That was a totally different barrel of monkeys! That time Apple was trying to effectively make new law by getting the court to extend copyright to look & feel. It learned that lesson well - this time it's relying on well established modes of IP.
Yes, and I suspect we are just beginning to see the fruits of Steve's hard learn experiences kicking in this time around.
They are still solvent but they have no solid future which will hurt them doubly. First in the product market with consumers and second in the stock market with investors. I hope I see some decent acquisitions or innovations so I can reinvest with RIMM.
What can a one trick pony do when its pony is dead? Many a company dies a horrible financial death assuming it can pull of a success in the same market place twice. Steve is among the few to have managed to have a business that did that.
What can a one trick pony do when its pony is dead? Many a company dies a horrible financial death assuming it can pull of a success in the same market place twice. Steve is among the few to have managed to have a business that did that.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's likely, but it's certainly not impossible. Look at Sears. Even though they're fall from the top was assured decides ago they are still around and still making a profit even though that profit is in decline. RiM and Nokia are still more financially capable than most of the handset vendors in the market. If they can find a solution they could carve out a sustainable niche even if well below Apple's financial dominance.
... At $4.5 billion, the Nortel patents sale was the biggest in history, Walker said. If InterDigital were to hit its projected, inflated $5 billion selling price, it would be an even larger sale. ...
A bargain compared to the $8.5 billion Microsoft paid for Skype. The InterDigital acquisition will be strategic. The buyer will earn far more than the purchase price through royalties.
The Skype acquisition was a tactical short-term ploy by Microsoft. A public relations move. A desperate lunge at relevance.
The final $4.5 billion selling price was a fivefold increase from the initial bid made by Google. Officials with the search giant have declined to say whether they plan to bid on InterDigital, but the company's general counsel, Kent Walker, said on Monday that he believes patents are "government-granted monopolies" that stifle innovation.
Of course when you do no research and own few patents yourself you will say this. It's like the kid on the playground upset that he doesn't have the toy some other kid has saying "I never wanted that stupid toy anyway".
... RiM and Nokia are still more financially capable than most of the handset vendors in the market. If they can find a solution they could carve out a sustainable niche even if well below Apple's financial dominance.
That solution, the secret formula for survival (let alone success), requires more than just a slick handset and pad running a slick OS. But that's pretty much all that RIM and Nokia could possibly ship in the next few years. (Plus or minus the BlackBerry Messenger service, which drove BlackBerry sales until recently.)
What made the original iPod so successful way back in 2001? The slick hardware? The slick click-wheel interface? Well, sure, those features helped. But iTunes is what put iPod over the top. The ease of use, the simple "Rip. Mix. Burn." and sync. In the last 10 years, Apple added the Music Store (then video then book stores), then the App Store to iTunes. iPod, the hardware + OS, is only the tip of the iceberg. The massive infrastructure is mostly below the water: the servers, the e-commerce software, the hundreds of millions of iTunes accounts, etc.
Now Apple is leveraging all that to help sell iPhones, iPads, and Macs. And Apple has generated unbeatable mindshare over the last 10 years. Have fun trying to carve out a niche below all that.
Better to build a time machine. Send your engineers and marketing team back to 2001, start working on your own iTunes-like infrastructure, and out-Apple Apple. Bon voyage.
Or we can just continue to spend as much money as we want, borrow what we don't have, and eventually China will own the United States. That sounds much more reasonable, you're right!
As of May China owns 26% of all foreign held debt, which was 4.45T in January of a total 14.1T at the time. So China owns about 1/14th of our debt or about 7%. Yeah China is gonna rule us at this rate. They own about as much of our debt as Steve Jobs owns of Disney.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cloudgazer
Hey! We were NATO stalwarts! Microsoft could be France perhaps, or Italy, or maybe China.
No way, MS can't be France. They don't surrender nearly often enough MS tends to be heads down and damn the torpedoes. Look at the losses the XBOX division has piled up over the years and they keep coming.
Based on the fact that the last time Apple tried to protect their OS software's intellectual property, they lost to the thief and had to spend two decades with 4% of their original 100% marketshare.
Steve wasn't in charge then. Everyone thinks Apple is the old Apple. Go study Steve's history of patent disputes of any company he owns and/or head of at the time of the claims.
Google doesn't have the resources and never will to compete with Apple.
Google wants key patents in markets it competes with Apple means Apple will want them just as well and like The Price is Right, Google bids $300 and Apple can always bid $301.
No way, MS can't be France. They don't surrender nearly often enough MS tends to be heads down and damn the torpedoes. Look at the losses the XBOX division has piled up over the years and they keep coming.
That solution, the secret formula for survival (let alone success), requires more than just a slick handset and pad running a slick OS. But that's pretty much all that RIM and Nokia could possibly ship in the next few years. (Plus or minus the BlackBerry Messenger service, which drove BlackBerry sales until recently.)
Nope a solid handset running a slick OS at a mid market price point with access to a decent App Market would be enough for survival. RIM is using the Android market which is semi-decent, though it's not clear how many apps they're compatible with. Nokia may have more problems with WP7. Survival is possible though far from certain, the question is can they keep even their current levels of profitability.
Apple lost because Sculley signed a contract with Microsoft allowing them to copy the OS as long as Office was made available on the Mac. So MS made Office available but in a handicapped state. Even Sculley later admitted he was wrong.
Maybe. Because the "look and feel" case never went to trial, we will never know how large a role the license agreement had in final analysis. FWIW, Office didn't even exist at the time but Microsoft did develop some of the first software for the Mac, and they apparently did threaten to withdraw development if they did not get the license to use Mac interface elements. This is what Microsoft got incidentally -- not a license to copy the OS.
Comments
That was a totally different barrel of monkeys! That time Apple was trying to effectively make new law by getting the court to extend copyright to look & feel. It learned that lesson well - this time it's relying on well established modes of IP.
Yes, and I suspect we are just beginning to see the fruits of Steve's hard learn experiences kicking in this time around.
They are still solvent but they have no solid future which will hurt them doubly. First in the product market with consumers and second in the stock market with investors. I hope I see some decent acquisitions or innovations so I can reinvest with RIMM.
What can a one trick pony do when its pony is dead? Many a company dies a horrible financial death assuming it can pull of a success in the same market place twice. Steve is among the few to have managed to have a business that did that.
What can a one trick pony do when its pony is dead? Many a company dies a horrible financial death assuming it can pull of a success in the same market place twice. Steve is among the few to have managed to have a business that did that.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's likely, but it's certainly not impossible. Look at Sears. Even though they're fall from the top was assured decides ago they are still around and still making a profit even though that profit is in decline. RiM and Nokia are still more financially capable than most of the handset vendors in the market. If they can find a solution they could carve out a sustainable niche even if well below Apple's financial dominance.
... At $4.5 billion, the Nortel patents sale was the biggest in history, Walker said. If InterDigital were to hit its projected, inflated $5 billion selling price, it would be an even larger sale. ...
A bargain compared to the $8.5 billion Microsoft paid for Skype. The InterDigital acquisition will be strategic. The buyer will earn far more than the purchase price through royalties.
The Skype acquisition was a tactical short-term ploy by Microsoft. A public relations move. A desperate lunge at relevance.
The final $4.5 billion selling price was a fivefold increase from the initial bid made by Google. Officials with the search giant have declined to say whether they plan to bid on InterDigital, but the company's general counsel, Kent Walker, said on Monday that he believes patents are "government-granted monopolies" that stifle innovation.
Of course when you do no research and own few patents yourself you will say this. It's like the kid on the playground upset that he doesn't have the toy some other kid has saying "I never wanted that stupid toy anyway".
... RiM and Nokia are still more financially capable than most of the handset vendors in the market. If they can find a solution they could carve out a sustainable niche even if well below Apple's financial dominance.
That solution, the secret formula for survival (let alone success), requires more than just a slick handset and pad running a slick OS. But that's pretty much all that RIM and Nokia could possibly ship in the next few years. (Plus or minus the BlackBerry Messenger service, which drove BlackBerry sales until recently.)
What made the original iPod so successful way back in 2001? The slick hardware? The slick click-wheel interface? Well, sure, those features helped. But iTunes is what put iPod over the top. The ease of use, the simple "Rip. Mix. Burn." and sync. In the last 10 years, Apple added the Music Store (then video then book stores), then the App Store to iTunes. iPod, the hardware + OS, is only the tip of the iceberg. The massive infrastructure is mostly below the water: the servers, the e-commerce software, the hundreds of millions of iTunes accounts, etc.
Now Apple is leveraging all that to help sell iPhones, iPads, and Macs. And Apple has generated unbeatable mindshare over the last 10 years. Have fun trying to carve out a niche below all that.
Better to build a time machine. Send your engineers and marketing team back to 2001, start working on your own iTunes-like infrastructure, and out-Apple Apple. Bon voyage.
Or we can just continue to spend as much money as we want, borrow what we don't have, and eventually China will own the United States. That sounds much more reasonable, you're right!
As of May China owns 26% of all foreign held debt, which was 4.45T in January of a total 14.1T at the time. So China owns about 1/14th of our debt or about 7%. Yeah China is gonna rule us at this rate. They own about as much of our debt as Steve Jobs owns of Disney.
Hey! We were NATO stalwarts! Microsoft could be France perhaps, or Italy, or maybe China.
No way, MS can't be France. They don't surrender nearly often enough
Based on the fact that the last time Apple tried to protect their OS software's intellectual property, they lost to the thief and had to spend two decades with 4% of their original 100% marketshare.
Steve wasn't in charge then. Everyone thinks Apple is the old Apple. Go study Steve's history of patent disputes of any company he owns and/or head of at the time of the claims.
Google wants key patents in markets it competes with Apple means Apple will want them just as well and like The Price is Right, Google bids $300 and Apple can always bid $301.
No way, MS can't be France. They don't surrender nearly often enough
Sounds like Credit Lyonnaise to me, very french
That solution, the secret formula for survival (let alone success), requires more than just a slick handset and pad running a slick OS. But that's pretty much all that RIM and Nokia could possibly ship in the next few years. (Plus or minus the BlackBerry Messenger service, which drove BlackBerry sales until recently.)
Nope a solid handset running a slick OS at a mid market price point with access to a decent App Market would be enough for survival. RIM is using the Android market which is semi-decent, though it's not clear how many apps they're compatible with. Nokia may have more problems with WP7. Survival is possible though far from certain, the question is can they keep even their current levels of profitability.
Apple lost because Sculley signed a contract with Microsoft allowing them to copy the OS as long as Office was made available on the Mac. So MS made Office available but in a handicapped state. Even Sculley later admitted he was wrong.
Maybe. Because the "look and feel" case never went to trial, we will never know how large a role the license agreement had in final analysis. FWIW, Office didn't even exist at the time but Microsoft did develop some of the first software for the Mac, and they apparently did threaten to withdraw development if they did not get the license to use Mac interface elements. This is what Microsoft got incidentally -- not a license to copy the OS.