Apple’s victory in court over Samsung for patent infringement may net the company upwards of $3 million in damages, but it’s really just an effort to slow the Android onslaught.
The money that Apple may get from Samsung is actually immaterial and irrelevant. The reality is Apple only has about mid-teens in terms of marketshare in the smartphone world, while Androids are have 70% of the market.
Apple’s story is a history of great genius followed by tortured decline. That’s because they’ve always seen themselves more like an art house. But the problem with treating your business like an art house is that you can’t price your products for mass adoption.
Android owes its success to the reality that its unsubsidized price point is a fraction of what Apple costs unsubsidized.
Unless Apple changes its stripes, despite its success in court, the company will still be an “also ran” because its price points are flat-out too high for most people.
As for Android users, nothing changes as a result of this Apple-Samsung ruling. For cell phone manufacturers, they may have to make changes in phones that will disrupt the marketplace and cost you a little more when you’re buying an Android.
But here’s hoping that the court ruling leads to more innovation all around.
