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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.

9 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. Apple store? Really? by exomondo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:Apple store? Really? by harlequinn · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yes, this has the look of a typical Australian mobile phone retailer - and they've all looked this way for over a decade.

    2. Re:Apple store? Really? by popo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes, hadn't you heard? Apple has a design patent on Scandinavian minimalist furniture. Sweden and Denmark are currently scrambling as Apple's lawyers gear up to take on Scandinavia for design infringement.

      Also, Apple has just filed a patent for the use of "tables". No store shall be allowed to use "tables" to display product without paying the Apple tax.

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    3. Re:Apple store? Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Also, Apple has just filed a patent for the use of "tables". No store shall be allowed to use "tables" to display product without paying the Apple tax.

      That's a lie. The patent only covers tables (and small tables, aka tablets) with rounded corners.

  2. Troll bait :-) by giorgist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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

  3. In other news by zrbyte · · Score: 5, Funny

    Tesco stores look remarkably similar to Wall-Mart.

  4. Apple innovation strikes again by LordLucless · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    --
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  5. It is a very common design by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    --

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    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  6. Please stop it NOW! by aglider · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    --
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