So there you have it. A darn-near perfect explanation of the GSIII design. Sure, it’s butt ugly, but it’s also 100% (well maybe 90%) lawyer approved. An amorphous, unsymmetrical blob that doesn’t come in black, with a non-permanent dock and non-square icons. There’s no way Apple can add this design to their Samsung lawsuit.
So Samsung, was it worth it? Your product won’t sell as well, but you won’t piss off one of your biggest component customers either. I understand the motivation, but I still feel like you’ve sold your soul.
When Apple started patent trolling, they basically admitted they weren’t going to win in an open market, and they decided to drag Samsung down with them. The crazy thing is, Samsung is letting them. They’ve ceded ownership of the rectangle and other common sense design traits to Apple, and did everything they could to bow down to their largest customer.
The result? A phone designed by lawyers. What a scary precedent.
The Samsung Galaxy S III: The First Smartphone Designed Entirely By Lawyers.