4 ms·

Well argued rebuttal of Apple's claim about Samsung copying its tablet design. Although I disagree on color. Before the iPhone, and after, electronic devices ha

Well argued rebuttal of Apple's claim about Samsung copying its tablet design. Although I disagree on color. Before the iPhone, and after, electronic devices have been all sorts of color. For example, the Kindle debuted in off white. Moto Razrs came in pink. Black is not the only logical solution. As the Nokia Lumia 800 has shown, there is still a lot of room for design in smartphones that don't resemble the iPhone as well. Samsung has no excuse.

jacobbijani 15y ago
Agreed -- The iPad is already available in white, and IMO looks even nicer than the black one.
pseudonym 15y ago
>>Black is not the only logical solution. Given that Apple itself has tablets shipping in white, I'd agree with this. This article does a good job of presenting how Apple potentially came to the answer of how a tablet should look, but as noted above, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's the be-all and end-all of tablet design. It just means that Apple tablets sell well enough to "force" everyone else into their vantage point.
JulianMorrison 15y ago
Black, white, and 50% grey do seem to be the attractors.
wmeredith 15y ago
Yeah, that point was dubious, at best.I have a white iPhone and you can, in fact, get a frickin' iPad that's not black.
bergie 15y ago
There is probably a reason why most TVs come in black - it makes the colors and the picture to stand out more. Go and take a look at the flat-screen TV section of any electronics store. All of them look pretty much alike, and actually also very much like iPad. The main difference is size, and iPad's rounded corners which are nicer to have in a device that you hold in your hands. You can even compare Nokia's circa 2005 Internet Tablet, the 770 with an iPad. Same black color, bottom corners are rounded. Sure, it still has some more buttons and a resistive screen, but it even came with a "smart cover" (turn the hard cover around, and the magnets in it will put the device to sleep) http://www.flickr.com/photos/bergie/4554791832/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bergie/4554791832/
- Pedrom 15y ago
  > There is probably a reason why most TVs come in black - it makes the colors and the picture to stand out more. Not all flat monitors come in black thought. I actually I prefer them on white or light gray. And for Flat TV's .. what about these ones?: http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/cpindex.pl?scy=TH&slg=ENG&sct=PLASMA_TV_SU&cat=TELEVISIONS_CA&grp=SOUND_AND_VISION_GR&session=20110801184059_66.249.72.3&ctn=42PF9966/98&mid=Link_ProductInformation&hlt=Link_ProductInformation http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/cpindex.pl?scy=TH&... http://www.techfresh.net/philips-aurea-ii-enhanced-fhd-1080p-lcd-flat-tv/ http://www.techfresh.net/philips-aurea-ii-enhanced-fhd-1080p...
- alldaybreakfast 15y ago
  I've been shopping for a new large screen tellie for a few months and while what you say is generally true, ironically given the situation, Samsung TVs are noticeably different from the bulk of the competition from their ultra thinness to their silver colour. Samsung tellies are noticeably unique. When it comes to small cameras one can easily say that a camera is a 3d rectangle with a lens but if you look at Sammy's NX100/200 series you'll see they went out of their way to make the camera look unique by giving it a curved face rather than flat. On the general topic, I remember being interested in tablets early on when they were a Microsoft thing and none of them looked like an iPad. Now almost all tablets look iPad like. Samsung in particular seemed to have gone out of their way to make a product that mimicked the look of an iPad. That being said, I'm sad that Apple has taken to the courts over these small issues. The best way to have a leading product is to make a leading product and then continually improving it so that customers want to buy it. This Apple does well. But as an Apple shareholder I'd say playing defence with court suits is a waste of $£ in my opinion but sadly Apple execs didn't ask me. On the other hand withdrawing the bulk of $8billion in parts purchasing from Samsung should have made the point alone IMO.
- ken 15y ago
  The article goes even further and makes the claim that "every TV has a black frame", implying that Samsung had no choice for their tablets, and shows a mock-up of a tablet with a red frame for comparison. In fact, Samsung makes TVs with red frames, which they brag is a feature: http://ars.samsung.com/customer/usa/jsp/faqs/faqs_view_us.jsp?SITE_ID=1&PG_ID=0&AT_ID=130181&PROD_SUB_ID=0&PROD_ID=133 http://ars.samsung.com/customer/usa/jsp/faqs/faqs_view_us.js... http://www.pause.com/wp-content/gallery/08-07-23-samsung/08-07-23-samsung-ps-50a750.jpg http://www.pause.com/wp-content/gallery/08-07-23-samsung/08-... So designers at Samsung are perfectly aware you can make the bezel other colors.

jacobbijani 15y ago

Agreed -- The iPad is already available in white, and IMO looks even nicer than the black one.

pseudonym 15y ago

>>Black is not the only logical solution. Given that Apple itself has tablets shipping in white, I'd agree with this. This article does a good job of presenting how Apple potentially came to the answer of how a tablet should look, but as noted above, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's the be-all and end-all of tablet design. It just means that Apple tablets sell well enough to "force" everyone else into their vantage point.

JulianMorrison 15y ago

Black, white, and 50% grey do seem to be the attractors.

wmeredith 15y ago

Yeah, that point was dubious, at best.I have a white iPhone and you can, in fact, get a frickin' iPad that's not black.

bergie 15y ago

There is probably a reason why most TVs come in black - it makes the colors and the picture to stand out more. Go and take a look at the flat-screen TV section of any electronics store. All of them look pretty much alike, and actually also very much like iPad. The main difference is size, and iPad's rounded corners which are nicer to have in a device that you hold in your hands. You can even compare Nokia's circa 2005 Internet Tablet, the 770 with an iPad. Same black color, bottom corners are rounded. Sure, it still has some more buttons and a resistive screen, but it even came with a "smart cover" (turn the hard cover around, and the magnets in it will put the device to sleep) http://www.flickr.com/photos/bergie/4554791832/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bergie/4554791832/

Pedrom 15y ago
> There is probably a reason why most TVs come in black - it makes the colors and the picture to stand out more. Not all flat monitors come in black thought. I actually I prefer them on white or light gray. And for Flat TV's .. what about these ones?: http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/cpindex.pl?scy=TH&slg=ENG&sct=PLASMA_TV_SU&cat=TELEVISIONS_CA&grp=SOUND_AND_VISION_GR&session=20110801184059_66.249.72.3&ctn=42PF9966/98&mid=Link_ProductInformation&hlt=Link_ProductInformation http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/cpindex.pl?scy=TH&... http://www.techfresh.net/philips-aurea-ii-enhanced-fhd-1080p-lcd-flat-tv/ http://www.techfresh.net/philips-aurea-ii-enhanced-fhd-1080p...
alldaybreakfast 15y ago
I've been shopping for a new large screen tellie for a few months and while what you say is generally true, ironically given the situation, Samsung TVs are noticeably different from the bulk of the competition from their ultra thinness to their silver colour. Samsung tellies are noticeably unique. When it comes to small cameras one can easily say that a camera is a 3d rectangle with a lens but if you look at Sammy's NX100/200 series you'll see they went out of their way to make the camera look unique by giving it a curved face rather than flat. On the general topic, I remember being interested in tablets early on when they were a Microsoft thing and none of them looked like an iPad. Now almost all tablets look iPad like. Samsung in particular seemed to have gone out of their way to make a product that mimicked the look of an iPad. That being said, I'm sad that Apple has taken to the courts over these small issues. The best way to have a leading product is to make a leading product and then continually improving it so that customers want to buy it. This Apple does well. But as an Apple shareholder I'd say playing defence with court suits is a waste of $£ in my opinion but sadly Apple execs didn't ask me. On the other hand withdrawing the bulk of $8billion in parts purchasing from Samsung should have made the point alone IMO.
ken 15y ago
The article goes even further and makes the claim that "every TV has a black frame", implying that Samsung had no choice for their tablets, and shows a mock-up of a tablet with a red frame for comparison. In fact, Samsung makes TVs with red frames, which they brag is a feature: http://ars.samsung.com/customer/usa/jsp/faqs/faqs_view_us.jsp?SITE_ID=1&PG_ID=0&AT_ID=130181&PROD_SUB_ID=0&PROD_ID=133 http://ars.samsung.com/customer/usa/jsp/faqs/faqs_view_us.js... http://www.pause.com/wp-content/gallery/08-07-23-samsung/08-07-23-samsung-ps-50a750.jpg http://www.pause.com/wp-content/gallery/08-07-23-samsung/08-... So designers at Samsung are perfectly aware you can make the bezel other colors.