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Sale of Galaxy Nexus Banned in the US
New submitter busyqth writes "After the injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 earlier in the week, A U.S. district court judge has now also granted an injunction against the sale of Google's flagship ICS phone, the Galaxy Nexus. Is Steve Jobs laughing in the great beyond? Is this the beginning of the end for Android?"
Two blows to Samsung in one week, and now the FTC is investigating Google for misuse of Motorola Mobility patents in relation to RAND standards.
Take a look at both the outer design and software of Samsung's phones before and after the iPhone and say with a straight face that Samsung didn't copy at least some elements from Apple.
http://www.idownloadblog.com/2011/09/29/apple-samsung-copycat-2/
While I doubt the employees enjoy everything Apple does, somehow I think they are more concerned about Samsung ripping them off and feigning innocence. Its just like the idiots arguing about Google and Android before the iPhone came out. Yes, google was working on Android long before the iPhone was released. No, it didn't look anything alike until the iPhone was released, and Google had a "Oh, shit..." moment.
Some of Apple's devices sure do look similar to that Samsung picture frame that was circulated around though:
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2011/08/23/samsungs-digital-picture-frame-was-no-ipad/
But that doesn't explain why their UI, external design, and OS suddenly became indistinguishable. Apple had reason to get real pissed. AC because Ill get modded into oblivion by the "Apple is bad, they use patents and not enough open source" crowd that Slashdot has become, but its the truth.
Is this the beginning of the end for Android?
Look, I'm an Apple fanboy and all but that's just a stupid, moronic question designed to inflame. Come on. Is it the beginning of the end? No! At the worst - at the very worst, if things go as horribly wrong as possible for Samsung (and Motorola and HTC) as one could imagine and as well for Apple as people fear, it would be the beginning of companies being forced to designed around Apple's patents to make phones that look different and function differently than the iPhone and iPad or to pay a forced licensing fee to utilize the function in past and future devices. If anyone is so daft as to think that means "the end of Android" then they are idiots.
Seriously, it's not rocket science. I know it's fun to post stories designed to generate conversation and to fire people up but let's not be stupid. Contrary to what anyone (including the late Steve Jobs) thinks, none of this is going to spell the end of any company or platform. At the worst, it's going to force a company to pay some money and/or design around the patent. That's it. That's all.
Ever thought that Gadget freaks are not the target market for the iPhone?!
I write software for my day job, and the last thing I want to do when I'm on my own time is piss around with tweaking / rooting / fiddling with my phone. I just want it to work. Calendars, email, apps, online banking the whole thing.
So, for /me/, an iPhone is the best phone I could have. Smart phone that doesn't require endless support to "Just Work".
Sorry that you guys aren't enjoying the iPhone, but to be fair, its all about what works for you, and the iPhone works for /most/ people. And for the others there is Windows Phone or Android. Just don't under-estimate the amount of people that /don't/ want to tweak their phone all the time!
I won't link to references - feel free to Google it for yourself. The summary, however, is this: Samsung and Motorola and various others invented technologies that they submitted to an industry standard for the cell phone business. By submitting it for inclusion in the industry standard, they a) helped establish an industry standard for all cell phone makers to use and b) agreed to license those patents under FRAND terms.
Now, FRAND licensing terms are simple - the patent holder _MUST_ license the technology to _ANYONE AND EVERYONE_ who wants to license it at Fair, Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory rates. They do not have the freedom to not license the technology to a competitor and they do not have the freedom to set whatever price they want for the patent - they are required, by the FRAND agreement, to license to everyone for a fair and reasonable rate. While this may result in a lower cost-per-license fee, it is made up for in volume due to the fact that everyone participating in the industry pretty much must license the patent since it's an industry standard. It's a tradeoff of a guaranteed, long term revenue stream versus control of the patent.
Samsung and Motorola are currently demanding higher-than-reasonable rates (which is not Fair and Reasonable) from Apple (which is not Non-Discriminatory) and are thus in violation of their FRAND agreements. It is why various trade organizations are beginning the process of investigating both Samsung and Motorola for abuse of FRAND patents (for example, http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-06-29/google-said-to-face-u-dot-s-dot-probe-over-motorola-patents ).
Hmm, so just because Apple are ahead of the competition, you think they shouldn't (attempt) to stop other people copying them...?
Apple compete by researching and designing their own products. They just want others to do the same.
And if you are going to let a companies actions to protect its research and development stop you purchasing a new Macbook Pro (and iPad?), then thats your call. Just don't pretend is for "righteous" reasons.