It seems every time you read the technology news there is something written about the Samsung vs Apple battles. The adage goes “When at first you don’t succeed, try and try again” Apple seems to have adhered to this as a mantra and managed to make it as a part of their DNA . Both Apple and Samsung have particularly busy (and prosperous) legal teams…with Apple aiming for Samsung and the Korean outfit hitting back. Apple lost an appeal in German courts in February with its effort to put a stop to Samsung releasing and selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 N. Apple was citing copyright violation and lost but that has not prevented them filing again. The war of words and legal activities between Samsung and Apple has a history going back to 2010. of copyright and intellectual property infringements and Samsung have retorted with the same. The intricate legal troubles are a several thousand files thick and as stimulating as watching your Tablet recharge. It is all about Samsung vs Apple Tablet and less about producing terrific hardware these days.
So, why care? So what if Samsung and Apple are having a worldwide conflict? Definitely, from a consumer viewpoint, it must be, in some aspects, a definite plus that two rivals are looking to outsmart the other in design and improve on the other company’s patents. That could only mean a positive trickle down for the end user in superior products, not so?
It seems like a logical argument. On the one hand the revisions on the product is beneficial to all of us as consumers, but one has to consider this – that as courtrooms and legal suits continue, the progress of the technology will be slowed – any developments will be delayed with the associated risk of more legal battles and debate. Apple and Samsung now both have to fussily weigh up any design changes – for fear that they refer, in some limited way, to a patent owned by the other.
In the day of the Tin Lizzie otherwise known as the T Model Ford, the creator, Henry Ford explained “I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one – and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces.”
Great words and vision professed by Henry Ford and anyone should question, surely, why these standards spoken by Ford are not the words and vision of every last developer, not only in the cars sector but in all business sectors? In our high-tech times, this is the vision which needs to be right up there with the Bill of Rights. Exactly why should we make such a practice of seeking to destroy the opposition in the name of capitalistic growth? True capitalism is built on a foundation of product value to both the end user and the supplier.
Henry Ford produced a a car for the average person. Was Henry Ford the only manufacturer of the automobile? By no means. He was the first person to accomplish this but soon there after, others followed. Did Henry have a total melt down due to the fact someone had produced a vehicle with doors – an idea that was a part of his design? Did this man, the Model T creator get lost in blind rage and want to sue somebody who built a vehicle with a windscreen very similar to the Ford? No. Would Ford have opted that no-one had developed another automobile? It’s possible. But that is how industry works. An individual has a concept and other improves upon it. The consumer wins. Chevrolet inevitably knocked the Model T from the market with a product which was arguably much better.
Based on Fords’ concepts other brands got into the realm of motor vehicles. The industry sector was soon bombarded with competition. That’s the essence of Capitalism. So, just exactly why then, do the companies nowadays decide to try and get rid of nearly all competing firms with the smallest whiff of similarity? It is certainly the American Way to innovate and work out advancements on such innovations. Is that not specifically what is in the interest of the consumers?
Have we not learnt with the Microsoft illustration of this that competition rather then exclusivity is the real ‘mother of invention’?
The reality is – all copying or replicating of product has been transpiring for years. The automatic washer, the TV. the pc, the Post-it note are all victims of the same plague – innovation equals renovation and beyond. It’s not to excuse plagiarism but surely there comes a point when we should all just play nicely and enjoy the race.
For all of Apple crying foul and the reactionary slaps back from Samsung, one should ask – for what reason? Could be it is time for Apple and Samsung to set down their toys and get back in their cots and create top-notch technology.
“Build It And They Will Come…”
That, my friends at Apple Corp and Samsung, includes your reputations.