The recent ruling for Apple and against Samsung is an important decision for tech and consumer electronics. Usually such pissing contests end in a stalemate, mired down by legal tap dancing and other litigious fluff. I was surprised to read that the ruling was so definitively in Apple's favor. This means that companies will have to further "watch out" as they look to ride the coattails of someone else's success. Clearly the iPhone has been a tremendous hit with users. Samsung, looking to grab a share of the market, modeled some of their devices to be as close as possible to garner some of the same excitement as an iPhone. According to the courts, they were too close. I've always thought some of the Droids looked like iPhones with larger screens. My suspicions confirmed!
Going forward, this decision will be good for Samsung. They have ENORMOUS resources and can bake new and exciting products that on their own merits will enthrall customers. The South Korean consumer electronics giant will learn from this and retool their design and development efforts. Guess who wins when that happens? We do. Users get more choices, more variety, Apple gets stiffer competiton driving them to hopefully continue great R&D as well. The pendulum swings nonstop for a reason...