Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2013/12/18/samsung_hire_apple_designer_store_us/
Samsung poaches Apple store guru for US retail push
Korean giant wants its own iconic glass fanboi palaces
Posted in On-Prem, 18th December 2013 05:05 GMT
Samsung has hired one of Apple’s senior store designers in a sign that the Korean electronics giant could be hoping to make a bigger splash in the US with some eye-catching retail outlets.
The chaebol behemoth’s US outpost snapped up Tim Gudgel as VP and GM of its retail sales operations, according to The Information.
Gudgel spent six years at the renowned Gehry Partners before joining Apple in 2008, where he helped design the firm’s Upper West Side Manhattan store.
Samsung’s retail presence in the US amounts pretty much to concessions in Best Buy stores, labelled “Samsung Experience Shops”, so the new hire could point to plans for something grander.
The long-running, multi-jurisdictional legal disputes between Samsung and Apple show just how frosty their relationship has become in the past few years and the Korean giant would like nothing better than to stick it to its arch rival in the fruity toy maker's own back yard.
Given Apple has more than half of its 400+ retail stores in the USA, Samsung has some catching up to do.
Given the two firms’ litigious history, what price the next big court room battle will be over a patented floating staircase or curved glass roof? ®