By Tim Frederick | Aug 08, 2012 01:31 AM EDT
The ongoing patent trial wars taking place in U.S federal court between Samsung and Apple took a rather bizarre twist Monday, when a paid Apple witness cited a report by Best Buy as evidence against Samsung. The report claimed that the number one reason customers return Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is because they thought they were purchasing Apple's iPad 2.
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The real question one has to ask themselves is, even if the stats are true (and there's no reason to suspect they aren't), does that actually say anything about a possibly patent-infringing similarity between Samsung's Galaxy Tab and Apple's iPad, or does it simply confirm what most of us already know; that a lot of people are really, really dumb.
Because if someone buys a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, somehow thinking it's an Apple iPad, they're about as sharp as molasses. Do they realize that product boxes usually have words on them, and not just pretty pictures of tablet devices? Words like...oh, I don't know, SAMSUNG or IPAD?? Apparently not.
Apparently these consumers walk into an electronics store (a Best Buy in this case), pick up a box showing a tablet computer, and purchase it without having any idea what they're actually buying. Clearly they did not see anything relating to Apple or iPad on the box, or even in those pretty pictures on that box.
So what did they go by? Was it the design? Is the Galaxy so close to the iPad aesthetically that consumers can take one look at its picture and grab it for purchase, thinking it's an iPad? Doubtful. It seems highly unlikely that any of these consumers could be so knowledgeable of what the iPad looks like to make such a determination, and yet so ignorant as to grab a completely different product off the shelves. It's actually a wonder they can even tie their shoes to leave the house.
In was revealed in cross-examination that the witness, Peter Bressler, stated in a deposition back in April that he did not know whether customers get confused between Apple and Samsung products. The trial continues Tuesday with testimony from another Apple witness, Susan Kare.
Does this Best Buy report prove anything beyond the stupidity of some consumers? Or are there legitimate similarities that lead to people buying the wrong device by accident? Share your thoughts or purchasing foibles below.
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