Samsung attempting to get rid of Apple's VoiceOver technology

By Santiago, 23 February, 2013

Forum
Accessibility Advocacy
Hello Applevis readers, Well, earlier today I found out that Samsung is attempting to get rid of VoiceOver, which as we all know, is the screen reader used on all of Apple's products. I'm quite consirned about this, especially if they for some reason, succeed. Here is the article from the BBC: http://bbc.in/YhFkBb

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Comments

By Lisa on Saturday, February 23, 2013 - 15:50

Well, the case was suspended, for now. Also, thus far, this is only in Germany. I highly doubt anything will come of this.

By Carlos Alonso on Saturday, February 23, 2013 - 15:50

I also doubt anything will come out of it, but it's still deplorable for Samsung to even try it - if any rumblings that something could come out of it, this would be an issue we (the visually impaired, including Android users) should all get behind fighting against through advocacy. Definitely will make me avoid any Samsung products just from hearing about this.

By Mike Arrigo on Saturday, February 23, 2013 - 15:50

Hey everyone. First, let me say that I am in no way defending what Samsung has done here, I'm not. However, I think it's just the tip of the iceberg of a much larger problem. This whole patent thing has gotten out of hand. We have companies sueing each other for things such as how battery indicators are displayed, or how searching a phone works. Unfortunately, in this particular case, we are caught in the cross fire. One thing to remember, when it comes to the Apple and Samsung patent wars, Apple actually started it. They sued Samsung first and attempted to ban several of their devices. Again, I'm not defending Samsung in this particular case, but I wonder if this would have happened if Apple had not started this last year because they did not like Samsung's global search feature. The real issue here is that some things, such as a battery indicator and other features that are on all mobile devices should not be patented in the first place. I hate to think how much money has been wasted on these law suits that could have been used to develop better products. I guess what I'm saying is, I certainly don't agree with Samsung doing this, but Apple is no saint either and was one of the major starters of this whole patent law suit mess.

when I first read about the Samsung suit I thought along the same lines regarding how silly and frivolous some of these suits are, I still think though that people are not off-base by speaking out against Samsung for doing this - it's really not taking sides with Apple regardless of who started this patent war. I know Apple has made it hard for other devices to implement accessibility gestures because they hold the patents, and I disagree with Apple for hindering accessibility this way. But I know that if Apple was to do something so reckless as what Samsung is trying to do like try to block the screen reader in Samsung phones Android users would and should be up in arms against Apple, and IOS users should back them. Frankly, I don't understand why judges don't just throw out these cases immediately and sanction these companies for attempting these ludicrous suits - Apple has had some very questionable ones, but Samsung has really thrown out some doozies. out there.