Apple Marketing Chief Phil Schiller Appears On the Witness Stand in Apple/Samsung Damages Trial

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, took the stand in the damages retrial between Apple and Samsung earlier today, testifying as the two companies argue over how much Samsung should pay Apple after the latter company won its patent lawsuit last year.

Apple is asking for $379 million in damages, while Samsung believes it should only need to pay $52 million.

Last year, Samsung was ordered to pay Apple a total of $1.05 billion after a jury found the South Korean company guilty of willfully violating multiple Apple patents. Back in March, Judge Lucy Koh struck $450 million from the $1 billion awarded to Samsung after deciding the jury may have miscalculated the damages due to a misunderstanding of patent issues.

According to CNET, Schiller told the jury that Samsung made it "much harder" for Apple to market and sell its devices, and that Samsung's behavior has made it "harder for us to get new customers and bring them into our ecosystem."

He added that Apple's marketing strategy revolves around "the product as the hero," highlighting features and capabilities that differentiate its devices from all others on the market. But Samsung's devices caused consumers to "question our design skills in a way they never used to," Schiller said.

He also echoed comments from the trial last year, saying he was shocked when he saw Samsung's Galaxy phones.

"It looked exactly like the iPhone, so much so people might confuse it," Schiller said.

After Schiller's testimony and cross-examination, Apple rested its case and Samsung took over after a lunch break. The trial is expected to conclude in the middle of next week.