The ongoing iPad vs Galaxy Tab type of battle rages on. While there’s a lot of patent talk and discussion around why Apple are so ruthlessly fighting against the existence of a rival touch pad type of device, the real reason why Apple are fighting it is becoming more and more evident.

Someone (sorry, I forget who!) pointed out to me this week that they witnessed someone going into PC World, running right up to a Samsung tablet and shouting back to their parents “look! look! It’s the new iPad!”

Furthermore, Reuters’ Dan Levine tweeted from U.S. District Court yesterday where Judge Lucy Koh was handed both tablets. She held both of them, one in each hand, and had to ask Samsung lawyers which one was which. Even the lawyers took their time identifying the correct one.

It’s the same reason Apple designed iMacs to be so different to the beige PC boxes people were used to. It differentiates them and puts them in a “high end” market. Outright copying their initial design scuffles the perception when people think they’re buying a high end device and get rubbish back. I’ve heard stories of people ringing AppleCare and complaining that their device is slow only to discover that they don’t actually own an iPad at all.

A lot of R&D, testing and money went into the iPad. Years of it. For Samsung to put a remarkably similar device out in a short period of times ruins the whole point of Apple, high end computing and the style that the Apple brand carries. If they’re confusing their own lawyers with such a similar design then I cannot see how they can defend their position with this device.

Even in one of their pop-up stores Apple’s App Store and iTunes app logos were on the rear hoarding. Samsung is coming across like a headless chicken that has no idea what it has done, why it has done it and cannot justify the point of their device being on sale to consumers.