Live data from Hacker News

Steve Wozniak on Samsung patent verdict: ‘I hate it and I don’t agree with it’

thenextweb.com

61–70 of 111 posts

Re: Steve Wozniak on Samsung patent verdict: ‘I hate it and I don’t agree with it’

#61
Woz made the original Apple computers on a single board PC and did a good job for what they were but has done nothing since and never was a good businessman. Why does anyone think his opinion means anything or carries any weight? From everything I've read, he never had good business sense and I would just do the opposite of anything he says.

Re: Steve Wozniak on Samsung patent verdict: ‘I hate it and I don’t agree with it’

#63
post #41
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking at the iPhone 5, and when Apple started to go litigation crazy I think a couple factors have combined to force them to go this way. 1. The iPhone 5 is an incremental update to the iPhone 4 template. It doesn't mean it's a bad product, it actually looks like it's a very very nice device. But it isn't the leapfrog over the competition that people have come to expect and Apple has built its smartphone business a…

1. How does the iphone 5's feature set make them file litigation in early 2010? 2. Android started to outsell Apple in 2010 not "in the past year"

[deleted]

Re: Steve Wozniak on Samsung patent verdict: ‘I hate it and I don’t agree with it’

#64
post #55
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. How does the iphone 5's feature set make them file litigation in early 2010? 2. Android started to outsell Apple in 2010 not "in the past year"

1. I'm just guessing, but my feeling is that the 5 was well into its design and testing cycle well before 2012. I don't know how long Apple's cycle is but I've hard that just getting network approval from some carriers can take as long as 12 months. It wouldn't surprise me if they had working near complete prototypes as far back as 2010. 2. I think it's specific manufacturers, not the aggregate community of makers. I…

I'm sure they work on many prototypes years in advance but if they wanted more features for the iphone 5 release occam's razor says they would just add more features.

People act like Apple's engineers can't figure out how to solder an NFC chip or use removable batteries or expandable storage or micro USB or support Flash or make a much larger phone. No, they decided to not include these things on purpose.

Re: Steve Wozniak on Samsung patent verdict: ‘I hate it and I don’t agree with it’

#65
post #55
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. How does the iphone 5's feature set make them file litigation in early 2010? 2. Android started to outsell Apple in 2010 not "in the past year"

1. I'm just guessing, but my feeling is that the 5 was well into its design and testing cycle well before 2012. I don't know how long Apple's cycle is but I've hard that just getting network approval from some carriers can take as long as 12 months. It wouldn't surprise me if they had working near complete prototypes as far back as 2010. 2. I think it's specific manufacturers, not the aggregate community of makers. I…

[deleted]

Re: Steve Wozniak on Samsung patent verdict: ‘I hate it and I don’t agree with it’

#66
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the dozenth time: this is not some radical choice Apple made. Apple is, as a public company, responsible to act in its own interest within the current economic system. The system is screwed up, but that doesn't mean that any single company has a responsibility to unilaterally disarm.

Aggressive product-killing patent suits are not the norm, nor are they part of "the system" or "the game" as it's traditionally been practiced. Tech patents have been used to drive revenue: invent stuff, file patents, find infringers, negotiate for a royalty, sue if you can't come to agreement and eventually settle for whatever royalty you end up with. Apple isn't the only bad actor in the mobile space right now. And…

And what if the other side doesn't want to settle?

Isn't the threat of injunction a large part of what drives infringers to settle on a royalty or stop infringement?

Re: Steve Wozniak on Samsung patent verdict: ‘I hate it and I don’t agree with it’

#67
post #59

I am not taking sides. Don't have all the data. I'll just say that there's a huge difference between "Research & Development" and only "Development". The first is far more time consuming, risky and expensive. The second is a clear and guided roadmap that you simply follow to completion. I used to be an idealist. I bought the whole idea of "just build a better product" without question. And so I did. Many years ago I…

OK, the problem with your argument is this bit: " Eight months later competitors came out with devices offering about 60% of what we were doing at half the price. It nearly killed the business " If the HTC G1 "nearly killed" the iPhone 3G, then you might have an argument. Though it would depend in sensitive ways on things like whether or not Apple had made back its R&D costs over the year of Insanely Great iPhone sal…

Because they would have made even more money otherwise?

Re: Steve Wozniak on Samsung patent verdict: ‘I hate it and I don’t agree with it’

#68
post #59

I am not taking sides. Don't have all the data. I'll just say that there's a huge difference between "Research & Development" and only "Development". The first is far more time consuming, risky and expensive. The second is a clear and guided roadmap that you simply follow to completion. I used to be an idealist. I bought the whole idea of "just build a better product" without question. And so I did. Many years ago I…

OK, the problem with your argument is this bit: " Eight months later competitors came out with devices offering about 60% of what we were doing at half the price. It nearly killed the business " If the HTC G1 "nearly killed" the iPhone 3G, then you might have an argument. Though it would depend in sensitive ways on things like whether or not Apple had made back its R&D costs over the year of Insanely Great iPhone sal…

"If the HTC G1 "nearly killed" the iPhone 3G, then you might have an argument."

He's not really arguing that and admits ignorance of Apple vs whoever. He's arguing for the legitimacy of the patent system itself.

Moreover why would his anecdote of 8 months suddenly become a hard and fast rule that can be applied to all other industries after which all bets are off?

Re: Steve Wozniak on Samsung patent verdict: ‘I hate it and I don’t agree with it’

#69
post #66
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aggressive product-killing patent suits are not the norm, nor are they part of "the system" or "the game" as it's traditionally been practiced. Tech patents have been used to drive revenue: invent stuff, file patents, find infringers, negotiate for a royalty, sue if you can't come to agreement and eventually settle for whatever royalty you end up with. Apple isn't the only bad actor in the mobile space right now. And…

And what if the other side doesn't want to settle? Isn't the threat of injunction a large part of what drives infringers to settle on a royalty or stop infringement?

The reporting as it stands is that Apple's demands (something like $30/unit I think?) weren't something that could be meaningfully "negotiated". Obviously there's complexity here, but the same logic goes the other way: if Samsung felt they could get a significant discount on that $1B award via negotiation, surely they would have cut that deal, no?

Re: Steve Wozniak on Samsung patent verdict: ‘I hate it and I don’t agree with it’

#70
post #37

I hope he's right that this gets reversed. Apple makes a lot of best-in-class products (and I know some people that think everything they make is best-in-class). Do they think they need to do this kind of litigation to keep making products people will buy? Are they trying to discredit Samsung as copycats? Or is it just a case of "if it costs us $100m to pursue 10 lawsuits with a 5% chance of any one of them getting u…

Looking at the iPhone 5, and when Apple started to go litigation crazy I think a couple factors have combined to force them to go this way. 1. The iPhone 5 is an incremental update to the iPhone 4 template. It doesn't mean it's a bad product, it actually looks like it's a very very nice device. But it isn't the leapfrog over the competition that people have come to expect and Apple has built its smartphone business a…

But it isn't the leapfrog over the competition that people have come to expect...

I think this is their biggest problem. They see & take a few opportunities to be disruptive, and now people are expecting them to be disruptive every frickin' time they have a press announcement. People don't appreciate how rare such opportunities arise, how rarer still to be able to spot them and exploit them, and rarer still to do it consecutively. There's no way they can sustain the drama and anticipation of product releases, especially since the rumor mill has gotten so good at piecing together component leaks.

Post reply on HN