Interesting excerpts from a Reuters article 'Apple and Samsung, frenemies for life' this weekend. We were intrigued by the report that Jobs' successor as Apple CEO was opposed to suing Samsung, according to people close to him. The fact that Samsung is the main supplier of components for the iPhone and iPad plays a crucial role.
"Tim Cook, Jobs' successor as Apple chief executive, was opposed to suing Samsung in the first place, according to people with knowledge of the matter, largely because of that company's critical role as a supplier of components for the iPhone and the iPad..
...Cook, worried about the critical supplier relationship, was opposed to suing Samsung. But Jobs had run out of patience, suspecting that Samsung was counting on the supplier relationship to shield it from retribution.
Apple filed suit in April 2011, and the conflagration soon spread to courts in Europe, Asia and Australia. When Apple won its blockbuster billion-dollar jury verdict against Samsung last August, it appeared that it might be able to achieve an outright ban on the offending products – which would have dramatically altered the smartphone competition.”
The report also says that the Cupertino company has purchased nearly $8 billion worth of components from Samsung in the past year, according to analysts' estimates. Its partnership with Samsung dates back to 2005 when Silicon Valley was looking for a stable supplier of flash memory. Samsung was the world's leading manufacturer of flash memory with a 50% share. Since then, Samsung has become the main supplier of various components for Apple's iPhones, iPads, iPods, etc.
Cook, who was concerned about Apple's relationship with its suppliers, was opposed to suing Samsung. But Steve Jobs had lost patience with what he called Apple's blatant theft of ideas. He also believed that Samsung was being shielded by this partnership for legal action against it.
It's been almost 2 years since Apple first filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung, and last August it ordered SAMSUNG to pay over a billion dollars in damages. Apple also won a temporary injunction on products like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus that were developed in partnership with Google.
In conclusion, we can say that this dispute has no end, especially in companies of this size, and the war will continue indefinitely.
