But they did.
From TFA:
http://allthingsd.com/files/2012/07/samsung_designs.jpg
You'll see there that, prior to the announcement of the iphone, Samsung had produce many bar-touchscreen designs. The iphone is similar to some of them, (since they were first), while some are more obviously just ancestors of the Galaxy S. Models like the Slide and F700 (of which I had one, prior to the announcement of the iphone) very obviously evolved into the Galaxy S.
A great comparison is the car market. In Australia, there are arguments amongst car enthusiasts (see: Bogans) about which is better between the (Ford) Falcon and the (Holden) Commodore. Both 'camps' are just as one-eyed and ranting mad as the Apple vs Samsung camps. (And in both situations, I look at them and think "WTF? It's just a car/phone" and get a completely different brand so that I don't have to be tarred with the same brush. (Hell, I'm using a frickin'
SONY atm to avoid those two!
In the late 70s and early 80s, both the
Falcon/Fairmont and the
Commodore/Calais had the typical 'boxy' look of a 70s car.
Suddenly 1988 came around and
both companies took the evolutionary process of
gasp Rounding the corners! at the same time, with the 1988
Falcon and
Commodore getting the same rounded, streamlined look.
I'm sorry, but while I still have a deep-seated sympathy for Apple from the days when they were the underdog vs MS, in this case they are abusing process and being vexatious over a very logical and common design evolution.
