South-Korean Consumers React to Apple vs. Samsung Patent Lawsuit Verdict

In South Korea, where courts ruled against Samsung in the recent Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit, and imposed a partial product ban on Samsung products, consumers are troubled over what the ruling may mean for the Seoul-based company and the smartphone market.

With Samsung stock having dropped a record 7.8 percent on Monday, analysts in South Korea are mainly speculating from a financial perspective, though they don't seem to have much to say on record as of yet. Korean consumers, on the other hand, have been opening up to the press with tales of woe and worry as a result of last week's ruling.

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"Samsung is a widely respected Asian brand and I am afraid it will no longer live up to its name because of the verdict or that it may not have enough money to innovate anymore," Park Soo Jeong, a marketing executive in South Korea told ZDNet.

"Samsung may have benchmarked the Apple products but I don't think they entirely copied from Apple," John Kim, a consumer in Seoul, South Korea told the Wall Street Journal. "I think the cost Samsung has to pay Apple will go to the customer, so the cost of the products will go up."

"My main concern [is] the customer does not win in this case and Apple will [become a monopoly], putting Samsung at an even lower position," Fu Dan, a smartphone user in China told ZDNet.

The outlook on the outcome of this epic legal battle is more pessimistic in South Korea than In The States. Perhaps this is because Samsung is a Seoul-based company or maybe it's due to the mandated product ban in the Korean market. Perhaps it's due to the significant drop in Samsung stock price since the court's ruling. Whatever the reason, consumers will have to sit tight to see what impact the verdict will have on the product market over time.