To my mind Apple has always been about design and not always good design, at least in my humble opinion. I much preferred the shape of the original iPad as it was so much easier to plug attachments in and they also felt stronger than the flimsy plug ins which you get with the newer curved edge. The iPhone went one way while the iPad went the other. Never actually got my head round that thinking. I think most people house their iPads in leather cases so the curved edge is to my mind superfluous. Yes I have an iPhone4 and it feels like a solid rock, and perhaps a little heavy and not as comfortable to use as the older iPhone3. It is a good piece of kit and so it should be at the price charged and it has worked well despite me hating iTunes and everything associated with it. The new iPhone5 is again a lovely phone and is what the 4S should have been but to my mind mobile phones have moved on in leaps and bounds and I think Apple may have been caught napping a little.

I have decided that my next phone will probably be the Nokia 920 as its predecessor was the most comfortable phone to hold and if Windows 8 performs as well as it is being suggested then it is all that I want. Having links to my main PC's with Word etc is a wonderful bonus as is being able to do what I want with my music rather than what Apple will let me do.

You might say that I have been a reluctant Apple user and that is probably true but again I was brought up in an era when you built your own PC with whatever bits you wished inside and of course you could never do this with anything Apple.

"I think Apple may have been caught napping a little."

You may be right - the Samsung Galaxy S3 is giving the iPhone5 a run for its money in the UK market as far as sales are concerned. That may in part be due to the fact that Apple virtually ran out of stock post launch. Stocks are recovering now, however, so we'll see.

Woolwell

Analysing technology sales statistics is notoriously difficult, due to the fact that people tend to hold back when a launch is imminent. Then when the new model is released you can get a flood of sales in the first few weeks, followed by a stabilising period.

It's a case of waiting to see how things settle before drawing conclusions.

The US patent system seems to be retrospective - they grant a patent for pretty much everything that isn't obvious, then let the lawyers fight it out.

This is probably why almost a third of the world's lawyers live in the United States

"The iPad has sold 84 million units worldwide so far, and there's a reason - it's simply the best tablet on the market by far."

That's your opinion, but it isn't mine.

You can't justifiably make a claim like that when it's only opinion and your perception of a device. I accept you believe that, but it doesn't mean we all have to follow like sheep.

Furthermore, some people are influenced by brand name and all credit to Apple, they have built a phenomenal brand. In addition, the ipad was first to market and therefore had first mover advantage.

I stand corrected on the intricacies of law. The fact remains, rounded corners do not justify design. You can point to any number of items that have rounded corners, including previous mobile phones.

Personally, I'm grateful the judges in this case moved to stop this nonsense here in the UK.

If they truly have innovative design, then of course it has to be protected. But this wasn't about infringement, it was about monopoly. And monopolies are never good for consumers.