

Apple to Samsung: Don't make rectangular tablets - sathishmanohar
http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/12/03/apple-instructs-samsung-on-the-finer-points-of-tablet-and-smartphone-design/

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nextparadigms
When a lot of people were commenting that Apple doesn't want anyone else to
make rectangular tablets or use rounded corners before, everyone thought they
were exaggerating and joking. Apparently, Apple did actually believe that.

Maybe their design patents would make sense if someone made a tablet that is
99.5% alike, like some Chinese rip-off. But "rectangular" tablet? That's
_exactly_ like saying other car manufacturers shouldn't use round wheels.

~~~
OpieCunningham
No, it is not _exactly_ that.

A car that doesn't move is not a car, it's a sculpture. A square tablet is a
tablet.

Samsung's tablet looks nearly identical to Apple's tablet. Apple has provided
a subset of things Samsung might consider in order to eliminate the near
identical nature of their tablet. One alternative they propose to a non-
rectangular tablet is to remove the rounded corners - i.e. ok, make it a
rectangle but don't round the corners. Apple is not stating that Samsung must
do all the suggestions they provide, only that they must create a tablet that
is substantially dissimilar to Apple's tablet.

Is the near identical look of Apple's tablet the only possible look of a
tablet? Of course not, and it's as simple as that.

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Gustomaximus
This is ridiculous by Apple. If they pull this off I hope Palm come forward
with the old Pilot 5000 with its rectangle shape, flat screen and rounded
corners. I don't get why Apple can claim these features are all theirs and no-
one else's.

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c4urself
Most interesting one:

\- cluttered appearance

as a suggestion for what Samsung should do different from Apple. How
condescending is that?

~~~
kermitthehermit
Apple lives somewhere up in a tree and thinks it can look down on everyone.

It's ok, they need to be taught a lesson and start showing some modesty. After
all, Steve Jobs IS dead, why continue to promote the 'asshole company' image?

This drives me away from their products. I was actually contemplating buying a
Mac laptop, but decided to go with a regular laptop and just use Linux on it.

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click170
This reads like a list of things _not_ to do if you want a sleek sexy product.
Not that I'm surprised Apple would instruct their competition to design this
way, I guess I was just expecting more subterfuge.

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siglesias
What device is this? <http://cl.ly/3c0v082z1G393w0l2y39>

That's a picture I took at a Sam's Club a couple of days ago. If you guys
really think that this form factor is the be-all-end-all for tablet design,
you're seriously, seriously deceiving yourselves. If you've spent any amount
of time thinking critically about the differences between various forms of art
--different buildings, different authors, different paintings, different
sculptures--then you know there is such a thing as style that seems perfect
locally but distinct globally. The argument is "how could it be otherwise?"
But buildings haven't converged on one material, one look. Paintings are
absolutely distinguishable between painters. Books are absolutely
distinguishable between authors, even those with minimalist writing styles.
Why? Because the works of art that make history are originals, not replicas
[1].

Apple chose minimalism, and everybody acts like that is the only style
available. It isn't. I'd love to see a circular tablet. I'd love to see a
computer aesthetic that is absolutely embellished and ornamented. Might be
cool and benefit me as a consumer. Let's please move away from this insistence
that it can't be otherwise. It can.

[1] don't be pedantic

~~~
iknowbest
Clearly a Galaxy Tab.

The main issue with this case, for me at least, is not so much that
Apple/Samsung/Motorola etc. are taking part in some sort of circle-jerk of
litigation, but that the retarded judges are actually listening to them.

But then, seeing as Judges are nothing more than the lawyers that were scummy
and deviously ambitious enough to rise to the top of a profession that is made
up of immoral, unethical scum, I am amazed that anyone has any respect for
them. Hell, Apple probably bribed that judge in Germany to ban the 10.1.

And to anyone who insists that lawyers "are smart really" rather than just
people who possess a good memory for incredibly dull matters of procedure, the
lawyers hired by Samsung in Germany prove you wrong. How did they not know
they difference between their CLIENTS design and the competition? Did they not
bother to look before?? Or did Apple bribe them?

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kermitthehermit
This has been posted before, but it looks like everyone needs to promote their
blogspam on HN and reddit.

