[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] LiquidSolstice:
I of course have rather strong opinions about this, and surprisingly, they may not be what you think based on my reputation here. I haven't really responded to these for the longest time, so here goes. Please take the time to read the whole post before judging me, and also note that I don't direct any bit of this at any one person here on XDA. ;)

This whole debacle ironically makes us actually become the "Apple" that many of us seem to want to hate; we claim Apple is out to stop innovation, and by supporting Samsung, we are essentially saying we cannot innovate new things unless current companies are allowed to resuse currently patented and unique things. Where does the innovation come from if we take ideas with the intention of innovating and then we do not improve upon them?

Does Samsung need the whole trademark iOS-style "bounce-back" animation at the end of the list to innovate? The truth is, they do not. Google has been using the "overglow" method now for some time, and that is innovation; refusing to use what others have come up with and taking a risk and trying something new. That entire 100+ page document in which Samsung attempts to explain how their software is not similar enough to iOS confirms to us what we all know but do not want to admit; Samsung was not innovating.

Microsoft took a gamble. They threw their entire use interface out the door (come on, can you even think the words "Windows Mobile" and take it seriously anymore?), licensed a few key patents from Apple, and built an entirely different type of phone ecosystem from the ground up. They're putting so much heart and passion into it that it has changed the entire direction of the company (the Metro revolution). That is innovation. That is pushing the boundaries of what we think a phone should be and what a phone has the potential to be. Maybe they're not on the top right now, but you can't even slightly say they've "copied" anyone.

The bottom line about this mess is not that Apple has in any way hurt the industry (I could argue that Samsung has hurt the industry by using Apple ideas as Android "innovation", essentially encouraging others to do the same).

Apple is not going to go around "suing everyone". Apple is not going to "kill" Android.

What's happened here is not a "loss for the consumer" as Samsung tearjerkingly put it in their press statement.

It is a HUGE win for the consumer. Companies will now (whether out of anger/spite/fear of or for Apple, or out of passion for technology and true innovation) find ways to make their devices and their software as little like Apple products as humanely possible. We will see radical new interfaces, brand new concepts, and ultimately, I have no doubts we'll even see an entirely new paradigm shift in the way we use out mobile devices, and it's going to be entirely because Apple won this trial.

Make no mistake; Apple is not "in the stoneage". They have (with a different and much lesser degree of control user side, of course) created an extremely modern ecosystem in which the major players have taken their influence from. But now that Apple has won this lawsuit, it's time for the children of Android to leave the nest of Apple comfort and attempt to create something radically new.

People will only continue to say "Oh, that looks like the iPhone but not really" as long as the iPhone is the standard from which we take our design and UI paradigm cues. For too long the traditional and outdated method of trying to influence potential iOS customers to come to Android by using iOS style elements has dominated the retail market.

Android (at least Jelly Bean) has reached a point in its life where I personally feel it can sustain itself; it's no longer feeling like a work-in-progress and no longer needs excuses made for it in the form of carrier and OEM skinning. It feels like a mature platform that is full of possibilities. We need it to be marketed in such a way that the selling point for it isn't "You can get this, it's kind of like the iPad but a lot cheaper and more customizable", but instead needs to be more like "If you haven't given this a look before, you really should. It's a very powerful tablet that is built on Android, a highly customizable operating system that will serve your needs and then some. It has incredibly useful features like xyz, an extremely large app store, and comes at many, many different price points that let you be in control of what you're paying for." No comparison to Apple off the bat, because the comparison is not needed.

When we hit that stage, it will be because we innovate in new ways, not "improve on other companies' ideas". As long as you support Samsung in what they were doing and drown yourself in the endless discussions as to how evil Apple is and make soap-box speeches about patent law and dreary futures of the mobile industry, you are supporting an outdated business model, a model that doesn't actually (ironically) support innovation, but stifles it.

If you found my post interesting, I highly suggest you give this article on TheNextWeb a read; it is a wonderfully written piece of journalism that pokes very large holes in a lot of this doomsday talk.

Apple’s patent win should force competitors to grow some balls like Microsoft did