I was rooting for the little guy to win in the Apple vs Samsung trial. Yes, I mean Samsung. There I said it.
On dear. Apple vs Samsung
As much as I love Apple products and Jony Ive there was something about Apple’s ferocious global legal war that made it look like a rich, spiteful bully – almost a James Bond villain that wanted the world or no one would have it.
I know Samsung isn’t innocent, is a giant tech corporation that had more than a healthy interest in Apple’s successful designs, and tried to bully Apple back with nearly as much under-the-belt punching.
See also: Apple A-Z
It probably has factories belching toxic smoke into the air all over the world, compared to Apple’s pure-white labs quietly pumping out everybody’s favourite gadgets.
But every time I envisaged Apple in the courtroom it was of a mean, white-with-fury–faced man with his fists curled tight in his pockets and with a switchblade peeking out of his sock. I can see him smirking now, heading home to his almost-bare house where he lives alone.
Samsung was the slightly fat besuited gentleman who knew he was a bit in the wrong but just wanted his say in court.
Of course these images are entirely wrong. Entirely. Samsung did bad. And it did bad purely to make money. It cut corners. It cut whole buildings. It copied some of Apple’s gorgeous designs. Clearly it infringed on patents, and saved its own R&D money by following Apple’s.
Samsung can afford $1 billion, and deserved to pay for its sins. I’m not crying for it. So why my sense of unease?
Why on Earth was I hoping Samsung would win?
I didn’t desire a triumphant Samsung victory – just a little pat on the back from the judge and a Paddington-like hard stare at the Apple lawyers. Maybe a little humility in Cupertino. Ok, that's asking a lot.
To put it simply I didn’t like Apple’s bullying, mean persona. It doesn’t sit with my rose-tinted, fanboy view of the company.
From the moment Steve Jobs spat out his fury at Google’s Android platform I started to look at Apple rather differently.
"I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong,” snarled a sick Jobs.
This seemed more like vengeance than justice.
I’ve followed Apple for years, used a Mac since 1986, attended every Steve Jobs Macworld Expo keynote between 1997 and 2006 – and even some by Michael Spindler. I’ve interviewed John Sculley and Gil Amelio, both lovely men.
I was once knocked down by Steve Wozniak rushing to bear hug Steve Jobs, and collided off a momentarily confused Jobs before hitting the floor. (He didn’t help me up.)
I share the same birthday as Jobs. I even have the same initials, for goodness sake. But I am allergic to apples.
I remember Apple when it used to tell you about every product it planned to release in the next six months. I queued up for the first iPhone. I was the third person in the UK to own an iPod.
I genuinely don’t know how to use a Windows PC. I couldn’t listen to The Rolling Stones’ Start Me Up for years after it was used to promote Windows 95.
I love Apple products. I sometimes even use my Apple TV. Jony Ive (born in the same month and county of England as me) can do no wrong.
I used to pray that Apple would smite the evil Microsoft, hissed at anything with an Intel sticker on it, felt starry when I met an extra from Apple’s 1984 ad.
But Apple vs Samsung changed something in me. Even though I should have been rolling out the bunting at the jury’s decision to kick Samsung’s butt, I felt a little sad and fearful that this will just make Apple even smugger and more vindictive – even less like the Apple I cherish in my heart.
I am thankful the US trial didn’t go on for years, although I’m sure now that Apple has tasted blood there’ll be more cases like it, and attempts to ban anything without an Apple logo on the back.
As I wrote earlier in a piece about Apple’s own naughty nicking (“Apple’s Stainless stealing”) this saga had the potential to become a digital version of Dickens’ Jarndyce vs Jarndyce – “This scarecrow of a suit has, in course of time, become so complicated that no man alive knows what it means.”
Like Dickens I find the prospect of packs of lawyers drily arguing over things that should have no place in a courtroom quite depressing – distasteful, even.
I’ll pick myself up, maybe linger by the Samsung section of my local PC store, and, for a few days, put a tea towel over the SE 30 that sits behind my desk.
I’ll get over it. Heck, I might even start liking Apple again after a week or so – if it greets the jury’s decision with quiet agreement and gets on with creating wonderful technology and not stopping a little healthy competition every now and again.
But in the meantime… “Come on, Windows 8!”
Comments
apple-fan said: With all sympathies pouring out for Samsung a neative for Apple would have created the new Microsoftallies to grind Apple in to dust a second time Apple just made good what they lost with PCs not a second time loss of what they inventeddeveloped what ever but it is they who did it
dourscot said: LOL but thats exactly what Apple didRead the book Startup to see how Apple hired staff and allegedly stole intellectual property from a defunct company called Go Computing in the early 1990s to build its famous Newton handheldThe Newton is the long-lost descendant of the iPhone
dourscot said: But Apple has exhibited bullying behaviour for decades - it is not alone in this so why has it taken until now for some Apple acolytes to grasp this If the Samsung case serves one purpose it is to bring some people face to face with the unpleasant truth
Roodlesnouter said: BEN ChaneyThats exactly what Jobs did to build his company he wasnt a great innovater people believe him to beDisney are not the only company where it all started with a mouse In this case the mouse being an electronic device to move a cusor around a screen not one with be squeaky voice and a long tailThis product invented by xerox was stolen by jobs and repackaged into a cheaper product to steal market shareAs for the pantents stolen they should never of been patented in the fiest placeWhere do you draw the line what if the first pwrson to use a play button put a patent on it Its the same as double tap or pinch to zoom they are all natural ways to operate a deviceSame with looks yes they look the similar but so do many cars dvd players tvs even microwave ovensApple are no longer the only player in a market they used to monopolise they dont like competition so try to strangle it so they can carry on charging inflated prices to there loyal sheep sorry customersThe outcome was always going to be same in californian court ruling for a californian company You talk about fair thia was hardly a fair trialThe funniest thing in of this is that i products run on Samsung components now theres innovation for you Talk about biting the hand that feed youThe only losers here are the consumers sad vey sad
John said: Apple vs SamsungPoetic JusticeBy pursuing this desperate strategy of trying to scare off its biggest and most effective competitor from the US market Apple has sown the seed of its own destruction and continued demise as the once premier smartphone producerDespite the jurors dubious findings in favour of Apple the results has led to a bad taste in the mouths of millions of iPhone users which are already bitter from the previously successful strategy of Apple in making cheap phones via China OEMs selling them at Exorbitant prices to US customersApple could get away with this in the past due to its hedgemony in the North American market but this is no more Samsung and the likes of Hua Wei are here to stayMany will now turn their backs on iPhones and MacBook Air when theres the choice of more technological advance and user friendly alternative s at a more competitive price as can be found with the soon to be released Quadcore Samsung Galaxy Note 2 with inbuilt LTE or 4G and the highly reviewed Samsung Series 9 UltrabooksBut the most destructive result from this farcical trial its that if Apple tries to produce a phablet With A Stylus Interface which has proven to be hugely popular amongst international smartphone users it has set a precedent for Samsung to sue Apple for billions of dollars and ban future Apple stylus driven smartphones in the US of AThat would be just deserts indeed
Ben Chaney said: Its not fair to have some company steal great innovations and package them into a cheaper product and steal market share Thats why Apple won