Bidding war???Someone mentioned it end up being a bidding war for the technology ( POET ), if that happens I think you can throw Samsung in the mix along with Intel and Apple, JDS Uniphase and the likes. JMHO
Samsung Electronics has hit back against Apple with a tit-for-tat lawsuit a week after the US group accused its South Korean rival of "slavishly" copying designs of its iPhone and iPad.
Samsungfiled suits against Apple in South Korea, Japan and Germany on Friday,alleging infringement of 10 patents in areas such as data transmissionand wireless technology.
The move comes days before it launches anew version of its Galaxy S smartphone, and is the first against Apple,its biggest client as well as a rival. The South Korean electronicsmaker supplies Apple with microchips, memory chips and other parts.Analysts say Apple would struggle to find a supplier of the samecalibre.
Samsung's Galaxy smartphonesand tablet computers, which use Google's Android operating system, haveemerged as the main competitors to Apple's iPhone and iPad. Apple sold18.6m iPhones in the last quarter, while Samsung has startled rivalswith the rapid growth of its smartphone sales and is estimated to haveshifted 13m handsets between January and March. It aims to sell 60msmartphones this year.
"Apple is quite annoyed by Samsung's fastrise in a market which it virtually created," James Song, an analyst atDaewoo Securities, said. "It's quite threatening to see how quicklySamsung plays catch-up, and Apple might have felt a strong urge to put abrake on its march just when Samsung is set to roll out a newsmartphone in May ahead of its new iPhone."
Samsung said on Fridaythat it was "responding actively to the legal action taken against usin order to protect our intellectual property".Apple filed a lawsuitagainst Samsung a week ago, claiming that its Galaxy design featurescopy the iPhone and iPad. Its spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said then:"This kind of blatant copying is wrong." The US company brought 16claims against Samsung, including unjust enrichment, trademarkinfringement and 10 patent claims. But Samsung insists that the designof its products is the result of its own research and development.
Thelawsuits are the latest in the fiercely competitive £100bn smartphoneindustry. Nokia has sued Apple, while the US company has brought suitsagainst handset makers HTC and Motorola alleging patent infringement.
Theglobal smartphone market is set to grow by 58% this year, with Androiddevices expected to grow strongly, according to research firm Gartner.It estimates that the tablet market could quadruple to 70m units. TheiPad will dominate in coming years, but its market share is expected tobe eroded by Android devices and could fall from 69% this year to 47% in2015.