Response to “Apple marketing executive says Samsung hurt iPhone, iPad demand”

The hottest phones in the market are Samsung’s and Apple’s. Is it a coincidence their phones seem to have similar features? The “pinch and zoom on the screen” and “phone’s flat, black glass screen”. Such doubts have caused two companies to constantly trying to obtain patent over each other and suing for compensation.

Today we are going to look at the bigger picture: instead of focusing on which company is “right”, let’s look at the trend that’s happening in almost every industry. Is Samsung’s phone causing Apple to develop certain features or the other way around? That scenario would be describing causation, the action of causing something. Or, is it a correlation that both companies are developing similar features to satisfy consumers’ current demand and preference? That would be a correlation. Another well known case can be Lululemon Athletica’s yoga pants: are other brands following Lululemon by developing similar products (causation) or are they merely trying to satisfy consumers’ wants and needs? (correlation). I think things become different when we try to determine if it is causation or correlation, because we do not try to score a win or avoid a lose, but instead understand the main concept behind all these cases.

Original article link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/15/us-apple-samsung-retrial-idUSBRE9AE15I20131115