If you’ve been following Apple over the past couple of years, you’ll know of its battle against the company it claims “slavishly copied” its iPhone and iPad devices to make money. Cupertino’s view of Samsung is that the Korean took the easy route in copying the devices that Jony Ive and his team spent years designing and developing from nothing.

The big head to head begun yesterday, headed up by Judge Koh. Today it was Apple’s SVP of Marketing, Phil Schiller that took the stand to field questions. A few key points made by Schiller:

• He was asked specifically about the creation of the iPhone. The idea was that Apple would create a smartphone that was great as an entertainment device. “We started to look at whether you could put entertainment content on cellphones…. We realized at the time that some phones weren’t any good as entertainment devices.”
• Apple started on the iPad project before the iPhone. The key was multitouch display technology.
• When asked about the reaction to the iPhone, Schiller claimed that it was mixed. Name-checking Steve Ballmer (Microsoft) who thought it would crash and burn.
• Specifically on marketing, the iPhone had a few carefully placed ads leading up to its launch in June 2007. The first was strategically aired during the Academy Awards.
• Once the question circles around post-launch reviews, the reaction has become an almost unanimous “I love this phone”. Walt Mossberg held extremely high praise for Apple’s first foray in to the smartphone world.
• On to sales: “extremely good” for the first iPhone. They’ve worked on the principle since that each new version of the iPhone outsells all the previous generations combined.
• On to the iPad, which in the words of Phil Schiller was a huge “gamble”. Why? Because it was a new class of device, something that hadn’t been done in that way before. The tablet market had been declared dead, and Apple risked its image by releasing a new one.
• “We’ve really taken the entire experience, hardware, software, integrated experienes, and taken the responbility to make them all work together for the customer.“
• Design is the next focus, 4 iPhone models compared: speaking specifically of the bright, colorful icons on the display as well as the front panel etc. Essentially, all the patents that Samsung is alleged to have infringed upon.
• Later on Schiller goes on to talk about customer satisfaction and consumer surveys. According to many of these, people think of great design when they think of an Apple product. It also has great importance in the selection of a new smartphone/gadget.
• They carefully selected the right publications to partner with when choosing who to use to advertize the iPad on launch, and spent over $140 million on advertising the iPad before September 2010.
• Schiller states that he thinks competition is great. Copying is a different matter. Trading off another company’s hard work and effort in creating a new device, and passing it off as your own creation. Having seen the Galaxy S and original Tab, he “thought they were just going to copy our whole product line.“
• The crux of the matter: the Galaxy lineup confused customers, and “dilutes the way customers see Apple“

To follow a great liveblog of the trial, head over to The Verge.