Apple CEO Tim Cook Did Not Want To Sue Samsung

By: Zain Nabi  |   February 11th, 2013   |   Apple, News, Smartphones

While Apple and Samsung continue to deal with each other in different capacities in and outside the court of law, a recent report by Reuters claims that Apple current CEO Tim Cook was opposed to suing Samsung, something that then-chief Steve Jobs was keen on doing.

 

Apple and Samsung have pretty interesting relation with each other. On one hand, they are rivals, but on the other hand, they are dependent on one another to make their products and growth running. When Apple and Samsung joined hands for the first time during Job’s era, Samsung provided material used by Apple’s product.

 

However, when Samsung introduced its smartphones in the market, the relations between the two companies started getting hurt and Apple claimed that Samsung had taken away their ideas to create the Galaxy Tab. Jobs decided to sue Samsung, but Cook reportedly was not willing to sue the company that supplied material to create Apple’s products. In its recent report, Reuters mentions:

 

“Cook, worried about the critical supplier relationship, was opposed to suing Samsung. But Jobs had run out of patience, suspecting that Samsung was counting on the supplier relationship to shield it from retribution.”

 

It should be noted that the case Apple filed in 2011 went in its favour, but the billion-dollar verdict against Samsung was not the only thing that Apple had sought. Apple hoped the court of law would put a ban on sales of Samsung products, but that did not happen, apparently because the court did not see Samsung products harming Apple’s sales significantly.

 

Recently, Apple’s appeal to fast-track its case with respect to banning Samsung sales was rejected and now it will take a long time for the case to be completed. This allows Samsung to keep working and growing in the smartphone market and it might come up with its new product in the meantime.

 

The court ruling says that Samsung will not wipe out Apple’s consumer base. That seems right but Apple seemingly still wants Samsung out of the market. This is in the interest of Apple because it is facing serious competition from every corner. The smartphone market is currently dominated by Apple and Samsung combined and even if one of them gets out of the competition the other will benefit greatly. This, however, is only one aspect of the story that has many chapters. The competition and court cases are seen more as a major to pressurise each other than anything else.