Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) might have hit two birds with one stone in its successful court battle with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, as the impact could trickle down to Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), through its Android platform unit.
The verdict made by a Californian Judge on August 24th, will affect several Samsung devices, as Apple seeks to replicate the same on other patent infringing devices from the Korean based Electronics giant.
This is one of the most complicated scenarios for Google; being the owner of the Android Software, it has no capacity to manage third party risks, like the patent infringement by Samsung.
The Korean-based electronics manufacturer is the largest producer of gadgets that run on the Android Software, and hence the risk of having a global ban on the sale of patent infringing products, could as well, impact negatively on Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG).
Nonetheless, Google seems more than likely to maintain a comfort zone during the patent wars; this is in regard to its latest acquisition of Motorola, a company that will give it more traction in the mobile phone industry.
Baird Equity Research does share the same sentiments, further adding that, the patent infringements do not touch on the new Samsung devices; the Galaxy note 2, and Samsung Galaxy S3 and therefore, these can be used as a basis for other devices being manufactured.
In fact, the research firm has maintained its view on Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) stock to outperform, and has a price target of $750. Additionally, the firm is of the opinion that Google is now well positioned to manufacture its own devices, and hence reduce the impact from the ban on android run Samsung devices.
Furthermore, Baird is not the only company that shares this opinion; Bank of America (NYSE:BAC)’s Merrill Lynch research bares the same connotations. Merrill Lynch has a price target of $740 on Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) stock, and is of the view that the 2% decline in its stock price following the patent news is only temporary; considering that the company has been in a tussle with Apple over the Google Maps issue since June 2012.
Merrill Lynch is also of the opinion that the verdict is unlikely to boost Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) sales any time soon, to an extent of changing the current projections.
Yesterday we featured in one of our articles, a similar argument, which perceives minimal interruption in the Smartphones and tablets market in the near term, as a result of the current verdict.
Google, which entered the tablets market with its Nexus 7 device recently, will now be able to manufacture its own Smartphones, and other mobile phones; through Motorola.
Additionally, the Merrill Lynch report notes that people will still use Google Search and maps, on the various platforms, regardless of the operating system being used, in the aftermath of its tussle with Apple, and adding that this, to some extent, did magnify the impact on the company’s shares, following the ruling.
At the time of this writing, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) was down 0.32% at premarket trading, having lost $2.12 per share from yesterday’s close of $669.22 to trade at $667.10.
