The ongoing legal feud between Apple and Samsung has become the stuff of legend – but if matters would have been left up to Tim Cook, the battle may never have taken place. According to a lengthy article from Reuters, Tim Cook was apparently against suing Samsung, but Steve Jobs was fed up with Samsung’s apparent copying of Apple’s designs, leaving Tim Cook’s thoughts by the wayside.
Tim Cook, Jobs’ successor as Apple chief executive, was opposed to suing Samsung in the first place, according to people with knowledge of the matter, largely because of that company’s critical role as a supplier of components for the iPhone and the iPad. Apple bought some $8 billion worth of parts from Samsung last year, analysts estimate.
Samsung, meanwhile, has benefited immensely from the market insight it gained from the Apple relationship, and from producing smartphones and tablets that closely resemble Apple’s.
[…] Cook, worried about the critical supplier relationship, was opposed to suing Samsung. But Jobs had run out of patience, suspecting that Samsung was counting on the supplier relationship to shield it from retribution.
The article provides a lot of insights on the benefits and disadvantages the legal struggle has had for each of the two companies, including degrading the supplier relationship between Apple and Samsung for iOS device components. Tim Cook’s concern about damaging that relationship was the motivating factor for his opposition.
Reuters rightly notes that the struggle may not be playing out as well as Apple would have hoped, as the company has not been able to secure sales ban’s against Samsung’s devices, which was among their primary goals. Loads of interesting comments and thoughts – it’s worth checking out the entire article at Reuters if you get the chance!
Some pretty amazing backstory behind the legal battle of the decade…
