Samsung designed its Galaxy Nexus smartphone to bypass potential legal attacks from Apple. Mobile chief of Samsung Shin Jong-kyun indicate that if his outfit is going to have a chance in the competition with Apple it is going to have to come up with something that looks a bit different.

Apple has been worried about the rise of Samsung's Galaxy range and has decided to shut it down claiming that it violates its patents. Shin said that it is easier to look at all the patents out there and design around them than it is to be vulnerable to a court challenge. Shin and Andy Rubin, who oversees Google's Android business, unveiled the Galaxy Nexus smartphone yesterday.

Patents are very complicated and can be difficult to identify, Shin said, but Samsung tried to ensure that no known patent by Apple is included in the new Android smartphone. It is unlikely though that Apple will give up. Its own iPhone 4S has a spec which is inferior to the new Galaxy so it will have to pull out all stops to prevent its rival beating it. Shin said that the past six months of lawsuits in which Samsung and Apple have filed numerous suits and countersuits was "just the start" of a long patent war, from which he sees no end in sight.

Samsung has added personnel to its legal team to ramp up the battle against Apple and plans to hire more lawyers. Shin said that the whole incident had proved to him that having technological power and being business savvy aren't enough. You need to have lawyers if you are going to compete with the likes of Jobs' Mob.

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