Apple VP Phil Schiller Thought Samsung Was Going to Copy Apple’s Whole Product Line

As the Apple against Samsung trial drudges on, Philip Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice President of worldwide marketing, took the stand on Friday and described what he thought when he first saw the Galaxy S phone.

“I was pretty shocked at the appearance of the Galaxy S phone and the extent to which it appeared to copy Apple’s products,” Schiller said. “We went from having something easy to market because it was so distinctive and so famous to having something that was difficult to market.”

When asked what he thought of competition, he said that “competition’s great. Every day there are companies creating products to compete with us.”

Mr. Schiller obviously is not a fan of copying and says it is not fair.

“Because when you copy or steal the idea of one company’s product now you’re trading off all that investment and marketing and goodwill with customers… when you rip that off you’re trying to get all that benefit for yourself,” he said.

Phil Schiller was even more shocked when he saw the first Galaxy Tab and though that “they were just going to copy our whole product line.”

Schiller went on to say that the strong resemblance between Apple devices and Samsung’s strongly confused the consumer and diminished Apple’s public image, as “people associate the Apple brand with great design.”

As the the Apple v. Samsung trial advances, there will only be more interesting news and quotes coming out of the courtroom. Also keep in mind that this trial does not include the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Nexus. This trial covers Apple’s allegations that Samsung “blatantly” copied its designs. There will be another trial over the Galaxy Nexus and S III and the software on those devices.