Bad news for people in Europe who wanted to get hands on Samsung’s new tablet,
the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Today the german court has dismissed Samsung’s case
against the sale prohibition of the Galaxy tab. The court reviewed the complete
case and finally found that Samsung did not hold the necessary distance to Apple

Okay, let’s look at the two items in question first:

So… okay, the Galaxy tab really looks relatively similar to Apple’s iPad2 but hey, the design is not so similar that it would underline Apple’s fears that customers could be misled by Samsung. First of all, the flat design with rounded corners, well it’s the basics of a tablet in my opinion. Shall chocolate manufacturers now start lawsuits againts other chocolate manufacturers because their chocolate also comes in a 6 by4 grid, or because the chocolate has ripples?

Milka Chocolate 6 by 4 grid (Kraft Foods)	Sarotti Chocolate 6 by 4 grid (Stollwerck)
And tomorrow: Kraft Foods sues Stollwerck and other chocolate manufacturers

That’s what Apple tries to broadcast with their lawsuit. Samsung is not allowed to sell the tab as it violates Apple’s design patent…

Would the Galaxy tab have only one single home button in front, okay, then Apple could have a real strong argument…
And look at the sizes. While the Apple iPad comes with a classic 4:3 form factor, the Galaxy tab goes rather a 16:9 factor.

So the fact that the tablet basically is a flat thing, and that’s one of the many things Apple is sueing Samsung for, makes me question Apple for not sueing Acer, Toshiba & Co. Especially when you look at these pictures…

Toshiba Folio 100	MSI Wind tablet
Similarities to Apple’s iPad2 : round corners, black bezel frame, chrome frame… no lawsuit from Apple!

Well, odd enough, that Apple did not sue MSI or Toshiba for violating design patents… really makes you think…

So what could be reasons for Apple to sue Samsung solely? Has Samsung lately had some differences with Apple concerning part delivery such as memory chips or the display? Did Samsung raise prices for Apple? or is Apple dependent from Toshiba? No one knows for sure.

I think, Apple simply fears the power of Samsung’s Galaxy tab 10.1. Rumors say that the Galaxy tab is by far more powerful than Apple’s iPad 2 and offers more features also. And all that at a lower price than Apple’s iPad 2 does. Also Android’s Market (Android’s version of Apple’s AppStore) offers now quite many applications with the benefit that licence costs to publish applications are cut to zero and do not undergo so much censoring than publishers have to fear when releasing an iApp…

Well, make yourself a picture of the current situation. Apple in my opinion has lost many sympathy points by ther current and excessive lawsuit tour they are currently doing. Older blog entries from me have also statements on these also. Why does a traditional company finally have to perform such actions in order to stay number one on the market? Fear of other manufacturers? Lack of tolerance? Lack of new ideas?

Who knows…

Read about other (rather odd) lawsuits, Apple is currently on:

• Apple sues food manufacturer for his logo
• Apple vs. Google