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Apple’s newest hotness, the iPhone 4S (check out our review!), has become Samsung’s latest target in the never ending spat between the two consumer electronics giants. Last week we reported that Samsung was seeking to prevent the iPhone 4S from being sold in France and Italy. This week they’ve added Australia and Japan to that list. Whether or not they’ll be successful in the courts remains to be seen, these cases typically involve lawyers and judges who can’t tell their ass from their elbow. So why is Samsung so hostile? If memory serves us right, it was Apple who first sued Samsung over infringing some trademarks and/or patents, Samsung of course countersued, and then Apple brought out the big guns and got the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 banned from several large European markets and the entire country of Australia. Now Samsung is getting back at Apple, saying that they’ve failed to license patents relating to WCDMA, better known as 3G. The goal is to obviously kick the iPhone 4S in the knees so that it doesn’t sprint to success, but rather limps.
Now to make things even more complicated, Samsung Chief Operating Officer and President Lee Jae-yong was recently invited to attent a priviate invitation only tribute to Steve Jobs that will be hosted by Apple. He told The Wall Street Journal that:
“I will have a chance to meet Cook, but I’m not going there for business purposes. I’m going to pay tribute to Steve Jobs, and I don’t know what I will talk about with Cook. Apple is one of Samsung’s most important clients, and we have developed a solid partnership. But that’s a separate matter from the legal disputes between the two companies in areas where they compete.”
Will this incessant bullshit ever end? We certainly hope so, since the real court battle that needs to take place is between Apple and Google, not the companies who take Google’s software and then slap it on devices.
About The Author
Stefan Constantinescu
Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.
