Samsung's recent setback is such big news that it can't have escaped the attention of many people, with a San Jose jury led federal court in California, instructing Samsung to pay Apple a phenomenal $1.05 billion.
To put that into perspective it's equivalent to the entire gross domestic product (GDP) of some small independant nations. Even more amazingly this amount could eventually be tripled if this case reaches the stage where punitive damages are applied.
The Court ruling has created grave doubts over the future of Samsung mobile products in the US as Apple is seeking injunctions against the sale of infringing products in America. Samsung is the biggest maker of Android phones in the world and the significance of this potential ban hasn't escaped Google's attention who are now concerned that this may limit the availability of Android phones to one of the world's largest markets.
Google is also hoping that certain of the patents aren't upheld as if they were this would necessitate rewriting certain portions of the Android operating system and would potentially be a major setback not just for Samsung but Google as well.
As part of the evidence presented in the Court case though it was revealed that Apple had shared certain patents and technical knowledge with Microsoft. Also Apple cited how other manufacturers had sufficiently differentiated their products from the iPhone (unlike Samsung) and Nokia's Lumia 700, which runs Windows 7, was put forward by Apple as a textbook example of this.
The knock on effect of this is that Nokia phones and Windows technology are seen to be a safer option having been cited in Court as an example of following the correct design procedures and effectively therefore having been given a 'green light' by Apple.
All of which favours a shift in technology towards Nokia and the Windows 8 Phone OS. With Nokia and Microsoft already being so far advanced down this route this would seem to be a significant boost which both companies would be foolish not to try and capitalise on.
So will your next phone be a Nokia with 'Windows 8 Phone'?
