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If Android is a "stolen product," then so was the iPhone

arstechnica.com

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Re: If Android is a "stolen product," then so was the iPhone

#11

Post by kprobst »

jbrennan wrote: post #4

I'm not sure anyone is arguing the iPhone invented all these individual technologies, and if anyone is claiming that, they shouldn't be as the evidence is overwhelming to the contrary. I think the real meat of the argument is "iPhone synthesized all those individual pieces into something coherent and incredible.". It's kind of like how the Macintosh and Lisa took the ideas from PARC, perfected them, and turned them i…

But then you can also say that everything is a remix and a synthesis of prior innovation, and if that's the case then Apple's position is still indefensible.

We all stand in the shoulders of someone else.

Re: If Android is a "stolen product," then so was the iPhone

#13

Post by nextparadigms »

zefhous wrote: post #9

> Jobs called Android a "stolen product," but theft can be a tricky concept when talking about innovation. This article is heartily missing the point. Android is basically a stolen product. It's a direct successor and competitor to the iPhone, and the direction of Android in it's current form has been and is extremely influenced by what Apple has been doing. Sure, the iPhone is a bunch of "stolen" technologies and id…

Look around in any industry you want. How would you define competition, if nothing but very similar products to the original product of that type in that particular market?

This video describes very well how inventions get created and then evolve for the benefit of everyone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq5D43qAsVg

Re: If Android is a "stolen product," then so was the iPhone

#14

Post by bunderbunder »

ceejayoz wrote: post #3

If you focus only on the single feature that is multi-touch, sure, but it's the entire package that likely pissed Jobs off. Pre-iPhone, Android's demo phones looked like a BlackBerry clone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Android_mobile_phone_platf...

Pre-iPhone, they were also demoing devices that did not look quite so much like Blackberry clones:

http://www.osnews.com/story/25264/Did_Android_Really_Look_Li...

Re: If Android is a "stolen product," then so was the iPhone

#15

Post by wvenable »

zefhous wrote: post #9

> Jobs called Android a "stolen product," but theft can be a tricky concept when talking about innovation. This article is heartily missing the point. Android is basically a stolen product. It's a direct successor and competitor to the iPhone, and the direction of Android in it's current form has been and is extremely influenced by what Apple has been doing. Sure, the iPhone is a bunch of "stolen" technologies and id…

> Nobody was making products that resembled the iPhone before Apple

That's blatantly false. Every smartphone I owned going back to 2003 resembled the iPhone. Smartphones of the day either resembled the iPhone or they resembled the blackberry but both designs were out there in number. After the iPhone was released almost everyone dropped their blackberry-like designs (except for RIM).

Apple's innovation was the capacitive multi-touch screen and finger-friendly interface. I'm not even sure that's a revolution just an evolution of existing designs.

Re: If Android is a "stolen product," then so was the iPhone

#16

Post by gnaffle »

bunderbunder wrote: post #14
ceejayoz wrote: post #3

If you focus only on the single feature that is multi-touch, sure, but it's the entire package that likely pissed Jobs off. Pre-iPhone, Android's demo phones looked like a BlackBerry clone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Android_mobile_phone_platf...

Pre-iPhone, they were also demoing devices that did not look quite so much like Blackberry clones: http://www.osnews.com/story/25264/Did_Android_Really_Look_Li...

November 2007 isn't exactly pre-iPhone?

Re: If Android is a "stolen product," then so was the iPhone

#17

Post by nextparadigms »

freyrs3 wrote: post #12

Industries converge around good ideas. This isn't "stealing", its progress.

I agree. Apple had a lot of great ideas for their phone, and sooner or later someone would've copied them to be able to compete in the same type of market, and then build on that platform. In turn Apple ended up copying some of the later ideas from their competitors, too.

It's how progress happens. Too bad people are so quick to blame others with "stealing" when this happens.

Re: If Android is a "stolen product," then so was the iPhone

#18

Post by infiniteburp »

zefhous wrote: post #9

> Jobs called Android a "stolen product," but theft can be a tricky concept when talking about innovation. This article is heartily missing the point. Android is basically a stolen product. It's a direct successor and competitor to the iPhone, and the direction of Android in it's current form has been and is extremely influenced by what Apple has been doing. Sure, the iPhone is a bunch of "stolen" technologies and id…

Well Remember ...

Apple "advocates" always said: apple invented the gui, apple invented mp3 players, apple makes the fastest PC, apple's not the "big brother" company, etc. etc. Every claim usually turns out false. The Rep for "reality distortion field" has firm basis in trugth.

We can't always take Apple's claims at face value. This article just exposed, once again, another pro-Apple fallacy: that they own mini-tablet-phones and everyone stole the idea from them.

nonsense.

Re: If Android is a "stolen product," then so was the iPhone

#19

Post by ceejayoz »

bunderbunder wrote: post #14
ceejayoz wrote: post #3

If you focus only on the single feature that is multi-touch, sure, but it's the entire package that likely pissed Jobs off. Pre-iPhone, Android's demo phones looked like a BlackBerry clone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Android_mobile_phone_platf...

Pre-iPhone, they were also demoing devices that did not look quite so much like Blackberry clones: http://www.osnews.com/story/25264/Did_Android_Really_Look_Li...

> We're talking November 12 2007

iPhone was announced January 2007 and released June 2007. That's hardly pre-iPhone.

Re: If Android is a "stolen product," then so was the iPhone

#20

Post by nwjsmith »

wvenable wrote: post #15
zefhous wrote: post #9

> Jobs called Android a "stolen product," but theft can be a tricky concept when talking about innovation. This article is heartily missing the point. Android is basically a stolen product. It's a direct successor and competitor to the iPhone, and the direction of Android in it's current form has been and is extremely influenced by what Apple has been doing. Sure, the iPhone is a bunch of "stolen" technologies and id…

> Nobody was making products that resembled the iPhone before Apple That's blatantly false. Every smartphone I owned going back to 2003 resembled the iPhone. Smartphones of the day either resembled the iPhone or they resembled the blackberry but both designs were out there in number. After the iPhone was released almost everyone dropped their blackberry-like designs (except for RIM). Apple's innovation was the capaci…

> That's blatantly false. Every smartphone I owned going back to 2003 resembled the iPhone.

Which phones?

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