It looks as though the carriers are ready to weigh in on the Apple vs. Samsung case, with Verizon and T-Mobile both voicing their opinions over the past week. Since the original showdown in April — when Apple sued Samsung over Galaxy tablets and smartphones — Apple has had the upper-hand, winning an injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany, delaying the same GalTab multiple times in Australia, and winning a preliminary injunction on three Galaxy smartphones in the Netherlands.
After watching the events play out, Verizon and now T-Mobile have said that they play for Samsung’s team, and would like to keep Samsung’s products on their shelves.
On Monday, Verizon filed paperwork with the Northern District Court of California saying that a ban on Samsung products, or Apple’s efforts to do so, would hurt the carrier’s ability to roll out its 4G LTE network.
“That investment depends on consumers having access to devices that can make use of that network,” Verizon said in the filing. “The accused Samsung devices are among the few products that can access Verizon Wireless’s next-generation high-speed network.”
On Wednesday T-Mobile followed suit, filing its own paperwork with the court asking that Samsung products be left alone, reports Reuters. T-Mobile’s main concern, according to the filing, is holiday sales this year.
The pink carrier “prominently features” the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy S II in its marketing campaigns, says the filing, and an order in Apple’s favor would “unnecessarily harm” T-Mobile and T-Mo customers. “At this late date, T-Mobile could not find comparable replacement products for the 2011 holiday season,” said T-Mobile in the filing. “These investments cannot be recouped easily.”
After six months of world-wide bickering between Apple and Samsung, and countless other patent wars spring up all over the place, the carriers are surely getting worried about how these cases may affect their businesses. The court is expected to make a ruling on October 13.