Shares of Apple Inc climbed to an all-time high on Monday morning, after
the iPhone maker won a bitter patent war against Samsung Electronics Co
Ltd that may change the dynamics of the booming mobile computing
market.
Analysts said the win strengthened Apple's position ahead of
the iPhone 5 launch and could cement its dominance in the market as
companies using Google Inc's Android operating system - two-thirds of
the global market - may be forced to consider design changes.
Apple
was awarded $1.05 billion in damages on Friday after a U.S. jury found
the Korean company had copied critical features of the iPhone and iPad.
The verdict could lead to an outright ban on sales of key Samsung
products.
"While a ban would likely increase Apple's leading
smartphone share in the U.S. market, we believe this verdict could lead
to Samsung also delaying near-term product launches as it attempts to
design around Apple's patents," Canaccord Genuity analysts said in a
note.
Google shares were down 1.3 percent at $669.57, while
Samsung's stock slumped 7.5 percent, wiping off more than $12 billion
from the South Korean company's market valuation.
Shares of Apple
were up 2 percent at $676.71 on the Nasdaq late on Monday morning, after
hitting an all-time high of $680.87 earlier in the session.
The
verdict comes as competition in the mobile device industry intensifies,
with Google jumping into hardware for the first time with its Nexus 7
tablet, and Microsoft Corp's new touchscreen-friendly Windows 8 coming
in October, led by its "Surface" tablet.
The jolt to Android could
also mean good news in the near term for Research in Motion Ltd's
upcoming BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system and for Nokia's phones.
Shares
of the BlackBerry maker were up 3.1 percent at C$7.09 on the Toronto
exchange, while Microsoft's stock was up 0.8 percent at $30.81 on the
Nasdaq.
"The verdict does not come as a surprise," wrote William
Blair & Co analysts. "From Apple's perspective, Samsung's market
size position and its leadership in the handset world was something the
company could no longer overlook, and viewing this as another 'imitation
is a form of flattery' was not possible."
"Companies such as
Samsung, who we categorize as fast followers, have been viewed by the
industry for their ability to quickly adopt the latest handset trends
... rather than their ability to introduce fundamental innovation."
Samsung,
which sold around 50 million phones between April and June - almost
twice the number of iPhones - will have to pay less than half the
compensation Apple sought. The damages are just 1.5 percent of annual
revenue from Samsung's telecoms business.
While the victory does
not cover new Samsung products including the Galaxy SIII, Apple will
push its case on these products in the near-term, Evercore Partners
analyst Mark McKechnie said.
He added that an all-out sales ban on Samsung products like the Galaxy S and SII, Nexus 4G and Galaxy Tab is unlikely.
Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012