By James Temple, San Francisco Chronicle
Apple
scored a decisive victory in its closely watched patent suit against
Samsung last week, but it’s far from clear whether it represents a win
for consumers.
By all accounts, the case is really a proxy war
against Google, the maker of the Android smartphone operating system
used by Samsung, HTC and other handset manufacturers to compete against
Apple’s iPhone. The late Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, once a friend to Google’s co-founders, considered the search company’s move into mobile a betrayal that demanded revenge.
…
In the long run, then, there’s at least some hope that the decision
will finally force Apple’s rivals to stop playing catch-up. If you can’t
compete by imitating, you have to compete by innovating.
“What has to happen now is, Samsung has to find alternative ways to do things,” said Robert Barr, executive director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology. “It will ultimately give consumers more options.”