Apple vs Samsung = $1 Billion Bruise for Samsung

Before jumping into this, let me first and foremost say that I love my Samsung Galaxy S2.  It is an amazing device, and probably the best phone I have ever owned (and yes, I have used Apple products before).  If you have read any of my posts, you'll know that I am a proponent for Android (mostly because it will built ontop of Linux).  And yes, I will admit that there are striking resemblances between my Galaxy S2 and my wife's Apple iPhone 4S (mostly in terms of interface design).

If you have kept up with any of the news surrounding the Apple/Samsung patent lawsuits you'll know that Apple was recently awarded $1 billion big one's for basically admitting that they copied the iPhone design.  So, I'll have to say I kind of saw this one coming.  And knowing that Samsung is getting hit in the pocketbook for their admitted plagiarism of Apple's hardware, it was no surprise that the patents will be upheld and we will probably be seeing some big changes to some of the basics of even how Android works across the board.

So what is affected by the results of this lawsuit?  For starters, this lawsuit will not just affect Samsung products, but in the end will affect Android at the OS level as well.  As obviously, Google will try to steer clear of Apple patented design traits.  No more dedicated home buttons on Samsung hardware (they were notorious on some of their phones to have a rectangular home button).  Things like app icon design will more than likely change as well just for beginners.  But things like the "swipe to unlock" bars, various multitouch gestures, etc.  This is a big deal people.

So it sounds pretty bad doesn't it?  Let's look at it from a different angle.  Maybe this is a good thing.  Maybe this lawsuit is what it took to get some innovation back into our mobile devices.  Let's admit it, for the last several years the world has laid in wait to see what latest gimmicks Apple's latest phone gives us.  And then you start to see similar things show up in other places.  So we have let Apple be the innovation leader in the mobile device market.  Maybe now is when our mobile devices meet a "theoretical" fork-in-the-road where new interface designs, new product features, and new phone designs in general could pop-up and even succeed.  Let's face it.  A lot of Android user's like and use Android because it is different than Apple.  And because it isn't an Apple product, point blank.  Yet, our devices are starting to look more and more like Apple devices anyways.  Maybe it is a well warranted time for a change.

Personally, I feel the growing pains and changes may suck initially.  Hopefully, Samsung won't outright nerf many features; simply reworking them with Google's assistance in a Jelly Bean update would be nice. Being realistic and knowing how the whole Android development/release cycle works, I think I may be living in a dream.  But eventually, we may be seeing the start of an Android rebirth that can once again make us stand back and say "That phone can do that! Amazing!" instead of the now common "Cool Phone!" posts we see on forums today.

Either way, it looks to be an exciting time for Android users.  Whether that exciting is positive or negative remains to be seen.