This is not fair. Certainly didn't invented anything, but they improved patent trolling as to make it a way of life. Who needs to invent, when you can patent, sue and win? Let's others do the work.
Apple Never Invented Anything
141–150 of 217 posts
Re: Apple Never Invented Anything
#142One interesting point is he brought up Einstein's invention of relativity. Notice that in the scientific community, humanity has been building upon previous work for centuries with no copyright or patent protection, and nothing more than honor, citation, and shame against plagiarists. The fundamental defense made by many is that without patent protection for software, people would not put much effort into innovating.…
It's not a 20 year monopoly. Many Android manufacturers are paying Microsoft for their patents. What prevents them from licensing Apple's patents?
I don't care which phone I use, because they're (mostly) all pretty good now. But wow, I remember the Microsoft WM5 heap that I had just before my iPhone. It was a testament to terrible UI. It had more widgets than my old Palm5 but was somehow far less usable. Not some rubbish knock-off, the premier phone from HTC running the software from the world's software monopoly, and it was terrible. I made vows never to use another Windows phone again after that. Version 5 and it was still crap. With the iPhone, Apple's first version knocked it out of the park. First try. And changed the industry, yet everyone thinks it was all obvious or people should be able to use their ideas freely.
There is obviously a balance between Apple-owns-all and everything-goes. Apple should benefit from their patents like every other company does, but others should be able to license them under reasonable terms. Until we finally dump all software patents, this seems like a reasonable compromise.
PS. - pharmaceuticals usually get a full-on monopoly for the full period. Software makers usually cross-license, so there is a difference.
PPS. - Apple's 100bn in the bank just show how far behind everyone else was at the time. Took ages to catch up.
Re: Apple Never Invented Anything
#143One interesting point is he brought up Einstein's invention of relativity. Notice that in the scientific community, humanity has been building upon previous work for centuries with no copyright or patent protection, and nothing more than honor, citation, and shame against plagiarists. The fundamental defense made by many is that without patent protection for software, people would not put much effort into innovating.…
It's not a 20 year monopoly. Many Android manufacturers are paying Microsoft for their patents. What prevents them from licensing Apple's patents? I don't care which phone I use, because they're (mostly) all pretty good now. But wow, I remember the Microsoft WM5 heap that I had just before my iPhone. It was a testament to terrible UI. It had more widgets than my old Palm5 but was somehow far less usable. Not some rub…
Apple hasn't offered to license their patents, they want to kill Android.
BTW, I liked my WM5 phone.
Re: Apple Never Invented Anything
#144Its an old idea to remove everything until just the essence is left. Apple succeed in identifying markets that was making over complex products. The silly part is that complexity goes in cycles. New products need to differential themselves with old ones, so they add new features. After a while, you end up with a car stereo with 20 buttons, and suddenly a "new" competitor comes out with a clean design with just 3 butt…
I think simplicity isn't the only story, it's usable simplicity. If simple was the only game in town, Apple would only need the iPod shuffle and something like John's Phone ( http://johnsphones.org/ ) to rule the world. The iPod and iPhone has added lots and lots of functionality over the years, yet the interface has stayed simple. It's possible to add lots of new features in ways that doesn't make the interface more…
You can add new features without adding interface complexity, but its harder to differential products if the user do not have any visible difference between ones old product now going for 15$, the competitors new 30-99$ products, and ones own new product going for 100$. Abstract arguments like "its faster!, more feature than before!" is much harder sell when the two devices look and feel the same.
One way is to sue all competitors and have the only store available presenting exclusive the new product, but that only goes so far.
As for the johnsphones, it has buttons. As interface goes, it still look complex compared to a smartphone. The most simplistic phone design is one with only one or zero buttons, like the Third generation iPod Shuffle if it had been a phone.
Re: Apple Never Invented Anything
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't even think medicines should be patented. I think government should fund the R&D and then let all companies manufacture and sell it at a low price. Then it is even better than medicare. The government can sell the production method to other countries for a profit though.
That's not government's role unless you're in Soviet Russia. The free market drives more innovation that government ever has. The Lada and the Yugo are great examples of what happens when central planners try to run things. Besides, if people aren't going to profit from their hard work, what's the incentive for hard work? I don't write code everyday for the good of humanity, I do it to try and build something someone…
That's not government meddling in private business. That is private business meddling in government.
Re: Apple Never Invented Anything
#146Note this: Apple spends substantially less (as a fraction of revenue) on R&D, and gets substantially more, in terms of outstanding products, compared to every other tech company. What is it that they're doing so well?
Re: Apple Never Invented Anything
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
anecdotal evidence indeed. that's precisely the point. there is no empirical evidence behind the vast majority of comments like these. conclusions without evidence or any indication of the methods used to arrive at them. linux? are you kidding? this is exactly what i was referring to: assumptions. how did you conclude by booting an os i meant linux? a true apple fanboy. thanks for sharing.
that's precisely the point. there is no empirical evidence behind the vast majority of comments like these. Are you being purposefully vague? No empirical evidence of what ? I'll counter that there is overwhelming evidence, but I'll share specifics once I know what your claim is. :)
no empirical evidence to support the original statement he made: "the market for people like [me] is not very large"
for one, what does "people like me" mean? people who can make use of non-apple hardware? what sort of uses? i don't know what he meant. i could take a guess. but then i would be making an _assumption_. and i might be dead wrong.
and that's what you did in your comment. you made some assumptions. what were they?
i already told you one: you assumed the os a "mom-type" would run would be various linux distros. what if it's not linux?
Re: Apple Never Invented Anything
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps another example of original innovation: the swiss army knife. Look at a victorinox. Look at a knife, a corscrew, a scissor, a toothpick, and a tweezer sitting on the desk. Sometimes an act of integration is enough to be transformative. iOS is a great example of radical originality , even if not a breakthrough technically. The Concept of the ap - a litewight, bandwidth efficient, modular, reconfigurable elemen…
No iOS has been done before, as has the iPad. It's nowhere near original. http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/Computers/NC.html#NewsPAD Note the features here: ARM CPU, Touch screen, Contextual media app, "Apps" button down the bottom, self contained apps which were modular, integrated into the OS. I know the OS well (RISC OS) and I've had my hands on an actual device. It was smaller and lighter and less complex than anythin…
You didn't read the article did you? It starts from your argument that a list of ingredients constitutes an invention and tears it down step by step.
Re: Apple Never Invented Anything
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's called "marketing". It's not really new.
You are right, but Apple's definition of marketing doesnt end with the billboards or the tv commercials. Every time you see someone wearing those white earbuds, that's marketing. When your mom is always on her ipad, despite 20 years of lessons from you on how to use a computer, that's marketing. When you are sitting in an airport and you notice the glow of the Apple logo on the back of someone's Macbook Air, that's m…
I completely agree. Apple's marketing is genius. But, the comment I was replying to seems to think that Apple invented effective marketing, and that's just not true. They do it really, really well, but you gotta be chugging the kool-aid to think that they invented the concept of using their products to advertise their brand.
Re: Apple Never Invented Anything
#150I think this article makes some good points but overlooks the crucial question - what inventions are patentable? Like a great chef that combines known ingredients, apple has made excellent products, but apple has not produced new innovation that is worthy of patent protection. Apple's path to success should be winning customers, just like the chefs he describes, not through patent litigation. The examples given by th…
Einstein understood the meaning. Poincare and Lorentz just understood the machinery. That is a fundamental difference that let Einstein go beyond special relativity to general relativity. Big, big difference. The difference between friendster and facebook.