How the Apple vs. Samsung Verdict Will Affect the Smartphone Market; Experts Weigh In

The verdict on the Apple vs. Samsung patent trial, delivered on Friday, has had investors, analysts and consumers on the hop as they question what kind of effect it could have on Apple products, Samsung products and the smartphone industry at large.

Perspectives on how the outcome of the case will affect the mobile communications market differ largely, but there are two schools of thought that seem to be up for debate all across the country: the verdict will stifle or spur innovation on new product designs and features. Following are some opinions regarding these notions:

On Innovation in the Marketplace:

"The end result of this suit should be that Samsung and any others wanting to play in the smartphone market should innovate instead of copy, which would mean that consumers should expect more creative devices in the future," Tim Bajarin said in a recent Time.com article. "Samsung's claim is that its loss in the suit will only stifle competition is incorrect. In the world of technology, the opportunity to invent, innovate and create new hardware and software from scratch is more than viable."

"The big question is: how will [the verdict] manifest itself in the design of smartphones and tablets going forward?" asked Dwight Silverman of The Houston Chronicle. "There seems to be two schools of thought in the analyses that are out there. The first is that innovation will stagnate, with manufacturers of these phones playing it very safe, or tweaking their wares just enough to get around Apple's designs and patents. The second is that innovation will accelerate, with completely new approaches being pioneered."

On the Future of iPhones and Androids:

"We do not expect significant changes in the market... We believe that Samsung is likely to make software modifications to devices to work around the patented software features in question," analyst Pipe Jaffray told CNN in an interview. "For devices that infringe on design patents, we believe those devices may no longer be sold in the US; however, it does not appear that newer devices, including the Galaxy SIII are impacted. Net-net, we do not believe Samsung will see any meaningful interruption, likely only minor interruption, in device sales in the US... We do not believe further settlements are likely to hamstring Android in any serious way."

"Analysts said the win strengthened Apple's position ahead of the iPhone 5 launch and could cements its dominance in the market as companies using Google Inc.'s Android operating system - two-thirds of the global market - may be forced to consider design changes," Reuters said.

Everything is still up in the air in terms of how things will play out for the mobile phone market and companies like Apple, Samsung and Google as they react to the news of Friday's verdict. Going forward, it will likely take trial and error on next-gen smartphone designs to show us the impact of the Apple vs. Samsung settlement.