Swiss clock maker’s deal with Samsung is a slap in the face to Apple

Back in 2012, the Swiss Federal Railways company SBB accused Apple of stealing its iconic clock design. Eventually, Apple did the right thing and agreed to pay $21 million to Swiss Railways to license the pleasing analog clockface design. It was a minor humiliation for the computer company, which prides itself on thoughtful and careful design. Now, Swiss Railways has poured salt in the wound by giving a huge contract to Samsung, Apple’s archrival. 

Samsung recently inked a deal with Swiss Federal Railways, the same organization that accused Apple of copying one of its iconic clock designs, leading some to speculate that Samsung may have sought the contract solely to make a dig at Apple. Earlier this month, Samsung revealed that it had reached a deal with Swiss Federal Railways to supply 30,000 phones and tablets to the organization also known as the SBB. But back in 2012, after the debut of iOS 6, the same state-owned rail company had a public spatwith Apple, in which the SBB accused the iPhone maker of stealing its iconic clock face design created in 1944 by Swiss engineer Hans Hilfiker. The clock remains the property of SBB, and is still used in the Swiss operation’s train stations, and the clock design Apple had used in iOS 6 bore a striking resemblance.