One of the defining aspects of Apple's history is the widespread belief that Apple's inventions in the 1980s were stolen by Microsoft. Everyone in that audience who laughed and applauded understood what Jobs was referring to. It is outrageous that something similar is happening again, and some of the blame goes to Jobs in my opinion. Schmidt should not have been on the board, or should have been kicked to the curb much earlier than he was.
On the contrary, Apple needed Google's help in the beginning. Imagine the first iPhone without Google Search, Maps, YouTube and cell id locating. It would've been far less impressive and useful.
Some people also repeat nonsense about stealing secrets. Besides the fact that Jobs never accused him of such a thing, such an idea makes little sense. Schmidt couldn't have given Google much of a head start even if he had wanted to. The timing was against it:
He was only on the board for a few months before the iPhone came out, after which time it wasn't secret any more. During most of those few months, even Jobs said they didn't have a working product. By the time they did, it was only a few weeks before the iPhone was made public. A few weeks or months is nothing over the past five years.
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Originally Posted by shadash
One of the defining aspects of Apple's history is the widespread belief that Apple's inventions in the 1980s were stolen by Microsoft. Everyone in that audience who laughed and applauded understood what Jobs was referring to. It is outrageous that something similar is happening again, and some of the blame goes to Jobs in my opinion. Schmidt should not have been on the board, or should have been kicked to the curb much earlier than he was.
On the contrary, Apple needed Google's help in the beginning. Imagine the first iPhone without Google Search, Maps, YouTube and cell id locating. It would've been far less impressive and useful.
Some people also repeat nonsense about stealing secrets. Besides the fact that Jobs never accused him of such a thing, such an idea makes little sense. Schmidt couldn't have given Google much of a head start even if he had wanted to. The timing was against it:
He was only on the board for a few months before the iPhone came out, after which time it wasn't secret any more. During most of those few months, even Jobs said they didn't have a working product. By the time they did, it was only a few weeks before the iPhone was made public. A few weeks or months is nothing over the past five years.