Apple-Samsung Lawsuit Done, Now What?
Cecil is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
The much awaited verdict of the Apple-Samsung Lawsuit is out in which the San Jose jury awarded Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) $1.05 billion stating Samsung had infringed six of Apple's patents. Now comes the next question, what happens now?
Well Samsung has officially stated the verdict as "a loss for the American consumer." Keeping this in mind let’s analyze who's going to be doing what in the coming future.
Initially you would note a significant decline in Samsung's high rise in the smart phone market. Samsung's wide variety of smart phones would now have to be re-designed; keeping in mind that production of those mobiles would involve staying away from Apple's patents. Apple having just three models of smart phones to market in the past few quarters, was able to stay second in the smart phone market. Now with a decline
which is set to happen, Apple might have anticipated this victory and have a few tricks up their sleeve to help them recapture the No.1 spot. Top investors have branded Apple as "the Innovator" in their field. Yes, basically Apple is in a very strong position when it comes to the launch of their well anticipated products like the LTE iPhone 5, iPad mini, Apple TV etc.
Keeping the above facts in mind you could see other companies profiting from the verdict of this lawsuit. Telecom big shots like Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) have around 10-15% shares in Samsung smart phones. This is a low figure considering the fact that its competitors have a higher share in Samsung smartphones. By the look of how things are right now U.S carriers would promote non-Samsung devices and this is where Qualcomm would have the upper hand.
Another surprise company set to have a boost is the chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). The outcome of this lawsuit would result in a higher number of HTC's latest model "HTC One" being sold and this includes the chip-set of Nvidia. Hence we could anticipate a rise for Nvidia due to this primary reason.
If Apple were to obtain injunction which would result in kicking out Samsung from the US market, that would result in a heavy share shift. Everyone is anticipating an appeal from Samsung which would make sense as this is a significant amount of money no matter how big the company is, plus this would also affect the company's future stake in the market. How would the appeal turnout? That is something everyone would be looking forward to.
One major factor Apple would have to carefully handle is how they deal with the consumers and the media while addressing this whole lawsuit claim. They would have to make it look like they are not aiming at monopoly with this lawsuit, rather they are just protecting what truly belongs to them. Apple already has raised a lot of eyebrows with their product prices, they would not want to make it look like they intend
to play God.
This is definitely one of the biggest lawsuits ever with regards to smartphone companies. Samsung is definitely willing to give it another go with an appeal for sure and you can’t deny the fact that things could turn around. As things stand, Apple is in a very good position keeping in mind the fact that they are also looking forward to release a few products. If it all falls in place for Apple the script couldn't get any better.
ceciljohn2002 has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple and Qualcomm. Motley Fool newsletter services recommend Apple and NVIDIA. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.If you have questions about this post or the Fool’s blog network, click here for information.
