Comment Re:Taken to the cleaners... (Score 4, Insightful) 132
Agreed. Touching a competitor's setup at a trade fair is bush league.
I don't buy that "testing" defense for a second. If you're a company that large you test by buying a machine anonymously at retail, take it to your labs, complete a test plan, then take it apart the see the build and components. Just randomly poking at stuff before a trade show isn't even going to give you much data.
While I wouldn't be surprised if he broke the machines on purpose, I'm assuming these weren't available for purchase yet. That seems to be how companies work (including Samsung and LG) in other spaces such as televisions. In fact, many of those other products that they bring to shows are just concept devices that never make it to market without significant changes.
While there probably is detailed testing like you describe going on, I think it's reasonable for an exec to check out the competition at a show.