Apple Goes After Motorola Xoom, Securing Tablet Market For Itself?
Apple on Tuesday was granted a preliminary injunction against Samsung Galaxy Tablets in a regional court in Germany banning the device across Europe, except the Netherlands.
On Thursday, Motorola also confirmed being sued by Apple in Germany for its Xoom Tablet design that Apple claimed was infringing on its patents.
The launch of both devices aimed at gaining market share from the new exciting tablet segment that Apple’s iPad had opened with its release in 2010.
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Apple filed a lawsuit against Samsung in April of this year for striking resemblances of Samsung products to Apple products. Since then, disputes have included not only Apple and Samsung, but other companies producing the same line of products.
For now, Samsung will have to halt sales of its Galaxy Tab, something that will significantly affect its sales. But the South Korean company is expected to appeal the injunction as early as Wednesday.
As for Motorola, the Inquirer reported that the injunction against it will also likely be enforced across Europe.
It is clear that Apple is unrelenting in its efforts to fight off any company that will infringe on its intellectual property rights. However, the blow delivered to Samsung or this new measure against Motorola seems to imply a measure against Google as well.
Android products in mobile devices have quickly become popular among consumers not only in Europe but in the United States as well Japan and other Asian countries.
According to a comScore report, Google platforms in the U.S., such as the Android Gingerbread, have the biggest share in the smartphone market share and are growing at a faster rate than Apple platforms and the iPhone.
Apple, which possesses the second biggest market share with 26.6 percent (June 2011) of U.S. smartphone subscribers, is growing at a slower rate than Google Android powered phones.
In the tablet market share, however, Apple still dominates the market with 70 percent, according to Forrester. The U.S. Nielson reported back in May that the iPad owned 82 percent of the tablet market share.
Apple’s attack of companies that want a piece of its tablet market may well be intended to avoid losing market shares like it did with smartphones.
