“Whether the home field advantage was a factor or not [in the Apple vs. Samsung patent fight], the result was startling and unequivocal: a near-total victory for Apple. Almost all of Apple’s patents were upheld (the exception being their purported ownership of the basic concept of devices with rounded corners), and the jury awarded Apple $1.05 billion of the $2.5 billion they demanded from Samsung,” Andy Ihnatko writes for The Chicago Sun-Times.
“…If the decision stands, it’ll make it far, far more difficult, expensive, and risky to be a company that designs phones and tablets,” Ihnatko writes. “Samsung will be fine. The biggest losers here are consumers. If the verdict stands, then the costs of the judgment will be reflected in the cost of mobile devices. Furthermore, other manufacturers will feel the need to buy Apple’s official permission to build useful phones, passing down the possible $20-per-handset fee. And it’s possible that the next great phone, the one that shames the iPhone the same way that the iPhone buried the Blackberry, will never make it to market. Designing and selling an advanced smartphone just became a dangerous business.”
Ihnatko writes, “Friday’s verdict doesn’t feel like justice. It feels like the day when Apple lost a hunk of its public persona as sweet hippies motivated by excellence and freedom, who win by making the best products.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: You see, because the “sweet hippies” at Apple are supposed provide free multi-billion-dollar R&D for the rest of the world or something.
If Apple really thought the way Andy imagines they do, why did Steve Jobs patent Apple’s iPhone innovations?
Andy’s treacle makes no sense.
Three decades of being ripped off with impunity are more than enough.
Today [August 25, 2012] was an important day for Apple and for innovators everywhere.
Many of you have been closely following the trial against Samsung in San Jose for the past few weeks. We chose legal action very reluctantly and only after repeatedly asking Samsung to stop copying our work. For us this lawsuit has always been about something much more important than patents or money. It’s about values. We value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on earth. And we do this to delight our customers, not for competitors to flagrantly copy.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the jury who invested their time in listening to our story. We were thrilled to finally have the opportunity to tell it. The mountain of evidence presented during the trial showed that Samsung’s copying went far deeper than we knew.
The jury has now spoken. We applaud them for finding Samsung’s behavior willful and for sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn’t right.
I am very proud of the work that each of you do.
Today, values have won and I hope the whole world listens. – Apple CEO Tim Cook, August 25, 2012
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Tom R.” for the heads up.]
Andy, Samsung knowingly stole Apple’s IP. If anything, the Samsung engineers were acting like “sweet hippies”, thinking that it’s okay to steal someone else’s blunt.
Andy is a shill, always has been always will be. You would always have him visiting the Microsoft tit for sustenance and the. Printing verbatim what they told him to say. Now he is sucking on another appendage at Samsung. Is it a surprise to anyone who reads his drival? I think not!!
NYT & CST are for sale and Irrevelant that’s why people buy it on Sundays for double coupons and to line parrots cages. Thank God parrots can’t read or they would revolt for having to shit on these shitty newspapers. It’s a shame that no one has used the tools of the day to make them memories instead of the nagging pathetic shells of their former glory.
The New York Times is not for sale and has no connection with the Chicago Sun-Times.
Get your facts straight.
Total BS. Companies were making phones well before Apple did, and rather successfully. The fact that only, apparently, Jobs and Apple realized that the phones out there all really sucked, from manufacturing to user interactivity, simply showed up the complete lack of customer awareness and turgid R&D. Nokia rode their train for years. Motorola, at least, had a few interesting phones out there, the V70 for instance, which I particularly still love, even though it’s UI is complete shit. Apple showed us all that something better was possible. The rest of the useless bunch mostly just copied this innovation, and yes, are still trying to get away with it.
Fool me twice – FU
Fuk yoi
Andy Ihnatko got it entirely BACKWARDS!
I am so tired of people with NO business or creativity experience or knowledge SHOVE their ignorance into the fray and screw up everyone who reads and believes their NONSENSE.
I’m not going to give a Business 101 class here. But for those who seriously care about the meaning of this victory for Apple, go get some REAL KNOWLEDGE about how successful capitalism (as opposed to FAIL socialism) ACTUALLY works. You’ll find that Andy just made a blithering IDIOT out of himself. This is the single most shameful piece of TechTard/BizTard writing I have ever seen come out of Andy’s pen. I hope he crawls out of his ignorance cave and get’s some serious experience and facts into his life and noodle. YA HEAR ME ANDY?!
+1000
X 1000
There was a time when Andy was a fan of Apple products, that has changed of late. He continues to hold a chair on MacBreak Weekly but lately I find myself skipping most of his contributions to the show. He’s slowly turning into a hater. My recollection is that his opinion of Apple changed around the same time he started hosting his own podcast. One that Leo neglected to pick up on TWIT.
Andrej Ihnatko Has devolved into a total waste of human flesh, and has become no more than a lousy hit whore. His “opinions” are not worth clicking to see the whole article.
this really made me laugh: The biggest losers here are consumers. If the verdict stands, then the costs of the judgment will be reflected in the cost of mobile devices.
Why do these so-called self-important Dvorak clones keep repeating the same old bag of crap about how the consumers will be the losers here? The consumers will be the WINNERS as every smart phone manufacturer will learn how to innovate or go under. If they innovate beyond what Apple fields, then they go to the top of the hill and make out like crazy. If they don’t, then too bad. As Derek notes above, this is how the market (capitalism) works.
@Derek Currie: +1 on your response above. Andy has been flailing about for years and I haven’t read his fiction for some time, but seeing the quotes above leads me to believe that he’s been hanging around Rob Enderle too long.
Say no more. Knowing that Andy has a connection with Leo Laporte’s MacBreak Weekly says it all. Leo has been crapping on Apple for quite a while. His other show, Tech News Today, has become more and more a “stick it to Apple android fan show” over the past year. I think that Apple/Jobs must’ve spurned Laporte somehow.
– former regular follower of Tech News Today
Reminds me of someone else with NO business or creativity experience or knowledge Shoving their ignorance into the fray-
“If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that,”
That convenient sound bite, taken entirely out of context, is flame bait. Nice try.
Anyone with ears can go listen to the entire speech and have a nice revelation of exactly how propagandists cherry pick what they want to hear and pretend the rest of it doesn’t exist. Thus my term ‘PoliTard’ for those who never bother to verify the propaganda spewed into their vacant little heads. And yes kids. Both of the worthless US political parties pull the same dirty tricks.
Time for sane third parties to arrive…
Andy is just plain WRONG here.
Instead of having the iPhone, a dozen different unofficial and unauthorized iPhone clones and a few other different designs, the public will see many new and completely different designs and implementations.
Yes, eventually someone will come up with an iPhone killer. Maybe Apple will be that company! Apple was the only company to come up with a device that might some day be a Mac killer (the iPad).
Until then the public will see lots and lots of new designs. Some will prove interesting and great others will just die as they should.
“And it’s possible that the next great phone, the one that shames the iPhone the same way that the iPhone buried the Blackberry, will never make it to market.”
Yeah right. Apple will be the ones making that phone, too.
Agreed
Andy, when did you get stupid? This verdict FORCES other companies to actually be creative and innovative as opposed to being “slavish copiers”.
One of the dumbest essays I’ve seen for a while. Wow.
“essay” with a byline of “Andy Ihnatko” is a non sequitur.
You give the Green Hungarian too much credit.
So… Seems obvious that forcing other companies to design their own “NEW” devices is the opposite of “stifling competition”… And ultimately good for the consumer!!
Actually MDN and Ihnatko are both correct.
This ruling will make it more expensive for competitors to develop competing products…
Andy seems to be arguing that this is unfair, however MDN argues that this brings the companies back to the level playing field that Samsung’s IP theft tried to circumvent.
Yes, they will actually have to pay someone to create a design.
Yeah, imagine that, poor copy-cat companies can no longer automatically use some of the iPhone features as a springboard for their own products, how unfair indeed! Do these people really not get that Apple is under no obligation to act as the R&D laboratory for the whole world, just like Tim has stated? Unbelievable…
You know, until recently I thought Andy Ihnatko was a genuinely smart guy. What on earth happened to him and Leo Laporte? I guess they bought the BS by Google hook line and sinker…and now even the bigger BS spread by Samsung. It’s been sad to witness.
-former regular follower of MacBreakWeekly
I hear you too. With this essay and Andy Ihnako’s completely out to lunch assessment as well as Leo Laporte’s often unfair balance I think I am also done with MacBreakWeakly. They should now call it GiveGooSungABreakWeekly. (What happened to these guys?)
Andy should go back to doing what he does best – stuffing his face with pancakes and syrup.
That being said I think this is the first REALLY flame-baiting article I’ve seen from him – then again, maybe his stole someone else’s article and just put his name on it.
Once again, Andy proves his worthlessness…
Furthermore, other manufacturers will feel the need to buy Apple’s official permission to build useful phones, passing down the possible $20-per-handset fee.
Yeah, Andy, they could do that. Or… just throwing this out there… Or they could come up with their own ideas!!! Is that such a radical fscking concept?
——RM
It seems like a 1 sided story. It’s okay if other companies sue Apple but when Apple does something then suddenly its bad for consumers?
Copout! B.S.!
Copycats need to use there own money, there own R&D, there own brains and make there own products. Not reverse engineer everything Apple does and slap there own name on it. Consumers will be fine.
Let them invent their own stuff, Andy. And get help.
Andy is full of shit. He needs to grow the fuck up and smell the flowers. Its OK with him if Samsung steals Apple’s innovation, all in the name of competition.
You infringers listen up … FUCK YOU! If the result is that only Apple builds tablets or phones, SO BE IT. They played by the rules, they patented it, now this assdumb Andy fool wants them to just give it away so their is more ‘choice’.
FUCK CHOICE. Lets follow the fucking law.
If you understand competitive cycling and know a bit about the Tour de France, the front runner of a team, the mule (domestique) does most of the work towing the team leader behind him. In Lance Armstrong’s USPS & Discovery Teams, George Hincapie would be that man.
This is called slipstreaming and is legal. This is the reason why in most cases the peloton will catch a lone breakaway rider that is half a kilometre ahead by reeling him in by increasing the tempo. It’s a group effort. But the last couple of kilometres up the mountain stages, the lead riders are on their own as they seek to increase the pedal rate to drop their rivals along the way.
In technology, it’s a well known fact that a certain degree of slipstreaming is inevitable – you don’t reinvent the wheel when there are templates to be used. But to get to the pinnacle of tech, up that mountain, you have to ride alone, in other words you need to introduce inventions that break the existing paradigm to enable you to be propelled to the top.
So at the end of the day the patent system rewards innovation – the work required to get to the top of the mountain. If you want to beat Apple, then you’ll have to grow your own wings.
Very nicely said.
Well said!!!!
Solid. Like the cycling analogy.
A lot of mac tech writers are trying to grow their bases by embracing everyone else, or they don’t want to be left in the cold if Apple is ever not hot anymore. Just look at Paul Thurrott, who’s now in a panic that Microsoft will become a minor player. He said it on Windows Weekly. It seems so false. Leo Laporte is another and Macworld now wants tech hive. It’s a cowardly position.
Thanks to MacDailynews, John Gruber and Jim Dalrymple for having the guts to like what they like.
Yes, absolutely – I, too, have witnessed this reposition, so to speak, take place within the last year or so. I can no longer stand watching MacBreakWeekly with their endless promotion of Google this and Samsung that, and it used to be one of my absolute favourites not so long ago… a shame, really.
“And it’s possible that the next great phone, the one that shames the iPhone the same way that the iPhone buried the Blackberry, will never make it to market. Designing and selling an advanced smartphone just became a dangerous business.”
He shoots himself in the foot with that statement. The Blackberry was the king of phones. iPhone looks and behaves nothing like it. Apple didn’t simply copy the BB and throw it off its pedestal, it innovated and made something new. Let other companies do it’s on R&D and come up with something new and better. Don’t steal others work and reap the benefits. Out and out theft is the only thing that’s become dangerous business.
Wow! This article has really lowered my opinion of Andy whom I always though was a smart proponent for Apple.
+1
Can’t wait to hear him this week on MacWeek Daily and his comments on this backlash.
What happened Andy, a long time Mac guy?
Don’t worry, Leo will protect him. Two Google lovers together.
Steve nailed it when he banned that dumbass from Apple. Poor Leo, I hope your Google friends keep paying you.
I remember when Leo was furious that someone stole the name “This week in…” That was worth his anger, but Samsung and Android stealing important stuff doesn’t bother him. He switched to Android because he was afraid of being called a fanboy. He’s a fake.
+1
I’m about 1 episode of Leo and Andy defending Google/Android/Samsung’s actions away from unsubscribing.
I like hearing about cool features in other products, but the recent negative attitude towards Apple and praise/free pass towards Android & Samsung’s “innovation” with other companies IP is wearing thin.
1 — I too have had a rough time getting through MacBreakWeekly. Look guys like Leo and Andy are going to gravitate to Android; a platform that they can tweak and tinker with. This is their profession and hobby. I am saddened however to see their anger over Apple locking down iOS blind them to immorality of Google’s and Samsung’s IP theft. Andy’s column is bizarrely convoluted. This is not normal Inahtko.
Andy is clueless. Enough said.
Andy went over to the Leo Laporte, “I’m backing Google” side a while back. To stay on Laporte’s show, he eventually gave in to pressure from Laporte to praise any new Google based phone.
Laporte’s business is supported by Google and they have him their pocket. Poor Andy, why appear on a show where you have accept Leo’s view or suffer his anger. Laporte is so far up Google’s backside it is becoming laughable. Andy, pleas show some balls! You used to have them.
Peter, I seem to recall you making this claim about Leo before. Just curious if you have any facts or info to back it up, or if it’s just an assumption (albeit one that I’m inclined to agree with)?
Just listen to the show regularly. It’s obvious.
I already do… so, it’s an assumption, then? It’s possible, but it’s still just a guess.
Yeah, Andy, what was Steve Jobs thinkin’? He should have just posted all of the device designs on the Internets and let eveyone copy them and share in the rewards of a level playing field. Yeah. That’s the ticket.
Guess Andy believes that no other company can build a decent smartphone. Does he think Apple has cornered the market on “building a better mousetrap”?
Andy does not understand patent laws and abiding by them. Is he asking Apple not to innovate so well? That’s like asking Usain Bolt not to run so fast because his competitors can’t keep up?
“That’s like asking Usain Bolt not to run so fast because his competitors can’t keep up?”
10 years from now they will be able to detect Usain’s doping methods and be able to take his metals back, right Lance?
Andy used to be a tech journalist. Now, he’s a tech pundit.Pundits must exist in a world where the market leader is always perceived as a bully. andy has had too many Leo Laporte paychecks to remain on a level playing field. Andy’s nob these days is to generate audience. Much easier to do if you’re a contrarian.
Android users will finally have to shut up about how cheap their phone is, or find something besides price to whine about.
Maybe how their phone doesn’t seem to work as well as iPhone does?
Yup. We Mac users have always been willing to pay more for a superior product. Let’s see how much people really like Android.