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Tech Week Ahead: Fallout After Apple-Samsung Suit

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

And I'm Audie Cornish. And it's time now for All Tech Considered.

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CORNISH: Today, Apple issued a list of eight devices made by rival Samsung that it wants pulled from U.S. shelves, including the company's popular Galaxy phones. The move comes after a California jury on Friday dealt a serious blow to Samsung, ruling that it had infringed on multiple Apple patents. The South Korean-based company must now pay a little more than $1 billion in damages or appeal, which is exactly what it says it will do.

But Wall Street isn't waiting. Shares for Samsung Electronics fell as much as 7.5 percent and its market value dropped $12 billion.

STEVE HENN, BYLINE: But it's bigger than that.

CORNISH: That's NPR technology correspondent Steve Henn.

HENN: It's Google's Android operating system that is really the fundamental core target of all of Apple's litigation around the globe. They are trying to make Google stumble.

CORNISH: Android is the software of choice for some big smartphone manufacturers, including Samsung, Motorola and HTC. Google insists that most of Apple's patent claims don't relate to the core Android operating system and that it - just like about everyone in the mobile game - is simply building upon ideas that have been around for decades.

Besides Apple, at least one other company is reaping the benefit of this patent fight.

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CORNISH: Nokia, remember them? Back in the early 2000s, they made some of the bestselling mobile phones on the market. Nokia is no longer the force it once was, but it does stand to gain from the ongoing dispute between Apple and Google. Nokia's smartphones use Microsoft's operating system, not Android.

HENN: Its stock was up 10 percent. And I think that's because many investors assume it's best positioned to compete with Apple without running into these kinds of hurdles.

CORNISH: And that's our week ahead in tech news with NPR's Steve Henn.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.