Side-Effect of the Apple v. Samsung Trial: Increased Sales for Samsung

New submitter jbernardo writes "There seems to be an interesting side-effect of the flawed jury verdict of last Friday — Samsung sales have surged. Even with the approach of the launch of Apple's new iPhone, the Galaxy SIII is sold out in many stores, and there is a measurable increase in sales, according to Trip Chowdhry, the managing director of equity research at Global Equities Research, cited in Forbes. Maybe Apple really managed to convince its customers that Samsung phones are equivalent or better, so they are being overcharged? Or is it a rush to buy the currently best smartphone in the market in case there is an injunction on its sale in the U.S. any time soon?"

Comments

Streisand effect?

[Reibisch]

At this scale? That'd be interesting.

Re:Streisand effect?

[kthreadd]

Fairly sure it's not because of the trial.
There's a lot of factors to consider.

Re:Streisand effect?

[EdIII]

Not really all that many factors.

It is supposed to be a kick ass Android product. Pretty good chance it will be banned from sales in the future.

I can easily see people that might have waited otherwise rushing to get it now before they can't. What's the alternative? Apple??

Yeah, right. There are quite a number of people out there that would sooner die then choose Apple because of their shiny retarded walled garden approach to computing. I'll go back to a clamshell phone before I choose Apple for anything.

I don't know what Apple is thinking here. People that want Apple, largely have it. People that will never choose Apple are not going to embrace them, especially if they approach competition like this. Nobody likes to be forced.

Re:Streisand effect?

[Desler]

How is there a 'pretty good chance' of the G3 being banned when it wasn't ruled infringing and isn't part of the list that Apple is asking to be blocked?

Re:Streisand effect?

[steelfood]

Samsung phones have been determined to be equivalent to Apple's iPhone. So you don't have to settle for 2nd best anymore.

Re:Streisand effect?

[CharlyFoxtrot]

Maybe they're actually making good phones that do what people want.

When a recent review for a Samsung tablet by an Android site says something like this I doubt it :

"The build quality. Terrible even by Samsung's low standards. The back is actually squishy, and you can feel it deform while holding it. It's noisy too, the plastic creaks, groans, and grinds when you pick it up. Regular, strong plastic would still be unacceptable when everyone else uses aluminum, but this... this is insulting for a $500 tablet"

Re:Streisand effect?

[EdIII]

let alone anyone else, would clearly exhibit a dearth of faculties, as you would be willing to forfeit your existence over something so trivial as a piece of technology.

Your failure is thinking the choice of technology is trivial. It is not trivial, but in fact crucial to our very future. That is not hyperbole.

How we approach computing in the future with respect to freedom, privacy, and anonymity will be a deciding factor in the very nature of freedom, privacy, and anonymity outside of computing.

It is inarguable that our lives in cyberspace and "meat space" are progressively becoming so intertwined as to be effectively indistinguishable. If you want to argue that is untrue, explain how somebody was arrested for a tweet? How the stock markets can lost a half a billion in a matter of moments affecting the economies? How we could have massive power outages due to negligence or malicious hackers? How an incorrectly entered piece of data in an insurance carrier platform can result in suspended license plates and somebody being pulled over and arrested? How child porn could be put on a machine and result in the loss of freedom for an individual?

The walled garden is a very simple paradigm:

1) You own nothing.
2) Your very existence is at the discretion of the garden. Failure to comply with the will of the garden can result in punishment, which can be all the way up to expulsion from the garden.
3) You may only perform actions that are compliance with the will of the garden.
4) You may not perform any actions that could endanger the garden, or make it less "shiny".
5) The garden cannot be wrong.

At first glance that may seem like hyperbole, but is quite accurate.

Now apply that to real life and see if you would not be part of a revolution to overthrow it .

Re:Streisand effect?

[amRadioHed]

My Galaxy Nexus has none of those issues and is a solid phone that I'm very happy with. Since my personal anecdote trumps random person on the Internet's anecdote, Q.E.D.

Re:Streisand effect?

[Anubis IV]

Keep referring to it as "G3" and Apple might have something to say about it. ;)

People Worried?

[Techmeology]

Law of unexpected consequences: Perhaps people are worried that Samsung devices will become unavailable?

Re:People Worried?

[noh8rz8]

How does it limit customer choice? Samsung will go back to the drawing board and come out with some killer features that don't infringe. Wouldn't that be more customer choice?

Bias

[Anonymous Coward]

flawed jury verdict

Apple's new shinny

the currently best smartphone in the market

Whoever wrote this made it a touch too clear their loathing for Apple and preference for Samsung.

Re:Bias

[jc42]

But I can loathe a company that tries to stop competition with frivolous lawsuits, that copies everything and patents the most obvious stuff to stop others doing the same, blocking innovation the same way James Watt's patents blocked the evolution of the steam engine for 30 years.

It's interesting to read comments pointing out what assorted historians have been saying for a long time: The primary use of patent laws has always been to block technical progress. We keep hearing the propaganda (enshrined in the US Constitution, among other places), that patent law is to encourage progress. But the historical evidence is contrary to this.

The only actual use of a patent to to prevent your competitors from using something. Yes, you can use it to extract royalties, but this is just an indirect way of making the products more expensive, and thus interfering with competitors' development and sales.

But more important than price is the effect of multiple patents. The historians' explanation of Watts' delay of the steam locomotive is that a practical locomotive required a number of other inventions in addition to Watt's efficient steam engine. But Watt and several other inventors each wanted to own it all, and refused to license their inventions to each other unless they each got the lion's share of the results. They pretty much all held out until their patents expired. Then, since Watt had the largest bunch of good engineers working for him, he was able to quickly start manufacturing and selling practical locomotives. He became rather wealthy late in life, but could have become rich decades earlier if he and the other inventors hadn't been so greedy, and had agreed to share the proceeds in a reasonable manner.

Part of the history is also the patenting of well-known ideas. But that's a different story from Watt's. It is a lot of what's going on now in the US, as exemplified by the Apple-Samsung case. We have somewhat reduced it to an ongoing series of jokes about patenting a rectangle with rounded corners. But it's a lot more pervasive than that. There was a cute offshoot of this humor yesterday on SMBC, based on the idea of lawyers in India filing suit against the Western computer industry, based on the fact that the number 0 was invented in India, and stolen by Western traders. (Actually, it was stolen by Arabian traders, but that's "Western" to people in India. ;-)

galaxy s 3 shouldn't be under the banhammer.

[gl4ss]

galaxy s 3 shouldn't be under the banhammer - however it's been on the news due to this a lot.

it's more likely it's something to do with start of school year though.

To ban or not to ban...

[jeffmeden]

Maybe Apple really managed to convince its customers that Samsung phones are equivalent or better, so they are being overcharged? Or is it a rush to buy the currently best smartphone in the market in case there is an injunction on its sale in the US any time soon?"

It's the latter. Hell, I have been asked (as someone who is known for reading a tech blog or two) if one should worry about their *existing* handset being taken away or somehow immobilized, thanks to the verdict. People just don't get what is going on, and some of them who interpreted the news coverage as an ad for Samsung, saw the "banned sales" headlines and rushed out to buy devices. Hey, if they are worth banning, they must be good right? Just like (make-believe) gun bans threatened in the wake of certain political parties, or bans on the sale of incandescent light bulbs. People react strangely, and they almost NEVER react in favor of whatever it is that the government/courts/etc. threaten to, they do the opposite.

Many factors to consider here...

[cynop]

The trial was only one of the factors to consider here. The overall growth of the android ecosystem should be accounted for. Also keep in mind that smartphone sales are surging overall ( http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/08/more-than-half-of-all-handsets-will-be-smartphones-in-2013/ ) so it makes sense for Samsung's phones to sell more.

It would help to see the recent sales figures of other notable android manufacturers like HTC and LG to decide if the exposure from the trial had a noticeable effect

Fairly sure it's because of the trial

[gentryx]

...and the coverage in the news. Here is a nice story on how people react on the verdict.

Just bought mine

[Anonymous Coward]

I went and bought a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 even though it wasn't a part of the lawsuit or a ruling against the Samsung Galaxy Tab line. I had been scouting it out for a few months now. Even though I disagree with the ruling, I wanted to buy it before an increase in price due to licensing fees, in case Samsung decides to license the technologies that were borderline borrowed from Apple.

Scarcity Drives Sales

[torkus]

Title says it all. How many people did you know bought a Wii because they "saw it in stock somewhere" and figured they should get it while they had the chance?

Apple's trying to slam down the banhammer on Samsung so of course it drives up perceived scarcity (or scarcity-to-be). Same reason every single sale is 'limited time, act now or miss out' and so on.

Also keep in mind Apple gave Samsung tons of free publicity. I'm comfortable saying that anyone who uses a cell phone knows what an iPhone is, but until now not as many people knew Samsung sells such 'obviously similiar' products. They sure do now. Oh, and they're cheaper? Wait...maybe I should run out and get one while I still can. People who follow tech trials are also plenty fed up with patent nonsense so heck, let's support the underdog. They tend to innovate better anyhow.

So really, I'm not surprised at all.

Re:Could that post be more biased?

[jythie]

Yeah, but it is important to many geeks to believe that whatever they personally like is the objective best.. which is why you see so many rants about the inferiority of the competition or how people are only buying the other product because they are brainwashed or stupid or image conscious or any other number of reasons that assist in the speaker having to confront the idea that intelligent people can like different things.

Wow, run on sentence....

Re:Could that post be more biased?

[Nertskull]

I think the implication is to say the phone itself is best based on specs. I agree "best" in terms of which OS you like is subjective. But the physical specs of the phone currently are the best available. That will obviously change soon. But a 4 core 1.4ghz processor vs a 2 core 0.8ghz processor is "better" in terms of core specifications.

The Register says exact opposite

[Sooner Boomer]

On 30th August 2012 00:44 GMT, there was an article on The Register titled "Customers dumping Samsung phones in wake of Apple suit"

Apple CEO Tim Cook might be pleased with the verdict in his company's recent patent legislation against Samsung, but Samsung customers are definitely not, according to the market watchers at mobile phone trade-in firm Gazelle. "Consumers seem to be jumping ship," Anthony Scarsella, Gazelle's "chief gadget officer," told MarketWatch. "We expect this trend to continue, especially with this latest verdict." Scarsella says his company, which buys used mobile phones from consumers, has seen a 50 per cent increase in the number of customers looking to unload Samsung kit since Monday alone. The sudden upsurge in supply has led Gazelle to drop the prices it pays for Samsung mobiles by 10 per cent.

So which is it? Buying or dumping?

Re:The Register says exact opposite

[Shatrat]

Also, consumers selling old samsung phones does not contradict consumers buying new samsung phones.
In fact, I would guess that many of those people bought a Galaxy S3 and then sold their Galaxy 1 or 2.

Apple's Response

[theEnguneer]

According to Apple, this phenomenon is due to the fact that shoppers are actually trying to buy Apple products, but are mistaking Samsung products for them.

Re:Apple's Response

[firesyde424]

I think the parent is being sarcastic, but I seem to remember something very close to that being stated by Apple during the trial. It baffled me when I heard it. Apparently, Samsung has so closely copied some of Apple's devices that people can go into a store looking for an Apple product, walk out of the store with a product that instead of the distinctive Apple logo, has the word "Samsung" on it, and think they have purchased an iDevice.

Re:Apple's Response

[Richy_T]

To be fair, they are Apple users. Or at least would be if they could.

Re:Fallacy

[Nethemas the Great]

This is a classic case of someone with a very modest education--but knows some Latin buzz phrases--trying to reach beyond their resources in an attempt to position themselves as superior.

Spelling fun - unintended meanings

[zooblethorpe]

There are quite a number of people out there that would sooner die then choose Apple because of their shiny retarded walled garden approach to computing.

This is the first time I've ever heard of Apple being so good that even the deceased prefer Apple products. :-P

I think you meant than (comparative: "A is bigger than B") rather than then (adverbial: "Alice ate, then met Bob").

</pedantic>

Re:Walled garden

[Anguirel]

My problem with iProducts is that iTunes is malware, as far as I'm concerned, and Apple expects you to do just about everything through iTunes.

I've found ways around it, eventually, but doing something as simple as importing e-books I'd bought well before the iPhone existed took multiple hours to figure out (for a device marketed as "simple to use, UI-is-everything, it just works"). I tried to add them as "Books" to the device. Nope. Apparently that only applies to the iBooks program, so it has to be in the Apple format already. I tried drag-and-drop. Nope. I looked for other ways to get them onto the device within iTunes and didn't see anything obvious. I ended up using Calibre, a third-party program, to import the books to Stanza. And then discovered that if I wanted to test out a competing e-Book reader app, I need to import the books again, because there's absolutely no data sharing between apps. That's also what clued me in to how to add things in iTunes -- you need to have the app installed first, and import it straight to a specific app.

If you're willing to do everything inside the Walled Garden, sure it works. As soon as you want to step outside, even for data, it's not quite so easy, and can often be quite a hassle.