong side of copyright and trademark rights however it is not a direct copy. In many of the cases it was Samsung that had come first to the line and was infact the original creator or the claims are just ridiculous. Imagine if when IBM released their first computer monitor they decided to take the same steps Apple has here. They went all out on other companies claiming they created the "square blockly look with the monitor in the center" and force money out of other companies who are trying to compete in the same technology race. It slows down innovation and causes headaches for those people who want to get their latest ideas out there but are slowed down by a massive corporation who are in it for the money.