Apple accused of hiding Samsung apology on UK homepage
Reddit users have noted Apple is using JavaScript on its UK website to conceal its apology to Samsung.
Apple has corrected its apology to Samsung that a UK court demanded it post on its website. But has it all been above board?
Visitors to UK news-sharing site Reddit have noted that in order to view the apology, you have to scroll down the page, no matter how you resize your browser window, our sister site CNET News reports. It's all down to JavaScript code that dynamically alters the size of the main image (an iPad mini) to take up as much space as possible.
That means the link to the apology is always pushed down just out of view.
The JavaScript resize code has been uploaded to code-sharing site Pastebin, and you can have a look at it here, too. (Apple doesn't use it on its US site, where there's no Samsung apology, though you do still have to scroll down to see the bottom menu, on a 21.5-inch iMac, anyway.)
Whether this is a deliberate attempt by Apple to tuck the apology out of sight, or just an unfortunate by-product of the new page design, is up for debate. It depends on how cynical you are, I suppose. I wouldn't put it past Apple, especially considering its first attempt at an apology.
Apple posted the first statement on the matter on 25 October, but it was little more than a thinly veiled attack on Samsung. There were numerous references to cases abroad where Samsung was found to have copied Apple's designs, even though the whole point of the note was to say a UK court had found the opposite. Unsurprisingly, the learned judges of the court of appeal weren't impressed and demanded Apple correct it. The new note appeared yesterday.
Apple also took out adverts in UK papers, as ordered by the court.
What do you think? Conspiracy? Or is Apple hiding it away? Let me know what you reckon in the comments, or on Facebook.