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Samsung Opens New Apple Store In Australia
An anonymous reader writes "Samsung opened its first retail 'Experience' store in Sydney, Australia today and its design and ethos, even in the most generous light, bear an uncanny resemblance to those of the Apple Store. Now, to be fair, Samsung’s corporate color is blue and there are only so many ways you can design a retail experience. That said, it seems difficult to look at Samsung’s store and not immediately be reminded of Apple’s understated chain of brick-and-mortar retail stores which, at the time it debuted, was considered pioneering. And it’s awfully hard to imagine that the similarities between the two won’t further bolster Apple’s allegations that Samsung is a 'copyist.'" This comes on the heels of both companies claiming the other is "anticompetitive" during Tuesday’s summations in the Apple-Samsung trial.
To be found at the Sydney Morning Herald website: http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/store-wars-samsung-apple-gadgets-at-10-paces-20120823-24njn.html
The link in TFS is lacking any detail. Go to the above.
These are starting to get a bit far fetched, it doesn't exactly look dissimilar to the telstra shops for example...or many other retailers for that matter.
While their experience store is a dig at apple I don't think they've gone as far as branding it an apple store.
Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3vFsOeGVkd4/ShVBnWKXkGI/AAAAAAAAAHo/hF60UTm0Yo8/s1600/08212094-Table-Book2.jpg
"... always going forward 'cause we cant find reverse! "
They really should have called the Smart Tutors the "Samsung Smart Guy". Psst: it's from Conan! On a serious not, I understand that two wrongs don't make a right, but after the whole rounded corners thing, I don't see how this is wrong.
Not a big fan of Samsung or Apple but apple store reminds you of expensive "boutiques" that sell jewelley or other fashionable stuff.
My earliest rememberence is early 1990's !
who copied what again? and don't say it's an electronic store with genius people!
Already Checked the store out.
If you run up and down george st (where it is located), you'll be amazing at how many of the tech stores look very similar in layout (esp all the mobile phone stores).
hell even some of the food stores (mainly cupcake!) are using similar layouts now as well.
Troll bait title if I have ever seen one :-)
Its a company retail outlet, it looks no different to the Sony store down the road.
G
Out of spite I'd be happy to move into an Apple store to order a Samsung and to claim Apple's store is copying Samsung's. Just to get the equivalent of a bar fight started but then in a techno-ip setting.
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
Tesco stores look remarkably similar to Wall-Mart.
Has the author ever been at an Apple store? Virtually no resemblance at all - unless one takes the position that Apple has invented the use of tables and artificial lighting in retail stores. As somebody else has said, these things are getting ever more far-fetched, difficult as such a feat may be.
The Samsung stores look enough like the Apple store that except for the samsung logos on the products, you probably could fool someone into thinking they were in the Apple store. That said, it's not that far from the typical company-owned mobile phone store (eg T-mobile or AT&T) and even in Canada they're not that different from the Telus and Bell stores.
But as people have rightly pointed out, they only started looking like this AFTER apple started opening stores. Samsung just takes it to a whole other level with the "ipad"-like devices beside the functional products. Compare to the Sony store which was doing this last year.
The Samsung store at the mall here actually has more prime space (it's at the grand atrium, which is basically the lower-level main concourse) than the Apple store (which is closer to the food court on the second floor.) When the Samsung store opened however it wasn't met with much crowding, and after a month or two of being open, it's as empty as best buy mobile.
an scruffy balding asian dude with glasses in a black turtleneck and jeans
Slavery is the legal fiction that a person is property; A Corporation is the legal fiction that property is a person.
How can Samsung open Apple Store!
Yes, but Apple have those devices with the amazing high resolution screens, those screens made by some company in Korea - name starts with S I think :)
There's some more photos here: http://www.bit.com.au/Gallery/313051,photos-see-inside-an-experience-center.aspx/1 [BIT.com.au]
To my eyes it does look pretty similar to the Apple store, but then, as one of the other commenters said, so do a lot of other tech stores now.
PS> Love the Galaxy S III cake in one of the photos. Can't ever remember seeing that in an Apple store.
And every convention stand has prior art.
Religion is what happens when nature strikes and groupthink goes wrong.
It just dawned on my how much Apple's store looks like every single mobile phone store in Australia, with the exception of the "3" stores and their former neon coloured changing lighting which made your eyes bleed, but even they are now Vodafone stores so there goes that resemblance.
The only thing that makes this look at all like an Apple store is that an article about it brings out trolls and fanbois who post on slashdot.
It's the lesser known post malum ergo propter malum fallacy.
If samsung just had admitted to imitating a succesfull buisiness model and design at the start of all the fuss instead. No shame in that to my opinion.
Bach says it all.
I'd have to say that the Microsoft stores are far more similar to Apple stores than this one is. It looks to me like a fairly generic "gee whiz future" kind of styling.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Of course it's a copy, that much is obvious. And there are other ways of designing a retail outlet.
That said, most of them are copies. Everyone looks at everyone else and checks on what works and what doesn't. Most supermarkets look so much the same that if I blindfolded you and dropped you inside of one, you'd have trouble telling which one it is. Same for most clothing stores, hardware shops, etc. etc.
Because while there are many ways to do it, there is always a rather small number (often just one) that the majority converge to. Mostly because it simply works (or everyone believes it does) and store layout is not the point at which they're willing to take a risk. Everyone once in a while, someone does and everyone else watches closely, and if it works, you'll find it copied elsewhere quickly.
So, tl;dr: Yes, it's a copy. No big deal, happens all the time in retail stores.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
How's the prices? Still gouging Down Under like always?
Samsung's tables have rounded corners.
further bolster Apple’s allegations that Samsung is a 'copyist.'" And it seems Asshole um hmm Apple, has been copying or stealing there ideas as well. So Apple should back off there BS claims that everyone is stealing or copying form them. And I know I will get hammered by slashdotters for saying something this simple minded, without saying something about Samsung.
All top or elite companies do this anyway, but Apple is the one mouthing off. I am sure Samsung has also, but maybe it's just that the reports posted on slashdot that seem to mention one companies comments over the other.
really?
I went in to Lidl and thought I was in Aldi to give a more Euro example.
_C
i seem to remember Sony stores opening long before apple stores...
There was even footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YciM_54HzZk
My site
The broad, rectangular wall displays.
Little known fact - not only did Apple invent rounded rectangles, they invented the regular kind too
The airy, spartan layout and open floor plan
And open plan architecture
dedicated customer support desk
And customer service
A group demonstration area.
...demonstrations
Clean lines.
...cleanliness
Blue T-shirts for all store employees.
...and the colour blue.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
If what you want is an apple, all trees look like apple-trees.
Sweetshops looked like Shoeshops looked like Barbers in Victorian times in terms of signage/counters/etc.
And it's called a shop not a retail experience.
Samsung has run their own retail stores for decades in Korea. This is hardly anything new.
Is Apple the only company allowed to do this for some reason?
Some far older stores look like this. Hell, a make-up department in Bijenkorf Amsterdam (big rounded white curves, lots of light, big displays) (dutch department store) looked like this long before Apple became cool again.
There really are only so many designs and layouts you can think off. Even only a few colors. You could for instance color your store yellow but everyone would go insane. Yellow is NOT a good color for interiors. And entire range of the spectrum OUT of the question.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
This thing is going far beyond any reasonableness.
Samsung is not adding an apple logo on their product. This is a fact.
"SAMSUNG" is clearly different from "APPLE". This is a fact.
There are not many choices to "design" a touch tablet/smartphone:
- they have to have a rectangular shape (triangular? Pentagonal? Irregular?);
- sharp corners are not viable, so they have to be more or less rounded;
- thickness cannot be increased just to look different;
- icons are a de facto standard in GUIs.
Also these are facts.
99.9% of users can read and can tell an Apple product apart of a Samsung one. This is a fact.
So, finally, what's Apple protecting? The shape? The corners? The proportions? The icon shape and colors? The concept design of a store?
Or are they concerned about their customers not being intelligent enough to distinguish two different brands?
Ah! All this is frivolous and needs a good quantity of crack to go on!
If I was Apple, I would rather sue the pletora of Chinese companies manufacturing and selling touch smartphones which are clearly designed and packaged to mimic Apple products.
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
seriously, it's like being witness to a effing college sports team debate. this is so embarrassing.
Honestly, I've seen many retail stores lately having fun with getting not a new phone. They all look like that. Beside, t-mobile is pink (magenta as they call it) and ohters are green or orange. Now when Samsung is blue then that fits that logic. Apple stores also look like any other store. They have this "We are sooo fancy" design. If they start fighting over shop design then they have become totally crazy. Oh wait ...
A Genius Bar. And they shoud call it SmartAss Bar.
I also enjoyed how Telstra told its customers to get a life (bottom right corner)
http://www.stratel.com.au/images/telstra-shop-6.jpg
Great story, but you can have the accessories on this website http://www.carkart.com.
Yes, but Apple have those devices with the amazing high resolution screens, those screens made by some company in Korea - name starts with S I think :)
LG Philips starts with an S now
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
I'm sure you've seen this (but if you haven't it's pretty funny). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YciM_54HzZk
At about 1:04 they talk about the Samsung "Smart Tutors". I thought this was part of the parody! Now I'm wondering how much of the rest of the video is true.
By the way, how much of the following do you agree/disagree with? If there is a high correlation between all of these perhaps, for everyones sake, we could just shorten disagreements by separating people into two groups. No judgement here, it just would save everyone a lot of time.
Thinks Evolution is just a theory
Thinks Global Warming is not real/is a conspiracy
Thinks Obama is a socialist
Thinks Obama is a muslim
Thinks Obama was not born in the United States
*New* Thinks Obama will hand over sovereignty of U.S. to U.N. (Lubbock county judge)
*New* Thinks vaccines cause autism (Donald Trump)
*New* Thinks "legitimately raped" woman are biologically capable of preventing pregnancy (inherent in Republican Party Anti-Abortion Platform)
Thinks cutting government spending during a severe recession/depression is the appropriate thing to do
Thinks the U.S. health care system is the best in the world which justifies it costing twice as much as the next major country (Germany) while neglecting millions
Thinks Apple products are markedly inferior to the alternatives
Thinks Samsung didn't copy Apple
So, if people sort themselves into two groups say one called "Republicans" and the other say "Democrats" and would identify themselves as such, we could save everyone a lot of grief.
Sony stores opened long before Apple Stores. First Sony Style store opened in the early 1980s even. There were many Sony retail stores worldwide before the first Apple store in 2001.
Apple directly took the idea of opening it's own one-brand direct retail store from Sony.
Now get off lawn etc etc
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
The Bose stores and lots of others are like this. I hope the Samsung stores have an actual dedicated cashier area so that I can get in and get out efficiently. Sure, I might want to play with the stuff sometimes, but not every time and not all damned day.
I guess it's interesting to watch the two large companies go at it and all, but let's not make it into something it's not.
Is Samsung copying Apple? Yes and no... I think it's partly natural evolution of its marketing as its brand grows in popularity and party, perhaps at some level, a bit of a jab at Apple.
Would they have done this without a bunch of law suits from Apple? Yeah... pretty sure they would have anyway. But it's more fun when you are making the veins in Apple executives' necks bulge out.
One can argue that Apple didn't "create" any of the things it claims to own in whole. But it is without question, I think, that Apple has really made it all its own and distinctively Apple. Too bad law doesn't really protect "making something yours" as well as creating something original... for Apple, not for us.
But this looks like most mobile phone stores in Australia. It looks closer to the Vodaphone stores than Apple. The only thing remarkable is the size, most phone stores are smaller.
Wake me up if Apple actually try to claim that this new store infringes their IP rights.
Even then, it's not a case of "did they copy" but rather "did they infringe any valid, enforceable, copyrights, patents or trademarks" because it is completely bloody obvious that anybody designing a new consumer IT retail store would take a few leads from what the most successful international chain of consumer IT retail stores was doing.
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
It also looks like a T-Mobile store. Maybe T-Mobile should sue both Apple and Samsung since T-Mobile stores looked like that before Apple opened any stores..
Less than a hundred comments so far and so many straw men that you could hold a barn dance
YeeHaw!
Don't opinionize the title so much troll
It looks nothing like an Apple store. What's the story here.
Apple store is designed as a modern museum.
If Apple can't get these fake ass competitors shut down by legal means, then they should petition the US military to take action on their behalf. Intellectual Property are rights worth fighting for. If some scumbag competitor like Samsung wants to take cash out of an American company's pocket (who invented the smartphone to begin with), they should pay with more than sanctions and bans.
I'm pretty sure Apple invented stores.
The patent i think describes a place, indoors, where you sell stuff.
Smile... tomorrow will be worse.
Samsung can expect a new lawsuit from Apple after copying the "look and feel" of Apple stores. I say that as a joke, but I'm sure at this very moment Apple's lawyers are looking into the possibility of securing IP that covers elements of their store layout.
Apple has taken technology from something that only geeks used to something that is fashionable, but the fashion industry is driven by trends. Right now Apple is setting many of these trends, but it can't stay that way forever - trends are fickle by nature and someone else is bound to come up with something people want more. It will be very interesting to see how Apple and its fans react when Apple is no longer the trendsetter.
Next, Samsung will change their name to SApple and change their logo to a crabapple with a bite taken out of it.
In both cases, the Spartan look is born of cheapness, not coolness. Sparse fixtures and display cases don't cost much.
That the product turned out hot was the bonus.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
This comes on the heels of both companies claiming the other is "anticompetitive" during Tuesday’s summations in the Apple-Samsung trial.
I'm pretty sure all publicly traded companies are anticompetetive by nature. Except where they are forced to behave otherwise by a government. It's the only option unless a company is privately controlled and decisions can be made on a basis other than what is going to make shareholders the most money.
But Apple fans had never been to a Sony store before Apple stores became popular, i guess?
Wow, you've never been around designers, have you? It takes thousands of hours and much money to develop stuff like that.
You simply don't realize the cash, angst and determination needed to spend your life in a Starbucks. And remember, MacBook Pros aren't cheap these days. Besides, they just bumped the price on Prilosec.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
This is the kind of crap that drives me and many others away from Slashdot. News for Nerds? Hardly.
... the only one who find strange that Samsung opens an Apple Store instead of a Samsung Store?
Samsung is one of the few companies willing to tackle Apple on in terms of style. While I agree that Samsung blatantly ripped off Apple with their first Galaxy phone, they have pretty much branched away from Apple's designs and started setting trends for the "rest" of the Android market.
So, get over it. Apple is a trendsetter and people will follow those trends in their product and design. Its absolutely retarded for Apple to produce a hit product and then expect the rest of the world to not match it's design trends. Design trends have been a staple of the retail marketplace for hundreds of years. Its the reason why all cars look the same in a given generation, its the reason why all homes look the same in a given generation. Its the reason why movies look the same in a given generation, its the reason why music sounds the same in a given generation. You make something that everyone else likes, other people will match and expand on that design.
Everybody is ripping off everyone else. Apple should be flattered and even have their ego inflated to epic proportions given the fact that everybody wants to copy their designs and bring their own flavor to it. If Apple wasn't a paranoid little prick, worried about losing their market share to the sheer weight of potential of their competition, they would enjoy the fact they are defining a generation of mobile devices. They are at the top of the food chain but are too busy trying to piss on everyone else to enjoy it.
Apple needs to get over it and I hope the Apple vs Samsung trial rules in Samsung's favor just to smack down the smug, little biatch that Apple has become, worried about stupid people that might confuse one set of rounded rectangles for another while at the same time rising to the most profitable company in history. I mean how insecure do you have to be to have 600 BILLION in market capital and still feel inclined to crap out petty irrelevant lawsuits.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
Does anyone report news these days? Slashdot is reminding more and more of a gossip site, kind like this, only for tech, http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com. Very little if any news value from slashdot these days.
Do you mean Samsung will require customers to make an appointment to speak to a store employee? Even if all they did was to pick up a headphone or adapter cord from the display and they just want to pay for it and get out? But they've got to wait their turn behind some moron who can't find the 'Any' key on their new MacBook?
Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.
Have gnu, will travel.
"Apple’s understated chain of brick-and-mortar retail stores which, at the time it debuted, was considered pioneering. And it’s awfully hard to imagine that the similarities between the two won’t further bolster Apple’s allegations that Samsung is a 'copyist.'"
---
You've got to be kidding. Brick-and-mortar retail stores...How is that pioneering? Show me the Samsung "Geniuses" and "Specialists" and their in-store pep-rallies. Then MAYBE you've got something.
Samsung is so desperate to be successful Apple that it's totally copying Apple. It should be flattering, because Samsung is following a path to success that's worked. It's sad, because as the saying goes, they're skating to where the puck was, not to where the puck is going. Samsung used to be accused of copying Sony back when Sony was worth copying. Go figure.
It could be that Samsung, at some level, has no idea that it's copying Apple so blatantly. I know that a large percentage of the public believes that Samsung didn't copy Apple and there's only one way to design a smartphone. I'd like to think Samsung management is smarter than those people.
However, it looks like institutionally Samsung just copies the dominant player then underprices everyone else until everyone else exits the market...all while spouting about its "innovation." So are they better or worse than a patent troll?
If there weren't other spots open in the lot he'd take a handicapped spot. And it wasn't to fuck anyone, it was just pure self-interest. He didn't want to park far from the door when he could park close and he felt those spots are never used anyway (they rarely were).
Many times I saw his car parked in a regular spot.
I recall thinking how similar the Apple store was to the Sony stores in the area (Novi, MI) when they first came out and thought Apple was ripping off Sony.
The samsung showcase stores in Singapore have looked similar to this for atleast three years.
Apple needs to realize that the world wants people to copy each other. Imagine if after the first McDonald's, no other hamburger chains popped up. Can anyone imagine Mickey D's trying to pull this shit on Burger King? Or on Wendy's, Carl's Jr., or any one of about a hundred other chains of at least a dozen or more restaurants? It's bullshit. No one bitched when other car mfgr's put a set of four wheels in a frame, controlled the orientation of the front wheels with a wheel-shaped device, put a gas pedal on the right, brake in the middle/left, and a clutch (if it had one) on the far left.
Imagine if the whole world shoved its head up its ass like Apple and the court that awarded them the billion dollars Apple WILL NEVER FUCKING SEE. Just picture it. Coke sues Pepsi for using that size and shape aluminum can, for making the can aluminum, and for making their flagship beverage a dark-colored fizzy liquid. Puerto Ricans file a class action suit to stop Mexicans from using their variant of Spanish, and after years of bitter bickering, appeal after appeal after counter appeal, force them to change the name of their language to "lengua mexicana" and abolish forever the use of the term "Hispanic" as it contains the "span" particle, and could cause people to confuse them with Spaniards, Spanish culture, etc. Women sue "catcher" homosexuals to force them to stop copying their mannerisms. Hence forth, after the judge rules in favor of the women, no male person is ever allowed to utter the words, "you go, girl" or have an appearance or make any sign or gesture that is in any way effeminate. No boys can play with dolls anymore, nor attend tea-parties, (not including the Tea Party...) since girls got boys banned from such activities that copy their trademarked behavior. No girl can work on anything mechanical because the boys didn't lose that round entirely.
Holistic medicine is banned in the US (probably the one good thing that could come of this,) but many children hitting puberty are disappointed that just as was the case with anyone without a valid medical degree and/or registration or license, they are no longer allowed to play doctor either. Porn stars sue EVERY AMATEUR COUPLE OR GROUP WHO EVER RELEASED A SEX-TAPE, forcing THEM to stop, and pretty soon the internet is a wasteland of non-porn related sites, since the images of the little hotties in their undies (or less) are of course infringements of their in-person appearances, being COPIES OF THEM... so they're gone too...
No one can write a book anymore using words used in any other book, turning writing a new book into an exercise in search, search, and search again, looking for any combination of letters and symbols SOMEONE hasn't used yet.
See how fucked up the world would be? Someone should tell Apple to FUCK THE FUCKING FUCK OFF, and quit trying to suppress competition through abusing the court system. If you make something slick, and in some fashion ground-breaking, expect others to follow you. It's a fact of life.
IIIIIIIFFFFFF I were running the court case, my criteria would be simple. Is ANY significant number of people trying to purchase an Apple product, and getting a Samsung instead? Of course not. Apple is losing almost no money to Samsung, since people like me wouldn't buy Apple's crappy products under any circumstances, wouldn't use that iShit if you gave it to me. I think I may start a "Kickstart" campaign to have everyone who wants to send a message to Apple that we won't tolerate their shit, to send a dollar to Samsung. Just help them cover the costs of kicking Apple's teeth down their fucking throats, legally.
I would LOVE to read in a few years, I think, of Apple's inevitable decline and demise from inactivity.
You cant copyright a store layout. This is why they often do not allow cameras in stores. Because it is perfectly legal to copy the furniture layout and style of a store. This is not something which can be patented or copyrighted. I see this in the restaraunt industry all the time. Each trying to look distinct, but everyone copying good style ideas from one another. So the whole question of whether the store 'looks like apple' or not is pointless and has no legal bearing. It is simply an observation to agree with or not.
Apple shops remind me very much of the plainness of an Ikea store, so why haven't Apple sued Ikea?
I'd say he was referring to the ipad and iphone.