The documents, translated from Korean, are hard to read even in English due to all the code names and acronyms. At times, though, the message is clear.

“Google is demanding distinguishable design vis-à-vis the iPad for the P3 (the original 10-inch Galaxy Tab),” Samsung wrote in a Feb. 22, 2010, email summarizing a meeting with Google.

The documents, which had been disclosed ahead of the trial, were used on Wednesday by Apple to bolster its case that Samsung’s products copy the iPad and iPhone, thereby infringing on several design and function patents. Samsung, for its part, alleges its products don’t infringe, that Apple’s patents are invalid and that it is Apple that is infringing on Samsung technology.

Samsung had called one of the designers of the Galaxy Tabs, Jin Soo Kim, to testify that Samsung was working on its tablets, including the Galaxy Tab 10.1, before Apple introduced the first iPad. Apple introduced the documents as part of its cross-examination.

Testimony in the case is nearing an end, with both sides in the Apple vs. Samsung trial having just a few hours left under the strict time schedule set out by Lucy Koh, the federal judge presiding over the trial.

That same document also noted that Samsung was going with Google Maps even though it thought Nokia’s Navteq was better for cost reasons.

In a separate Feb. 16 email, Samsung senior designer Hyun Kim passes along comments from a colleague who attended a Google meeting. With regards to both the seven-inch and 10-inch tablets, Google suggested changes were needed.

“Since it is too similar to Apple, make it noticeably different, starting with the front side,” Kim wrote. “Please give a lot of thought, particularly to landscape Orientation.”

Here are the full documents:

0043

0042

Apple versus Samsung Full Coverage

Kim also made reference to a Jan 6. 2010 email that discussed work that had already taken place on that tablet. The goal of the project, Kim said, was to have the maximum display size in the least possible area.

In his testimony, Kim has talked about the thinking that went into Samsung’s design process for the tablet.

Now, this hasn’t come up in court, but Samsung actually changed its design of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 after its February 2011 unveiling at Mobile World Congress and following Apple’s announcement of the iPad 2. By March 2011, Samsung was showing off a slimmer design.

Samsung even touted the changes it made to the product at its booth at the CTIA trade show, where the thinner design was shown.

Kim, who designed car exteriors for Hyundai Motor before joining Samsung, is one of the industrial designers for Samsung’s Galaxy line of phones and tablets.

“I really enjoy what I do as a designer,” Kim said, via translator. “I’m proud of what I do. My understanding (is there are) 300 million people globally using mobile phones and other devices I’ve designed.”

Update, 1:35 p.m.: Kim now noted that the company had both a thicker and thinner design for the Tab 10.1. He’s now going into the history I mentioned, noting that it was first shown at Mobile World Congress with the thicker design.

Samsung never sold the thicker product in the U.S., Kim testified. Kim noted 80 different tablets were announced at Mobile World Congress and the company felt it didn’t have enough competitive advantage so it decided to redesign the product.

“We decided we would produce the lightest and thinnest tablet in the world,” Kim said.

Kim said that decision and the new design preceded Apple’s March announcement of the iPad 2 and noted the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is thinner than the iPad 2.

1:47 p.m.: Kim is handed several different Galaxy S II phones. Kim testified he designed each of them and that each of the models has a somewhat different design. Some of the devices have different screen sizes, Kim said, while others have keyboards that slide out.

Samsung then showed a slide showing Samsung had a range of different types of phones with varying designs both before and after the introduction of the iPhone.

Kim also was asked if he ever copied Apple in designing his phones and tablets.

“I have not,” he said.

1:55 p.m.: On cross examination, Kim agrees he is about four levels down in Samsung’s design heirarchy.

Apple’s lawyer Harold McElhinny is now quizzing him about the development of the Galaxy Tab products and the introduction of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 at Mobile World Congress 2011.

2:05 p.m.: Under questioning by McElhinny, Kim says he is not aware Samsung got feedback from Google that its tablet design was too much like the iPad. McElhinny is now pointing to a specific February 2010 email that went to various Samsung employees, including Kim’s superiors.

2:10 p.m.: McElhinny is pointing to a Samsung email that references a meeting with Google at which that company recommends changes to Samsung’s tablet. “Since it is too similar to Apple, make it noticeably different,” the email said, suggesting perhaps a landscape, rather than portrait, orientation.

A second document talks about the design similarity for the S series and the iPhone and, later, says that “Google is demanding distinguishable design vis-a-vis the ipad for the P3 (the Galaxy Tab 10.1).”

However, McElhinny said the decision that Samsung made was to keep its current design.

“That is correct,” Kim said.

McIlhenny followed up: “Is it your testimony under oath that no supervisor ever mentioned to you the discussion with Google?”

“That is correct,” Kim said.

2:17 p.m.: Samsung lawyer John Quinn is now asking Kim questions on re-direct, noting the P3 tablet referenced in the email was the version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 that was never sold.

With that, Kim was excused.

Samsung is now playing a longer part of the video of the Fidler tablet shown on Tuesday. The video talks about the emergence of a new class of computer known as tablets that was being developed at consumer electronics companies around the world.

2:28 p.m.: Samsung now calling Apple designer Richard Howarth, one of the designers that worked on the original iPhone.

Howarth is being shown a report from the 2007 Mobile World Congress trade show that discusses the iPhone and LG Prada and Samsung F700. Samsung’s lawyers show a couple additional documents and have them admitted but ask Howarth no further questions.

2:36 p.m.: Next up, Andries Van Dam is testifying about the invalidity of Apple’s “snap-back” feature. Van Dam said he is relying on two examples of prior art: The Tablecloth app that ran on Mitsubishi’s DiamondTouch system and LaunchTile. Both products were shown to the jury earlier this week.

Van Dam says he’s being paid $1,000 an hour — which he says has been his standard rate for several decades — and has racked up more than 400 hours in this case.

He says that “snapping” is a standard computer graphics feature and one that he teaches in his introductory computer science class.

Van Dam notes that he gets more requests for legal work than he takes on.

“Frankly, I much prefer doing research and teaching to legal work,” he said.

3:22 p.m.: Van Dam notes that the patent office didn’t consider LaunchTile when granting Apple the bounce-back patent.

Samsung has concluded its testimony but want the DiamondTouch set-up as part of its cross-examination. This will probably take a couple minutes. It consists of a table, a laptop and projector, among other elements.

3:25 p.m.: OK, DiamondTouch set up.

Apple lawyer Rachel Krevins is asking Van Dam if he is familiar with the device.

“I’m familiar with running Tablecloth on DiamondTouch. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for setting it up,” he said.

Krevins tried to get Van Dam to say that it was more like a touchpad for a computer than its own system. Van Dam said that it meets the definition of a touch screen display. “It’s a touch screen display,” he said. “It’s a touch screen display when properly connected.”

3:40 p.m.: Judge Koh updates the jury on a few things while DiamondTouch being put away. She tells jury that the sides have less than 10 hours combined remaining in their case, which means things should wrap up this week. They may get Monday off as the lawyers prepare the exhibits and settle various matters.

Closing arguments should be Tuesday, with each side getting 2 hours. Jurors will then have to listen as the judge reads upwards of 100 pages of jury instructions, which Koh estimated could take roughly an hour and a half. That could make for a slightly longer day than normal for the jury, but they agree to stay longer.

3:50 p.m. What’s likely to be the last witness of the day is Samsung expert Stephen Gray, a technology consultant. Gray is a former Xerox employee and was chief technology officer for NTN communications, a company that does those online interactive bar trivia games found at places like TGI Friday’s.

The silver-haired Gray said he’s fluent in a number of computer programming languages including COBOL, which he noted reflects his age.

He’s testifying about prior art for Apple patents including the one that covers scrolling with one finger and zooming with a two-finger gesture. Among the earlier works that he will rely on are the FractalZoom program as well as other efforts, such as Jeff Han’s 2006 Ted Talk on multitouch interfaces.

Samsung plays just a short clip of that tech talk. But you get to watch the whole thing:

4:09 p.m.: Gray now talking about LaunchTile. Samsung is trying to speed through his testimony but time is a ticking. It will be interesting to see how much time Samsung has left as of the end of the day.

4:37 p.m.: Samsung will end its case in chief tomorrow. Samsung has used up 22 hours and 25 minutes of its 25 hours before the jury, while Apple has used 18 hours and 1 minute.

Judge Koh said that means that the testimony will end by Friday. Apple has one witness, Susan Kare, who testified earlier, that it had hoped to recall. However, she is out of town and not available until Monday.

“The evidence is concluding this week,” Koh said. “I’m not waiting until Monday.”

That was one of the many interesting nuggets to be gleaned from the sales figures made public as part of a court filing on Thursday.

The filing offered a product-by-product look at how Samsung and Apple did in the U.S. from 2010 through the second quarter of 2012.

From the fourth quarter of 2010 through the middle of 2012, Samsung sold 1.4 million Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablets, generating $644 million in revenue. Over the same time period, Apple sold 29.7 million iPads, generating $14.8 billion.

Put another way, Samsung sold fewer tablets over that entire seven-quarter period than Apple did in its worst quarter. Its revenue over that time period was less than 5 percent of what Apple generated.

Here’s how the unit share looks graphically. (The revenue picture is even more bleak for Samsung.)

Apple versus Samsung Full Coverage

“All this time we’ve been paying all our attention to Nokia, and concentrated our efforts on things like Folder, Bar, Slide,” Shin wrote in the email, dated February of 2010, just one month before Samsung announced what would become its first extremely successful Android smartphone, the Galaxy S. “Yet when our UX is compared to the unexpected competitor Apple’s iPhone, the difference is truly that of Heaven and Earth.”

“It’s a crisis of design,” Shin wrote.

It’s important, considering Apple’s $2.5 billion case against Samsung involves whether or not Samsung infringed Apple’s patents for the iPhone and iPad with Samsung’s own Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets. Specifically, Apple is suing Samsung over the way its phones look and act, claiming Samsung “slavishly copied” Apple’s handset design.

But when Samsung strategy head Justin Denison took the stand, he downplayed the language used in the email, citing it as hyperbole typical of that used internally at Samsung.

“Samsung does an excellent job of remaining very humble, self critical and maintaining a sense of urgency within its own ranks to drive hard work and innovation,” Denison said. “We want to change so that it never rests on its laurels and becomes complacent. So you hear a lot of hyperbolic statements like ‘crisis of design’ and ‘heaven and earth.’”

Later questions to Denison from Samsung attorney John Quinn attempted to downplay the importance of being first to market with certain designs. Denison said Apple hasn’t always beaten Samsung to the punch. Samsung has introduced many technologies before Apple, he said, including voice recognition tech. But Denison said he didn’t feel “ripped off” when Apple introduced similar features.

So, for example, if the iPhone 5 were to come out tomorrow with a larger screen (a feature it is expected to sport), Denison said he’d be fine with it — even though one of Samsung’s most striking features in its recent line of smartphones is the inclusion of increasingly larger screen sizes. It’s an industry trend, he says, and isn’t something worth griping over.

There is strategy in this: If Samsung plays it cool whenever Apple makes strides that could be seen as similar to Samsung’s, then by Samsung’s logic, Apple should be cool with the same.

Alas, that’s probably wishful thinking.

Apple versus Samsung Full Coverage

“I believe there will be a 7-inch market and we should do one,” Cue wrote in the email, which forwarded an article written by a reporter that switched from the iPad to a 7-inch Samsung tablet. “I tend to agree with many of the comments below,” Cue wrote.

The email was introduced Friday during Samsung’s cross-examination of iOS chief Scott Forstall, who was among the recipients of Cue’s email. Forstall testified that Cue also used a 7-inch Galaxy Tab at some point.

Apple’s interest in a 7-inch tablet is noteworthy since the company is widely believed to be considering introducing such a product to complement its larger screen iPad. Analysts have said that they believe Apple has lined up supply for the screens needed to produce such a device.

Late Apple CEO Steve Jobs was an outspoken critic of such tablets, saying that one would only be practical if it came with sandpaper to make people’s fingers smaller.

Here’s an image of Cue’s e-mail, which was entered into evidence on Friday:

Apple versus Samsung Full Coverage

Court documents submitted as part of the company’s legal battle with Apple contain a product road map that features a forthcoming LTE tablet code-named “P10” that features an 11.8-inch display and a resolution of 2560 x 1600. That would give it a pixel density of 256 pixels per inch (PPI) — just short of the 264 PPI of Apple’s third-generation iPad.

Not a big surprise, really. After all, Samsung manufactures the new iPad’s Retina Display. Of course, Samsung won’t be able to refer to it as a “Retina” display; Apple is already seeking a trademark on the term as it applies to consumer electronics.

So when can we expect to see Samsung’s new Retina-resolution tablet? Perhaps at the company’s upcoming Aug. 15 Galaxy special event.

Issued earlier this month by Judge Colin Birss, the order requires Apple to post to its Web site and a number of British newspapers a notice explaining that a U.K. court has found that Samsung’s Galaxy tablets do not infringe the iPad’s design. Specifically, Apple was to link to Birss’s order from the front page of all its EU Web sites for a year and publish notices in the the Financial Times, the Daily Mail, the Guardian, Mobile Magazine and T3 magazine “in a font size no small than Arial 14 on a page earlier than page 6.”

A humiliating blow for Apple and one that the company immediately protested, arguing the order essentially forces it to advertise for a rival. Now that the order has been stayed, Apple will have the chance to argue that point further this fall, without having to buy ad space in those U.K. publications first.

Judge Colin Birss today ordered Apple to post a notice acknowledging his ruling on its Web site and in British newspapers. The notice, which is to state that Samsung did not copy the iPad’s design, must remain on Apple’s Web site for the next six months, and must appear in a number of U.K. papers and magazines.

A humiliating twist of the knife for Apple, which has repeatedly accused Samsung of “slavishly” copying its mobile devices, branding the company “a copyist.” If Birss’s order stands, Apple will be obligated to essentially publish an advertisement for Samsung.

A bitter pill indeed for Cupertino, following its allegations that the Galaxy line “blatantly imitates the appearance of Apple’s products to capitalize on Apple’s success.”

Apple, of course, can appeal. And you can be certain that it will. It has won injunctions against Samsung around the world.

Apple declined comment on Birss’s order. Samsung hasn’t yet replied.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh late Tuesday issued a ruling granting Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction banning sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the United States, pending further review. The Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, which Samsung uncrated last month, is not affected.

“Although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly by flooding the market with infringing products,” Koh wrote in her order, adding that the strength of Apple’s case on the merits left her no choice but to grant the injunction. “While Samsung will certainly suffer lost sales from the issuance of an injunction, the hardship to Apple of having to directly compete with Samsung’s infringing products outweighs Samsung’s harm in light of the previous findings by the Court.”

Now this is only a preliminary injunction and Samsung will certainly appeal it. But make no mistake, it’s a nasty blow to Samsung. Note that Koh issued her order a few days prior to a Friday hearing on Apple’s injunction request. Evidently, she didn’t feel the need to hear any further arguments on the matter before ruling on it. Which is interesting, as Koh denied a previous Apple request for an injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 last December.

Koh’s order will become effective as soon as Apple posts a $2.6 million bond to protect Samsung if it is later determined that the injunction should not have been granted.

Reached for comment, Apple reiterated the same message it has been hammering at since this debacle began. “It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,” spokeswoman Kristin Huguet told AllThingsD. “This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we’ve said many times before, we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

Meanwhile, Samsung took a shot at Apple’s case as well as its patent litigation strategy. “Apple sought a preliminary injunction of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, based on a single design patent that addressed just one aspect of the product’s overall design,” Samsung said in a statement. “Should Apple continue to make legal claims based on such a generic design patent, design innovation and progress in the industry could be restricted.”

The ruling in full below:

Aiming to get a sense for how powerful the tablet is, online advertising network Chitika looked at what devices it was serving ads to and found that it was almost exclusively Apple tablets.

For every 100 iPad impressions, Chitika is serving slightly more than one ad to a Samsung Galaxy and Asus Transformer Prime and under one ad to the Motorola Xoom, BlackBerry PlayBook and Kindle Fire. The Nook Tablet share is even lower, though clearly both the Nook and Kindle are marketed less as Web browsing devices and more as media consumption tools.

In total, the iPad accounted for more than 94 percent of ads, Chitika said.

It shows that not only are iPads outselling their rivals, but each one that is sold is also more heavily used, at least when it comes to Web surfing.

“Going forward the competition is going to be hard pressed to find a way to overthrow the seemingly omnipotent Apple,” Chitika said. “Not only do they offer a great product, they have the undying devotion of their enthusiasts.”

That’s exactly what Samsung product strategy executive Hankil Yoon did earlier today when he offered this candid assessment of the company’s efforts to field a successful tablet to reporters attending a media event at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona: “Honestly, we’re not doing very well in the tablet market.”

Which is, of course, true. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab line of tablets hasn’t really found traction in the market, which continues to be defined by Apple’s iPad.

An unusually frank admission for a Samsung exec, though Yoon did follow it by talking up the prospects for the Galaxy Note “phablet.” The company clearly has high expectations for the device, despite criticism of its stylus and 5-inch form factor (Walt Mossberg likened using it as a phone to “talking into a piece of toast”). Yoon says Samsung expects to ship 10 million Notes this year. That’s an aggressive target, but evidently the company feels it will be a big draw for the mass market.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120228/samsungs-not-doing-well-in-the-tablet-market-you-dont-say/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20120216/kindle-fire-claims-14-percent-of-tablet-market/ http://allthingsd.com/20120216/kindle-fire-claims-14-percent-of-tablet-market/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:07:08 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=175475 Apple’s leadership in the tablet market was shaken slightly in the fourth quarter of 2011, but not by competitors like Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab.

No, the iPad’s biggest rival was the newly introduced iPhone 4S.

According to a report issued Thursday by IHS’s iSuppli, the iPad’s share of the tablet market slipped to 57 percent from 64 percent in Q4 2011. But that decline was driven by its diminutive iOS sibling, not the Fire.

Said IHS’s Rhoda Alexander, “The rollout of the iPhone 4S in October generated intense competition for Apple purchasers’ disposable income, doing more to limit iPad shipment growth than competition from the Kindle Fire and other media tablets.”

Interesting, no? Seems the tablet market is looking more and more like the digital music player iPod market every day …

That said, the Fire performed pretty well. Amazon shipped 3.9 million Fires in the fourth quarter to claim 14.3 percent of the market. That makes it the world’s second-largest tablet vendor, surpassing Samsung, which has been in the market far longer and with many more devices.

“Kindle Fire shipments in the fourth quarter came right in line with the IHS early December forecast of 3.9 million units, representing a respectable start for the Fire.” Alexander explained. “However, the long-term viability of the product will hinge on the success of Amazon’s business gamble, which depends on tablet sales driving substantial new online merchandise sales at Amazon.com in order to attain profitability.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120216/kindle-fire-claims-14-percent-of-tablet-market/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20120213/samsung-readies-galaxy-tab-2-its-first-ice-cream-sandwich-tablet/ http://allthingsd.com/20120213/samsung-readies-galaxy-tab-2-its-first-ice-cream-sandwich-tablet/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:34:49 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=174057 Samsung on Monday announced plans for the 7-inch Galaxy Tab 2, the company’s first tablet running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and its first with built-in voice-calling abilities. The device is due to ship globally, starting with the United Kingdom in March.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120213/samsung-readies-galaxy-tab-2-its-first-ice-cream-sandwich-tablet/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20120206/samsung-says-not-involved-in-israeli-ad-that-has-iran-upset/ http://allthingsd.com/20120206/samsung-says-not-involved-in-israeli-ad-that-has-iran-upset/#comments Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:37:14 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=171891 Samsung said on Monday that it had no part in creating an Israeli ad that shows one of its tablets disabling an Iranian nuclear facility.

“Samsung Electronics is aware of a recent news report in Iranian media regarding an advertisement aired by HOT cable network of Israel,” Samsung said in a statement to AllThingsD. “This advertisement was produced by HOT cable network without Samsung’s knowledge or participation.”

Iran is apparently none too happy about the ad, with lawmakers reportedly considering a ban on Samsung products, under the assumption that Samsung was responsible for the ad.

Samsung, however, was responsible for a poorly received Galaxy Note ad that aired during Sunday’s Super Bowl, with the Twittersphere not taking too well to either the spot or the device.

Here is the Israeli ad in question:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120206/samsung-says-not-involved-in-israeli-ad-that-has-iran-upset/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111129/apple-wants-galaxy-tab-10-1n-banned-too/ http://allthingsd.com/20111129/apple-wants-galaxy-tab-10-1n-banned-too/#comments Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:11:19 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=148280 Samsung’s going to have to do a lot more than simply slap a metal border on its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet if it hopes to fend off Apple’s legal challenges. The iPad maker on Tuesday asked a German court to ban sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, a new version of the tablet with modifications intended to protect it from the Community Designs infringements Apple has claimed. A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 22.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111129/apple-wants-galaxy-tab-10-1n-banned-too/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111116/samsung-galaxy-tab-10-1n-the-n-stands-for-neener-neener/ http://allthingsd.com/20111116/samsung-galaxy-tab-10-1n-the-n-stands-for-neener-neener/#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:08:45 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=144901 With the holiday shopping season fast approaching and its intellectual property battle with Apple raging on, Samsung is tweaking the design of its Galaxy Tab tablet in the hope of slipping past a German injuction barring the sale of the original. It’s created a new version of the device.

Dubbed the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, this tablet features a much more pronounced metal border that extends further over the edges of its screen. Far enough, presumably, to distinguish its form factor from the Community Designs infringements Apple has asserted against it.

So now it looks a tad less like an iPad 2 (and a tad more like the original iPad). Question is, will that one adjustment make the design of the 10.1N distinctive enough to persuade a court that it’s no longer substantially similar to the iPad?

[Image credit: MobiFlip]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111116/samsung-galaxy-tab-10-1n-the-n-stands-for-neener-neener/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111020/samsungs-won-pyo-hong-live-at-asiad/ http://allthingsd.com/20111020/samsungs-won-pyo-hong-live-at-asiad/#comments Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:30:42 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=133800
The largest seller of Android handsets globally, Samsung is also the world’s second-largest maker of cellphones. And if Won-Pyo Hong — who heads global product strategy for the Korean giant’s mobile business — is right, it will soon be the first, surpassing Nokia, which has held that title for as long as anyone can remember.

Standing in his way is Apple, the world’s largest smartphone vendor and Samsung’s nemesis in an increasingly nasty legal battle over intellectual property.

4:25 pm: Hong takes the stage.

Walt Mossberg: So you just had a big honor or a coup, that new Nexus phone. The reference platform for the new version of Android is a Samsung product. What does that do for you, for Samsung? What does it mean for you?

Dr. Hong: Well, we always appreciate the close relationship with Google. And so through the, you know, thorough innovations in our company, we believe the relationship with Google is getting better and better. So this is one just example showing the integration between Samsung’s innovation and Google’s innovations and we are very excited about this device.

Walt Mossberg: Now this device is pretty similar to the Galaxy S2, right?

Dr. Hong: There are some similarity and there are some difference. So — in terms of OS platform, this is a new OS platform.

Walt Mossberg: Oh, I understand that, but I’m talking about the hardware. It’s pretty similar.

Dr. Hong: No, the Galaxy S2 is using a different screen and Galaxy Nexus is using more high resolution, higher resolution screen compared to Galaxy S2. And it’s a bigger screen as well.

Walt Mossberg: Yeah, it’s like 4.65 inches.

Dr. Hong: Four-point-six-five HD resolution.

Walt Mossberg: Is there — do you think everyone wants to carry around a phone with a screen that’s 4.65 inches?

Dr. Hong: Well, we believe there are different segments of the — in customers in the marketplace and we are confident that some group of people will be very pleased to use this larger screen on smartphones, not only larger screen, but also to provide excellent performance.

Walt Mossberg: Of course, people won’t be delighted to use a phone that has bad performance, but literally if you have a small hand, these things are little bit — they’re big to hold.

Dr. Hong: Yeah, you make a good point. And so we internally whenever we come up with a new design, we always analyze the aspect ratio of the screen with different resolution and we make sure the length of the device may not be that critical compared to the width of device.

Walt Mossberg: So you make them longer and skinnier.

Dr. Hong: A little bit longer and skinny and the HD resolution is perfect in that sense as well, so although it’s a larger screen and it will feel very comfortable to [hold] this device.

Walt Mossberg: Now, you’re the head of mobile strategy. Is that correct?

Dr. Hong: Product strategy and designs and services.

Walt Mossberg: Okay. Well, that’s an even better title. What do you think is the right price today for a high-end smartphone? And I ask you that because we’ve been at sort of $199 for — at least in the US market — for a while, and I think possibly the equivalent in other countries. But there’s at least one of your competitors that’s saying, you know, we think our phone is good enough to charge $299 for the same amount of memory that everyone else has for $199. And I’m talking about the new Motorola Droid Bionic HD. They’re saying $299. Does that make sense to you in this economy?

Dr. Hong: I think the price that we – - companies and that they are making the decision to how to set the retail price. Now you just are referring to $199 and $299. They are retail price. It’s not the price between manufacturer and – - company.

Walt Mossberg:I understand. But what do you think is the right price to go out to the consumer with?

Dr. Hong: That depends on the value that how the customer will look at. And we also are selling some devices at high price at the retail price and even lower than at the $199 also. So we’re really providing the whole different spectrum in terms of price depending on the value that we create on the device.

Walt Mossberg: Who’s your biggest competitor? Who’s the competitor that you think about most often?

Dr. Hong: You ask the same question of everyone.

Walt Mossberg: You’re onto me.

Dr. Hong: But we really enjoy seeing diversity of the portfolio in the marketplace.

Walt Mossberg: You enjoy that?

Dr. Hong: We do.

Walt Mossberg: Do you enjoy that more than if everyone had a Samsung?

Dr. Hong: We work on more participation from the, you know, players and — but we are interested in the company or companies, which bring their own innovation and also trying to create the new – - I like to give you one example, that’s – - you know, they recently announced their device portfolio and one of the devices showed that the new – - is through tight integration between the hardware and the software based on their web-based – - basis. So I think they are trying to create a very interesting business model. So, again, we really happy to see all kind of innovations from different players.

Walt Mossberg: Were you surprised that the iPhone 4S, which is the same exterior design as the previous model, sold what was it, 4 million units in three days?

Dr. Hong: You know, there are a lot of articles about the competition between iPhone 4S and the Galaxy S2. And by the way, we appreciated the comment that you made in your recent articles. But there are some that the aspects that are speculated by the industry and honestly the iPhone 4S was not surprising to us.

Walt Mossberg: That’s right. But the phone was not surprising. But — so I’m asking you, since the phone was not as surprising to you, were you surprised that it sold so many in the first three days? And it wasn’t even rolled out in most of the countries.

Dr. Hong: Right. This is, again, the Apple is always bring a good — a great product to the marketplace, so they have their own relationship with their own customers.

Walt Mossberg: Okay. All right. Let’s talk about patents. Is that your favorite subject? What do you think?

Dr. Hong: Well, I’m not representing the legal part of the Samsung Electronics.

Walt Mossberg: But I’ll just ask you a general question because I don’t have any idea whose patents, whether your patents are better than, you know, Microsoft’s or Apple’s or HTC’s are better than yours or whatever. But we’re obviously observing kind of competition by patent lawsuits going on in a big, heavy way in courts all over the world really. Is this a healthy thing? What do you think? Is this a good thing for the industry and for consumers? And if not, is there a way to solve it or resolve it?

Dr. Hong: This is kind of fundamental question and first of all we would like to ask ourselves why do you want to file this patent? Basically we think we need the tool to protect our intellectual property right, also freedom to innovate, and so filing patent is one excellent tool to do so. And by investing heavily in R&D, of course, Samsung is now becoming one of the leading patent-holder in the industry. And basically we are using our patents to defend our intellectual property right.

Walt Mossberg: But you’re also being sued by other people, right?

Dr. Hong: I’m sure they have their own reason why and though we, you know, we — our legal department is taking all possible actions to defend us.

Walt Mossberg: You should fire them if they’re not taking all possible actions. But I asked you a broader question. Do you think this is good for the industry and good for consumers for all of these things to be up in the air like will you be able to sell this product in I don’t know, Australia, will Apple be able to sell their thing in some other country where you’re trying to stop it, I guess Japan recently?

And you two are not the only two companies doing this. HTC is involved, Microsoft is involved, Motorola is involved. Everybody’s suing different people. Is this healthy? Is this the right way to go about it?

Dr. Hong: Well, in my view, the — I hope nothing will block the — our inventing something new. And — but the filing patents the only — the motivation for innovator, I don’t think so. So, again, they will continuously want to motivate our innovator in-house to make or invent something new. And so as a result, if the — us filing the patents, I think that we encourage them to do so. But, again, whether it is healthy to fight against each other, that’s different questions.

Walt Mossberg: So what’s the answer to that question?

Dr. Hong: I don’t have any personal view on that.

Walt Mossberg: I mean, it’s healthy to compete with your products in the marketplace. Is it healthy to do it through courts I guess?

Dr. Hong: Right. And, again, we welcome competition.

Walt Mossberg: [Interposing] Ah, yes, you’re very much for the big marketplace. You’re a pretty giant company — you make what, everything from chips to giant tankers and, you know, everything, buildings and Samsung is in everything, right, so?

Dr. Hong: Even in Samsung Electronics, inside Samsung Electronics, we are really a heavily diversified global company. And so we have different divisions and also depending on the regions and the business unit, they have different relationship with their customers and other players as well. So it’s very difficult for me to speak for other divisions.

Walt Mossberg: Let’s talk about tablets. I asked Andy Rubin last night why have all of the Android tablets flopped in the marketplace. You’re probably the most successful at making and selling Android tablets, but even yours haven’t gotten very much traction. Why? What’s your — I mean, your — this is your job to think about strategy. So you study everybody and you study the marketplace. Why? And what will change it?

Dr. Hong: Well, compared to last year, this is definitely much better. And early this year we announced that we are going to try to increase our volume of tablet sales at least 5 times more than last year. Last year was 1.5 million units of tablets.

Walt Mossberg: So now you want to get to 7-and-a-half million? But Apple sold 40 million, so.

Dr. Hong: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Andy Rubin, you know, really took your questions very seriously and he answered how he is going to improve the situation from Google’s perspective. And from manufacturer’s perspective where we are going to complement through the close relationship with Apple.

Walt Mossberg: But I did ask him a follow-up question. Because his answer was really about if I understood correctly building an ecosystem of services, media services primarily, you know, music, TV shows, movies. I said what’s going to happen to your partners because Samsung, you know, you have your own Media Hub system. Other companies have similar things. Since Google wasn’t providing it, you all went out and did it. Are you going to shut down your Media Hub if Google begins to offer something similar?

Dr. Hong: Again, in addition to our hardware innovation or design innovation, we also bring the — our signature services like the Media Hub you just mentioned. And our focus is a little bit different from what Google is bringing in. For example, our Media Hub service is emphasizing local contents, so the — those applications and contents are more specifically optimized for local markets, not necessarily the global platform or global content sourcing that Google is leading is covering every corner of the other regions in terms of – - contents and applications and — which is optimized — to be optimized for local content. So we — since we have really global footprint in many countries, so I think our complement is the activity, again, to bring the local contents and services to complement what Google does.

Walt Mossberg: And do you agree with Andy that this is all that’s needed to make the Android tablets take off, is have these media services associated with it?

Dr. Hong: I really — he also mentioned not only media part, but also social networking associated services that they are now enhancing inside of Google+ and also the — I think there will be a lot of room for enhancing services and bring the more innovations to this tablet portfolio. And by the way, Samsung — since you touch up on the tablet side — Samsung is quite unique in the sense that we really offering the multiple different size of the table compared to differently from the other players. And, for example, 7-inch for best mobility and 9-inch for creating the contents and 10-inch for consuming content, so again, together with Google, Samsung want to play a role to enhance the portfolio and choice of the consumer in the process.

Walt Mossberg: Do you agree with HTC that a stylus is an important part of a tablet?

Dr. Hong: It could be one very valuable part of it. And with larger screen, I think we recognize that some schoolchildren and the students at universities. I think they might find this application very interesting depending on their usage pattern.

Walt Mossberg: So are you selling a tablet with a stylus yet?

Dr. Hong: We have to talk to internally and, you know, what value that that stylus will bring in.

Walt Mossberg: Okay. All right. Explain to me this strange relationship you have where — with Apple where you’re suing them and they’re suing you and you’re competing in the store, you know, in the retail stores in the marketplace, but you’re also — they’re one of your biggest customers in terms of selling components. Is this a problem for you or something strange?

Dr. Hong: There are a number of companies that we have multidimensional relationships. Apple is not the only one. And so, again, Samsung Electronics is really operating different business units, so depending on which business unit and the business domain you are talking about, we have different relationships. Again, the Apple is not the only company.

Walt Mossberg: Does it bug you?

Dr. Hong: No.

Walt Mossberg: Why not?

Dr. Hong: Because, again, we welcome the innovation from the marketplace and we learn — we are learning from the innovation.

Walt Mossberg: Jeez, everybody welcomes everyone else – - it’s like a tea party here, you know? Come on in. We’re just happy to see you. You’re not happy to see those guys take one sale away from you.

Dr. Hong: Well, we welcome participation from multiple different players. But, again, judgment will be made by the consumers. …You know, our focus on how to satisfy our customers, you know, instead of worrying about, you know, competition. I think they make the judgment, you know, what is — will be the final winning partner, right?

Walt Mossberg: Okay. You mostly make Android phones. Are you going to have a big, big push around Windows Phone as well? Will there be kind of as many innovative Samsung devices that run Windows Phone? Will it be about even or what?

Dr. Hong: One of our key strategies in mobile portfolio is to support multi-OS platform, not only the Android and Windows and even we have our own, the platform called the bada, so through those — the multi-OS platform support, we think we can absorb different customers and different market. And in terms of the portfolio, the management, depending on regions, we have different portfolio arrangements.

Walt Mossberg: So explain to me the difference between the customers who would want Android and the customers who would want Windows Phone. What’s the difference?

Dr. Hong: We’re launching the number of Windows Phone devices based on Windows 6.5 and Windows 7. And we are going to launch some of the newer version of Windows Phones.

Walt Mossberg: Right. I asked you, though, which customers want which.

Dr. Hong: – - based on the market feedback and we found some interesting customers who shows a very strong interest in this Windows platform, especially U.S. particularly. So, again, we carefully analyzing the market segment to go forward.

Walt Mossberg: [Interposing] So it’s just geography? It’s just that they’re in the U.S.? Or does it — are they women, are they men, are they young, are they — I mean, what makes the difference here?

Dr. Hong: Our — the launching was the global and in European region as well as United States. And we did this particularly it depends on the regions. But yes, there are some—the group of customers interested in the Window Phones applications and the UI as well.

Walt Mossberg: The group of customers that are interested in the Windows Phone application and UI are what?

Dr. Hong: I think that to give you more accurate answer, I think we should — I should not get into the market analysis. But, again, the size of that market is still relatively speaking smaller than Android.

Walt Mossberg: Yes.

Dr. Hong: But it’s, you know – - the device – - and increasing the device portfolio, I think Microsoft also has very strong – - they increase the market size. And so we like to cooperate with them.

Walt Mossberg: How happy are you that Google is buying Motorola? Because you seem to be welcoming everyone. I mean, is that a move you think is a great move?

Dr. Hong: Again, we welcome their decision.

Walt Mossberg: Who said Korean electronic executives didn’t have a great sense of humor?

Dr. Hong: We — at least we respect their decision because Google made it very clear. Which is to, again, to protect the Android ecosystems and the Google partners in the Android space. And we really believe that they are going to maintain their strategy to be open and competitive and in maintaining that strategy and really –

Walt Mossberg: But if they keep it, if they keep Motorola, I mean, there are people speculating that maybe they’ll spin it out, whatever. But if they keep it, you really believe in the deepest part of your heart that they’ll never be favored by Google? Their owner, their 100 percent owner, will never favor them?

Dr. Hong: I think the best thing that we should do is keep the innovation and that innovation is the only way to differentiate ourselves from, you know, other players and stay ahead of the competition. So, again, we are very confident that we can — we should be able to do that.

And on to the audience Q&A …

Q: The question I had is earlier Walt asked you about were you surprised that they sold 4 million iPhones over at Apple in the first three days. And your comment was they have a lot of good subscribers that are loyal. And in the world of Google, consumers are getting a newer Android. Consumers are getting used to working with Android or Google as the brand and less so Samsung, HTC, and LG, et cetera. Excuse me. Same thing with Windows Mobile. So in that world, do you worry that the brand is diminished of Samsung and nobody really cares whether it’s ZTE, Huawei or LG or Samsung in that model?

Dr. Hong: The Samsung brand power is already one of the top I think 20 company globally already. And we certainly — we believe that customers recognize our brand very well. And instead of worrying about that aspect, I think as long as we maintain our strategy to be more innovative and bring the more value to customers, I think that – - necessary all of the issues in terms of the relationship between Samsung product and our customers.

Q: And in that vein, do you worry about ZTE and Huawei being very aggressive on price and, again, having a very similar phone with less care about margin and more caring about market share and world domination?

Dr. Hong: That’s a good question. And Samsung, we believe we are really uniquely positioned to really offer full comprehensive portfolio of Android smartphones and other smartphones as well. So we have, you know, high-end and premium smartphone like the Galaxy Nexus that we announced yesterday, but also we have the entry-level of a smartphone and, again, to address the consumer needs in emerging market.

Q: What is the strategy behind bada 2.0? Is that a hedge against in case you feel that the counterparties are not as welcoming to you as before?

Dr. Hong: Well, you know, surely bada 2.0 has a lot enhanced features and performance compared to bada 1.0. And also it has capability to bring, you know, even higher-end smartphones, in addition to entry-level of the smartphones. So we — I think we will be, you know, positioned to offer the different portfolio to address the consumer needs if they are interested in bada devices with bada 2.0.

Q: Would you be interested in guiding the consumer to bada? Would that be your exit strategy so as to speak?

Dr. Hong: No. Earlier we talked about Window Phones … you know, what is our strategy to address the Windows customers. And, again, the – - our innovation – - the customer needs, whether they are interested in bada, Windows, and Android smartphones from Samsung. We – - portfolio with Samsung’s innovation on it.

Q: Walt asked a little bit about the legal issues about – - I know you can’t comment very much on that. But I was kind of wondering, it’s gotten to the point where in some countries some of your products have been pulled off shelves or even off of trade show floors because of these issues, because of legal issues with Apple. Is there anything you guys are doing at Samsung in terms of your own product design, in terms of hardware and software, to react to that?

Dr. Hong: Short answer is yes and our legal department is taking all possible options. By the way, that means as a head of a product portfolio, we always have multiple different design and not only hardware design, but – - design, so if it’s necessary, we immediately provide the solutions so that we will be in better position in that particular issue, yes.

Walt Mossberg: There are some rumors around the web that this Galaxy Nexus phone was designed specifically to avoid any patent litigation from Apple. Is that a true thing or not that you specifically looked at the design of this with an eye toward avoiding them suing you over it?

Dr. Hong: Galaxy Nexus, we kick off this project with Google a lot earlier. And so at the time I think this was not really a heavy issue as we were just focusing on what kind of new design concept to bring. That was not part of the heavy discussions at the time.

Walt Mossberg: So you did not — these reports are false that the phone was designed specifically at least in part designed to avoid Apple patents and — or what they’re asserting are their patents.

Dr. Hong: I don’t know where that rumor is coming from.

Q: Apple is uniquely positioned given its growing cash balance sheet, you know, the last quarter over $80 billion, they’ve been very strategic in the context of investing with their supplier partners multiple billions of dollars in terms of big facilities, et cetera, for various components, whether it’s for smartphones and tablets, and certainly Samsung on the other side of the business as a supplier to Apple could be a beneficiary of some of those long-term investments that Apple is making. How do you strategically think about your business on the device side, the one you had, in that context where, you know, whether it’s partnering with Google or any number of players, this notion of having very long-term investments, a big balance sheet, and being able to participate more aggressively in that on an offensive basis?

Dr. Hong: I’d like to bring my CFO, you know, to answer your question. Well, Samsung’s vision is very simple and clear. The focus on the customers is through innovation. And whatever you do is helping us in long-term planning. I think our top management would make a key decision regarding that. But again, to make a comment, I think I need help from my CFO.

Q: A separate question, if I may. It has been talked about at this conference, they were — HP’s webOS. I mean, it’s up in the air, et cetera. It’s still out there. There were rumblings at some point that, you know, either you all might be interested in that as an alternative software platform. Can you comment a little bit on whether it’s from a Samsung perspective or industry perspective what the opportunities might be on that?

Dr. Hong: I’d like to make a comment from industry perspective. I believe there are enough room for several different — the OS platform. And whether, you know, HP webOS will become the power of the line to bring the innovations and the valued creations to customers, I don’t know. But again, the market is really growing and diverse upon to adopt multiple different platforms.

Walt Mossberg: Are you interested in buying it or licensing it?

Dr. Hong: We’d like to have more understanding on the HP webOS and also – - knows that, you know, that they have different business strategy moving forward. So I think we need to understand more details about what’s happening there.

Won-Pyo Hong Session Photos

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111020/samsungs-won-pyo-hong-live-at-asiad/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111013/how-do-you-tell-the-difference-between-an-ipad-and-a-galaxy-tab-dont-ask-samsungs-lawyers/ http://allthingsd.com/20111013/how-do-you-tell-the-difference-between-an-ipad-and-a-galaxy-tab-dont-ask-samsungs-lawyers/#comments Fri, 14 Oct 2011 05:31:16 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=132325 What an uncomfortable moment for Samsung at its court hearing with Apple on Thursday. Fielding questions from U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, Samsung attorney Kathleen Sullivan was asked if she could distinguish between Apple’s iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, which Koh held up for all the court to see.

Her reply, as first reported by Reuters: “Not at this distance, your honor.”

Not at this distance, your honor.

Not the greatest answer in a case in which the defendant stands accused of “slavishly” copying a rival’s designs. More so, since Sullivan was standing just 10 feet away from the devices she was asked to identify.

Thankfully, one of her colleagues was able to come to her rescue, but only after this plea from Koh:

“Can any of Samsung’s lawyers tell me which one is Samsung and which one is Apple?”

Not a good day in court for Samsung.

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