In a move to refute Apple’s previous allegation that it copied the iPhone and iPad, Samsung’s strategy officer, Justin Denison, took the stand this morning and answered questions thrown by an Apple lawyer regarding an email from a Samsung designer. The said email included an excerpt that reads, “All this time we’ve been paying all our attention to Nokia, and concentrated our efforts on things like Folder, Bar, Slide, 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.”
Apple lawyer Bill Lee the proceeded to ask Denison about the crisis, Denison retorted that the term is a typical hyperbole used inside Samsung. When the time came for Samsung’s lawyers to cross examine Denison, his reply was: “I find it very offensive. We’ve been in the mobile business over 20 years globally, and we’ve been in the US the last 15 years. The last four years we’ve been number one in the US market. What we would like to do is simply compete in that market… to deliver the latest technology to as many consumers as possible.”
Denison also added that voice recognition, advanced screen technology, and its first cloud based video service in the U.S. were among the features that Samsung ventured first prior to Apple. Samsung lawyer John Quinn then asked Denison, “When Apple later offered those features in its phones, did you feel like they ripped you off?” Denison’s answer was, “No, not really.” “If the iPhone 5 comes out, and has a bigger screen – more the size of the Galaxy II screen – are you going to regard that as ‘copying?'” the Samsung lawyer asked. Denison replied with a big no.