SAMSUNG may have lost the latest court decision, but Samsung Electronics scored a personnel victory over Apple this month by hiring away a senior store designer.
Samsung said Tim Gudgel, who has played a role in designing Apple's stylish retail outlets, joined the company this month as a vice president and general manager of retail-sales operations. Samsung didn't elaborate further on Gudgel's responsibilities.
The hire, earlier reported by The Information, calls attention to Samsung's retail strategy. While Samsung has a few retail shops overseas, including in its home market of South Korea, its U.S. retail presence is limited to a partnership with Best Buy. The retailer allots space within its stores for "Samsung Experience" shops, where customers can try out Samsung's smartphones and other devices.
According to his LinkedIn page, Gudgel had worked as a director at Apple since March 2008. Before that, he spent six years at Gehry Partners, founded by legendary architect Frank Gehry. Among Gudgel's accomplishments at Apple, he was a designer on a patent filing for the curved glass roof of the Apple store on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
Apple and Samsung, the two dominant forces in the smartphone industry, are locked in a series of lawsuits over patents pertaining to mobile-device technology. Last month, a federal jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple $290 million, bringing the total damages it owes to Apple to $930 million. The case was a retrial of a portion of the $1.05 billion in damages awarded in the original case in 2012.
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