Apple expert: How shoppers mistook Samsung gear for ours

Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 in front of Apple's iPad.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- To help quantify how users could confuse Samsung's devices and Apple's, Apple brought out another study of shoppers.

In court here today, Apple called on Kent Van Liere, a survey research expert, who polled mall visitors to determine whether certain Samsung smartphones and tablets would be associated, or worse -- confused with Apple's iPhone and iPad.

Van Liere said that yes, that had turned out to be the case with separate studies of both devices.

For smartphones it was Samsung's Galaxy Fascinate and Galaxy SII Epic 4G smartphones, along with Research In Motion's BlackBerry Storm, which Van Liere described as the control group. Selected front images of these devices were shown to users, who were told to say whether or not they associated that image with Apple. 38 percent of the people the group polled said that was, in fact the case with the Fascinate, with 37 percent for the Galaxy SII Epic 4G.

"Those percents would suggest that it is likely that consumers will associate the look of a device of the Samsung Galaxy phones with Apple or the iPhone, and that would be evidence suggested of dilution," Van Liere said.

Samsung fared better with tablets, where videos of both a branded and unbranded version of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 were shown, along with a control gro... [Read more]