Once again there's a story in the news about a company ripping off Apple's design.
This time it's HP. And it sure does look like Apple's iMac.
But here's the thing, Apple's iMac is clearly a rip off of Samsung's 2005 flat screen plasma TV, the SP-R4232. Surely you remember the SP-R4232 and its iconic design?
No?
Oh.
Well, I forgive you. Most people probably don't remember it.
It's the TV I recently inherited from my parents and I can't help but notice how much it looks like the current iMac. It looks so much like an iMac that I just assumed Samsung got its inspiration from the iMac.
Then I did a quick search on the web and found out the Samsung TV came out before the silver iMac! The Samsung TV was released in 2005, according to Amazon. The iMac came out in 2007, per Wikipedia.
Who would have thunk it? Perhaps Apple ripped off the design of the iMac from Samsung!
Compare and contrast below. We won't label which is which. See if you can figure out which is an iMac and which is a TV from Samsung:
I'm joking around here, obviously. I don't think Apple stole from Samsung. But this does highlight how a lot of design can end up looking very similar. Sometimes it's intentional. Sometimes it's not.
