Samsung's VP for Design Offended by Apple's Allegations of Copying

[kdarling]

watch steve jobs iphone announcement from 2007 one more time where he shows the 3 predominant smartphones before introducing the completely different iphone. it was a paradigm shift.

He only showed phones with keyboards, not ones with touchscreens. Having a touchscreen wasn't the paradigm shift; it was making all the elements finger-friendly sized.

even some humor then as first he showed the iphone as an ipod with a dial

That was his way of covering up the fact that they had started with such a phone design, and had even patented it. Some people here then tried to claim that the patent itself had been done as a joke or misdirection (I'm sure the USPTO would not think so), but they were later proven wrong in Jobs' biography.

no way anyone could compare what was on the market then with the new iphone.

Yep.

also watch steve ballmer's reaction: $500 for a PHONE??!! he mocked.

You mean $600. Ballmer was right. Apple had to soon drop the price to $400 to keep up sales. The NY Times renamed it the "Chump Phone" for early adopters, and Apple's help site exploded with angry owner posts. Jobs had to admit he had "abused the trust" of early adopters and gave out the infamous $100 credit.

It wasn't until the next year when Apple dropped the royalties and allowed carrier subsidies that the price hit the sweet spot of $200.

 

[gnasher729]

To be fair, I can imagine designers having a hard time trying to make their phones look different after Apple came out with such a simple and yet functional design with the original iPhone. Didn't Steve Jobs say it himself at the very first unveiling in 2007, as he congratulated his team—that one day all phones will be like this, and they will be able to look back and see how big an impact they had? Anyone else remember that quote?

I would say that the iPhone 4 looks quite different from the iPhone 3. So different that if someone had come up with that design in late 2007 or early 2008 Apple wouldn't have had any legitimate reason to complain.

As far as Minhyouk is concerned, I would suppose that he is a decent designer, or Samsung wouldn't have hired him. I would assume that he was given orders to create a product that looks as similar as possible to Apple's products while avoiding legal challenges. Not a position I would want to be in. I think what offends him is not the allegation that he copied Apple, but the allegation that copying Apple is the best he can do. I'm sure he could do better than copying Apple , but wasn't allowed to.

Given that he is a Korean speaker, he was probably misquoted. What he probably really said was "Ive created a completely original design."

This sentence truly demonstrates how important it is to put apostrophes in the right places.

 

[jerrykim16]

Guys this is really ridiculous. Samsung copies Apple like hell. If they wanna become like Jony Ive, then why don't they fix the "8.0 MEGA pixel" text on the front rear camera

 

[kdarling]

I think their designer was just following up what his boss had talked about a couple of weeks earlier:

Samsung Says "No Compromise" - Korea Times

Samsung feels that nobody should have a design lock on rounded-corner, flat screened devices, and they're willing to fight over it.

Samsung also reportedly believes that Apple's lawsuits have actually helped it, due to both the extra free publicity and because many people now see them as the underdog to cheer for instead of Apple.

 

[sodimm11]

hmmm

I was an early adopter and had been waiting for years for a better phone. I looked at the palm treo but never got it. there was NOTHING readily available that remotely resembled iphone before iphone.

I gladly paid $600 and wasn't mad about the price drop. my friends and family who mocked all have iphones now. coworkers who got imitations in ensuing years all have iphones now.

I used the $100 credit and got iphone accessories. and I used that original phone 3 years. and was always very happy with it. I have never imagined getting an imitation. and you walk in att now and that's all you see -- imitation after imitation. and the iphone which started it all

I'm not a tech specialist I'm a consumer. as a consumer I saw nothing like the iphone before iphone, and a whole lotta copies since.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Apple paid for an unfinished product, finished it, and improved it:
http://obamapacman.com/2010/03/myth-copyright-theft-apple-stole-gui-from-xerox-parc-alto/

You know using a blog is not a valid source much less using one that is an Apple fanboy blog.

 

[throAU]

If it looks like a pig and acts like a pig, it must be a pig.

"I've made thousands of sketches and hundreds of prototype products (for the Galaxy). Does that mean I was putting on a mock show for so long, pretending to be designing?"

In other news, sales of tracing paper are up.

 

[LeoCastillo]

Just wondering..

how many variations of phone style can you have?

Circular? Where should you put the buttons at? At the center or top?

As much as I think that Samsung copied the design concept from Apple, I also don't see how many design concepts you can get from there..

Any rational designers will come up with the similar design concept for phone depends on their types.. (touch screen).

If you plan to patent every shape and design as your own, maybe these company better come up with circularly phone, triangular phone, and etc, etc, just to protect themselves from copy infringement lawsuits in the future..

This phone design copying seems BS in my opinion..

I hear this all the time. All you need to do is to look at the Nokia Lumia. That does not look like an iPhone at all (it doesn't need to be a circle or a triangle dude).

 

[Giuly]

Totally different design language.

Come on, guys. Can't you see that it's a completely different product? The home button is squared! The front-facing camera is half an inch to the left!

 

[sterlingindigo]

They did it again. Just when I thought I had buried most of my pity from their try-too-hard tv commercials, now I have to deal with this botched save-face attempt.

 

[Kendo]

He only showed phones with keyboards, not ones with touchscreens. Having a touchscreen wasn't the paradigm shift; it was making all the elements finger-friendly sized.

That was the point. He showed the top smartphones at the time. Not some no name touchscreen phone that sold 100 units. When you thought of smartphone in 2007, you thought of a Blackberry or a Palm or a Sony or a Nokia. No one could have anticipated the revolution that a touchscreen would provide until the iPhone came out. Now every smartphone out there has a touchscreen and none utilize the keyboard (except for the BB).

 

[dwak]

Samsung's VP is full of crap. The Koreans have been copying everything for decades. From sneakers to helicopters. They copied the hardware and Google copied the OS. What retards.

+1

I am posting this from the land of Kopycats....KOREA

I am not korean.

Samsung, LG, Hyundai, KIA...all nothing but the world's copycats...Samsung Autos have also slavishly copied Bimmers and Mercs too...disgusting. Just a matter of time and they will start exporting them around the world and start claiming that the germans are copying the koreans! lol

Stupid people around the world buy their cheap crap and support it...

Try living here in the land of fake and copy....shall I even get started on the fake Kpop stars and all that plastic surgery?

The pretentious LG/Samsung overthetop commercials for their products on the tele drives me nuts.

Anyway, rant off and my first post was not very "warm and fuzzy" but I just had to comment.

 

[kalsta]

Given that he is a Korean speaker, he was probably misquoted. What he probably really said was "Ive created a completely original design."

Ha, ha… that's gold. Now tell us… Is that your own joke or did you copy it…?

 

[TheMacBookPro]

It is MacRumors or haven't you noticed?

To the average punter they would look alike. You're talking about detailed device inspections, it's "at first glance" is where the problem is.

No- even when you just glance at the devices, it should be immediately obvious whether that's a Samsung device or an Apple device. If the rear is glossy and has an enormous chrome Apple logo, then it's an iPhone. If the rear is plastic and there's a camera housing where the Apple logo would be, then it's a Samsung product. Same with the side- metal band? iPhone. Glossy plastic? Samsung. And as for the front? Big screen = Samsung, smaller screen = iPhone.

There's no need for a detailed inspection- it might look like a lot of information to compare but when one looks at things the above thought process passes in mere seconds.

Image

Ah yes, the images with the app launcher shown rather than the actual homescreen. How's this one?

If you really mistake one for the other then you seriously need glasses.

+1

I am posting this from the land of Kopycats....KOREA

I am not korean.

Samsung, LG, Hyundai, KIA...all nothing but the world's copycats...Samsung Autos have also slavishly copied Bimmers and Mercs too...disgusting. Just a matter of time and they will start exporting them around the world and start claiming that the germans are copying the koreans! lol

Hahahahha.

I had no idea Samsung still has an automotive division? Samsung Motors made Nissan vehicles roughly 20 years ago, shortly before being purchased by Renault. Had nothing to do with BMW or MB vehicles.

You are either thinking of China or North Korea when talking about 'copied Bimmers and Mercs'. The older MY SKorean cars look original (they look terrible, but that's beside the point) and the newer ones simply look fantastic.

Stupid people around the world buy their cheap crap and support it...

Try living here in the land of fake and copy....shall I even get started on the fake Kpop stars and all that plastic surgery?

The pretentious LG/Samsung overthetop commercials for their products on the tele drives me nuts.

Anyway, rant off and my first post was not very "warm and fuzzy" but I just had to comment.

I live in Hong Kong. Now this is the land of fake and copy- South Korea is nowhere near 'a land of fake and copy'. I think it's your general tone, but that just really bugged me- you sound like a know-it-all.

 

[kdarling]

That was the point. He showed the top smartphones at the time.

No, he only showed phones with keyboards because he was making a point about soft keyboards at the time.

Touchscreen phones, which were derived from the touchscreen PDAs that were prevalent around the turn of the century, were popular among professionals. I had one, and so did all my fellow programmer friends.

Not some no name touchscreen phone that sold 100 units.

In 2006 alone, the year before the iPhone was announced, there were 5.6 million touchscreen smartphones sold worldwide.

Half of the phone models that HTC manufactured between 2002-2006 were touchscreen.

Heck, as mentioned previously, when the iPhone went on sale, there already were WVGA "retina" display WinMo touchscreen phones available.

No one could have anticipated the revolution that a touchscreen would provide until the iPhone came out.

A lot of people and companies anticipated a move to more finger friendly UIs, especially by 2006. They were just stuck having to provide legacy support (so they thought, anyway), just as Apple also now seems stuck catering to customers who hate change.

But you're right, I don't think anyone foresaw the sales increase it would bring. Not even Apple, who said they'd be happy to just get 1% share by the end of 2008.

Now every smartphone out there has a touchscreen and none utilize the keyboard (except for the BB).

Touchscreen models make up 75% of current smartphone sales.

 

[spacepower7]

That's not what journalists and academians around the world seem to think as in the Mobile World Congress who voted the S2 Best Smartphone and Samsung the Best Manufacturer. The only ones calling Samsung copycat are fanboys.



LOL Thanks for the good laugh, that's the funniest thing I've heard all week.

Do you think that the phone manufactures might have complained that they pay $100,000s for booths and floor space and they were mad that Apple got best phones in the past when they didn't even bother to show up. Don't those journalists work for newspapers and websites the need Samsung advertising dollars?

You joined this site this month, you're a troll to me until I see you post something educated rather than opinionated. Then I'll gladly change my opinion of you.

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In other news, sales of tracing paper are up.

It's nice to see someone with a sense of humor in this thread

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No, he only showed phones with keyboards because he was making a point about soft keyboards at the time.

Touchscreen phones, which were derived from the touchscreen PDAs that were prevalent around the turn of the century, were popular among professionals. I had one, and so did all my fellow programmer friends.



In 2006 alone, the year before the iPhone was announced, there were 5.6 million touchscreen smartphones sold worldwide.

Half of the phone models that HTC manufactured between 2002-2006 were touchscreen.

Heck, as mentioned previously, when the iPhone went on sale, there already were WVGA "retina" display WinMo touchscreen phones available.



A lot of people and companies anticipated a move to more finger friendly UIs, especially by 2006. They were just stuck having to provide legacy support (so they thought, anyway), just as Apple also now seems stuck catering to customers who hate change.

But you're right, I don't think anyone foresaw the sales increase it would bring. Not even Apple, who said they'd be happy to just get 1% share by the end of 2008.



Touchscreen models make up 75% of current smartphone sales.

You do realize those touch screen displays came after the Apple Newton?

 

[justperry]

Here's an example of how they ripped off the Motorola Razr back in 2005 when it was the hot product of the time:

http://www.engadget.com/2005/04/19/samsungs-v740-wonder-who-theyre-biting/

Not even close
If those are regarded as a copy you must be blind

 

[chatin]

Long tradition of Samsung shopping designs.

Samsung Penmaster was designed in U.S. Back in 1992 there was less pretense about design shopping.


They hired engineers from the original company that made the tablet (IDE) and called the company Samsung America.

 

[imgmkr]

It's the Samsung's corporate structure...

even if Samsung's designers come up with an original design, their boss would not risk his neck dare to try designs never been tried.
so the designers can make thousands of original sketches but in the end of the day their boss decide and order one's that look similar to the best seller, iPhone. So it's their chairman Geon-Hea Lee's style of whch maximum sales comes before good design.

 

[kdarling]

Do you think that the phone manufactures might have complained that they pay $100,000s for booths and floor space and they were mad that Apple got best phones in the past when they didn't even bother to show up. Don't those journalists work for newspapers and websites the need Samsung advertising dollars?

They also voted the iPad 2 as the Best Tablet. No advertising dollars to be gotten with that choice. Nor for the votes for the iPhone in previous years.

You do realize those touch screen displays came after the Apple Newton?

And IBM's Simon, etc. More examples that there were plenty of touchscreen devices and phones before the iPhone.

The Newton is especially interesting to bring up at this point in time, since it concentrated on pen computing for professionals who also need to make drawings, something that Samsung is embracing with its optional Wacom Pen implementations.

 

[Vanton]

Do you think that the phone manufactures might have complained that they pay $100,000s for booths and floor space and they were mad that Apple got best phones in the past when they didn't even bother to show up.

iPhone has won a total of 1 award at the Mobile World Congress.

Don't those journalists work for newspapers and websites the need Samsung advertising dollars?

Because no other companies in the world advertise? So basically Samsung bought the awards. LOL nice.

…. you're a troll to me until I see you post something educated rather than opinionated.

LOL talk about projecting YOUR characteristics onto someone else!!!!

Then I'll gladly change my opinion of you.

LAWL, promise?

You do realize those touch screen displays came after the Apple Newton?

They are talking about phones not pda’s. There are many previous examples such as the GRiDPad tablet which came out in 1989 and was a pen input touchscreen with drawing capabilities.

 

[baryon]

Define "normal people"

By "normal people" I mean 90% of people, such as those who aren't specifically into high-tech, those who don't really care about what their phone can do. Many of those who today have an iPhone or another smartphone, and 5 years ago had some random phone that made calls and texts.

As I just pointed out in another thread, we had browsing, GPS navigation, apps, Google Maps, Slingplayer, VoIP and in many countries, video calls, in what you think were the dark ages before the iPhone came along.

When you have time and a big screen, please read the article in this year 2001 CIO magazine entitled "Wireless in Manhattan", starting on page 90.

In it, a reporter roams the city using one of the first wireless data (19Kbps) smartphones.

You might be pretty shocked to find out that one of the apps she used was a Starbucks locator

Yes, we did have everything the iPhone had before the iPhone. But normal people (see above) didn't use those. The phone that article mentions was not used by normal people, either. The iPhone is. That's the most important difference, in my opinion.

Similarly, Apple didn't invent the computer, but they reinvented it in a way that normal people started actually using computers. And again, by normal people, I mean those who weren't NASA scientists or engineers. Pretty much everything Apple put into the first Mac was already available before, yet not many people felt the need for it.

 

[TheBronx]

By "normal people" I mean 90% of people, such as those who aren't specifically into high-tech, those who don't really care about what their phone can do. Many of those who today have an iPhone or another smartphone, and 5 years ago had some random phone that made calls and texts.



Yes, we did have everything the iPhone had before the iPhone. But normal people (see above) didn't use those. The phone that article mentions was not used by normal people, either. The iPhone is. That's the most important difference, in my opinion.

Similarly, Apple didn't invent the computer, but they reinvented it in a way that normal people started actually using computers. And again, by normal people, I mean those who weren't NASA scientists or engineers. Pretty much everything Apple put into the first Mac was already available before, yet not many people felt the need for it.

The haters don't seem to understand, or more likely, fail to acknowledge this hehe

 

[Chris CA]

Samsung Mobile's vice president for design Lee Minhyouk takes Apple's charges personally and denies the allegations:
"I've made thousands of sketches and hundreds of prototype products (for the Galaxy)."

after having looked at dozens of photos of iPads and iPhones. Don't tell me I'm not creative or innovative!"

 

[Retrostarscream]

 vs Samsung = Superman vs Bizzaro