Now that the Galaxy Nexus has finally been unveiled to the world, Samsung has admitted that the device was specifically designed with the thought of bypassing Apple patents to help avoid those lawyers we’ve seen so much from as of late. Talking to Yonhap News, mobile president Shin Jong-kyun mentioned the company “will avoid everything we can” and that they “take patents very seriously” and that obviously given the complexity of those situations nothing is certain.
After Google and Samsung delayed the announcement for the Galaxy Nexus rumors were stirring that it wasn’t just to be courteous and show respect for Steve Jobs, but also because the two companies were still working out some patent details and agreements and what not. Rumors also suggested some of Ice Cream Sandwich’s features would be modified to not overlap and touch on Apple’s IP.
Shown in the image above, you can clearly see the direction change, looking closer to the Nexus S rather than the Galaxy S II that has been a large part of the Apple attack on Samsung — well and the original Galaxy S that looked similar to the II. Shin also went on to say “We will see if [the new phone] will be 100 percent free” but that is yet to be known. He also mentions Samsung will continue to innovate and be strong and these lawsuits aren’t slowing them down, only cutting into the pride of their brand. Samsung has actually filed for a few of their own injunctions against Apple and the iPhone 4S in some area’s such as Australia and Japan recently but we haven’t heard much back on those fronts yet.
Whether lawsuits and patents were actually part of the cause of the delayed announcement aren’t actually known, but Samsung’s confirmation that they were looking to dodge future problems with the design and thought of the Galaxy Nexus makes me happy. It should also give a few potential buyers assurance to go snatch this amazing phone up next month once available. As an added bonus here’s our hands-on with the Galaxy Nexus, then check out the video below.
Galaxy Nexus hands-on:
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[via SlashGear]
Apple is still going to sue. Watch “what touch screen we INVENTED that” lol
I’d like to see a list of Apple’s patents which have been “infringed” so far by Samsung and other Android devices makers. I would not be surprised that it is so obvious that patenting that stuff is utterly ridiculous to begin with.