According to Reuters, Tim Cook, Apple’s current CEO, never wanted to sue Samsung in the first place.  He was hesitant to sue Samsung because Samsung was the main component supplier for Apple. Apple bought $8 billion worth of components from Samsung last year alone.

Cook was worried about what litigation might due to the relationship Apple had with its critical supplier, but Steve Jobs was running out of patience. Jobs believed that Samsung was counting on its supplier relationship with Apple to protect it from any lawsuits.

After Apple warned Samsung over and over that their designs too closely resembled that of Apple’s iProducts, Apple, with Tim Cook taking charge, filed lawsuits against Samsung.

However, now that the Apple/Samsung lawsuit seems to be taking  a lot longer to come to a conclusion, it looks like Tim Cook may even be willing to settle with Samsung (with a more appealing settlement offer). He has said on various occasions about how he hates litigation, and with his initial opposition against suing Samsung, we may be seeing an end to their fight soon.

But in order for Apple to really settle with Samsung, they have to offer a much better settlement than Samsung paying $30 for every single one of its smartphone handsets (including Android, Symbian, Bada, and Windows OS), as well as $40 for every one of its tablets. At that rate, Samsung would be paying a royalty rate of 5%. Apple also offered a 20% discount to Samsung if it agreed to cross-license its technology with them.

Despite Tim Cooks distaste for litigation, he still followed through with the various lawsuits against Samsung. He even emphasized many times how Apple competitors need to “invent their own stuff”.

So while Tim Cook may have been opposed to suing Samsung in the first place, he still waged war on them, and now he has to come face-to-face with aftermath.

Reuters via 9to5 Mac|The Verge