Analysts: Samsung Wins but Too Late for Galaxy Tab Sales Momentum
Samsung Electronics won the favour of the Australian Federal Court on Wednesday, giving its go signal to the South Korean firm to proceed with the sale of it Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia minus any worries of any wrangling from Apple.
However, observers who have been monitoring the two companies' legal spat seem to believe that the Sydney Court's legal intervention may have come too late as Apple already succeeded in achieving its goal, that is to delay the momentum Samsung has earlier generated for its Galaxy flagship products.
According to Mashable on Thursday, early indications from the Australian appellate court pointed to a reversal of the Apple injunction against Samsung's Galaxy Tab, with the sitting justices allowing that Justice Annabelle Bennett may have extended too much leeway to the giant tech firm.
On its decision, the appeals court said that Bennett's ruling would practically annihilate Galaxy Tab's fair chances in the market considering that nowadays tech products normally enjoy only 12 months of shelf life, or even less.
While Samsung got a breather for now, the Sydney Court gave Apple until Friday to lodge an appeal but between now and until the next hearing date, nothing prevents the Asian tech giant from officially unleashing the Galaxy tablet computers into the Australian market.
Yet the question that begs answers for now is if consumers are still interested in snatching the Galaxy Tab 10.1, which earlier this year has been touted as the most likely iPad killer among a host of Android tablet computers flooding the market.
In a Tuesday report by analytic firm Forrester, Samsung's device only enjoys an estimated 21 percent of market share among American consumers, with Apple's iPad way ahead the pack with its 61 percent dominance of the lucrative North American market.
Not surprisingly, Amazon's recently released Kindle Fire secured the second spot with 24 percent as tech experts heaped praises on the new Android gadget for its affordability without compromising features and functionalities.
"Apple will continue to dominate the tablet market as Amazon appears to be the only viable threat at the moment and other vendors, including Samsung, continue to struggle," Seoul tech analyst Song Myung-sub was reported by Reuters as saying that despite the Sydney court decision, Samsung will realise that it will be a bitter-sweet victory.
Analysts said that much of the battle has been won already for Apple and as Samsung wiggles its way through the legal maze that the American company had thrown its way, the South Korean firm will have to contend with the reality of more turf wars ahead.
And not too far in the horizon, more competitors and headaches lurk.