Samsung Galaxy Tab, HP TouchPad evaporate as iPad 3 gains elbow room
September 11, 2011
by Johnny Major
In the same month the HP TouchPad goes down in flames, Apple has successfully gotten the Samsung Galaxy Tab banned permanently in Germany, setting a precedent which could see an exodus of iPad copycats worldwide. That puts Apple on course to seemingly have the only tablet left on the market by the time it launches the iPad 3 in the spring of 2012 or perhaps later this year. The patent wars between Apple and those Android tablet makers who borrowed liberally from the iPad’s hardware design had seen a number of temporary bans around the world, but the Germany ruling is significant for two reasons.
One is that it’s a permanent ban: there will be Galaxy Tab for sale in the nation, ever, unless Samsung can go back and come up with an original design. Secondly, the recent attempt on the part of Android OS maker Google to come to the rescue of Android hardware manufacturers by acquiring Motorola’s patents was of no use here. That sets an early precedent for the Motorola intellectual property, considered superfluous to the iPad-Android lawsuits at best, not being enough to save Samsung, HTC, or any other copycats Apple goes after. This all comes amid HP yanking its TouchPad from shelves due to lack of interest, meaning that whatever competitors the iPad 3 faces, it could be an entirely different crop of tablets than is on sale now…
From: http://www.beatweek.com/news/9344-samsung-galaxy-tab-hp-touchpad-evaporate-as-ipad-3-gains-elbow-room/