This Email From Samsung’s Mobile President About the iPhone is Embarrassing

The court battle between Apple and Samsung that has been going on now for a couple of weeks, is one of the more entertaining tech trials we have seen in some time. There have been leaked documents that were refused in court leading to judge scoldings, icon sets from Samsung that clearly a show a deep resemblance to those created by the company suing them, and now this story today. According to a document obtained by AllThingsD, Samsung’s mobile leader JK Shin, likens the difference between Apple’s iPhone UX and Samsung’s (at the time) to “Heaven and Earth,” following up by calling it a “crisis of design.” 

Here is the exact quote:

“Influential figures outside the company come across the iPhone, and they point out that ‘Samsung is dozing off.’ All this time we’ve been paying all our attention to Nokia, and concentrated our efforts on things like Folder, Bar, Slide,” Shin wrote. “Yet when our UX is compared to the unexpected competitor Apple’s iPhone, the difference is truly that of Heaven and Earth. It’s a crisis of design.”

Followed by one that calls the iPhone UX, the “standard”:

“When everybody (both consumers and the industry) talk about UX, they weigh it against the iPhone. The iPhone has become the standard. That’s how things are already.”

He then trashes their own Samsung Omnia, talking about how difficult it is to use in comparison:

“Do you know how difficult the Omnia is to use? When you compare the 2007 version of the iPhone with our current Omnia, can you honestly say the Omnia is better? If you compare the UX with the iPhone, it’s a difference between Heaven and Earth.”

Now, these quotes and this email do not prove that Samsung “slavishly copied” everything that Apple has done with the iPhone, but after seeing enough of the comparison photos floating around from the trial, this certainly isn’t helping the situation. Samsung will downplay it as they should, however, this whole picture doesn’t seem to be getting any prettier. Trying to prove that your rectangle was copied by another rectangle is one thing to argue about, stuff like this is simply embarrassing.

One thing you have to give Samsung props for, is that they realized how awful their phones once were and did whatever they could to improve upon them. They certainly did improve as they are the global leader in mobile. Whether or not they did completely copy all things Apple is up to the judge to decide. If I were them, I’d be thinking about that jump to the top, which may include a $2.5 billion price tag.

Via:  AllThingsD