I think the whole idea of trying to protect iOS and the devices via patents was Steve's baby. He's the one who prominently featured the patented-ness of the interface and physical features in the slides that introduced the iPhone to the world. That's a feature that should have mainly impressed investors, not users. Why should a devoted iPhone owner care whether Android phones have similar features, and vice versa? The fact that Androids have swipe keyboards available doesn't make your iPhone any worse at what it does.
I also think it may have mattered more early on. When iOS and the devices were still new, they were a huge gamble for Apple that required critical mass to be successful in terms of attracting app developers. That critical mass has been achieved and isn't going anywhere. Apple's products are now simultaneously truly mass market -- not niche goods -- but also have a stellar reputation for quality. Apple doesn't really need to try to fend off its competitors via legal means when it's winning in the marketplace anyway, and clearing the issue out of top management's attention allows them to focus on further innovation rather than distracting legal battles (that aren't going amazingly well anyway).
And if Apple stops suing its competitors, they'll probably stop suing Apple in turn -- most of their lawsuits have been retaliatory -- which will permit Apple to gather up -- and improve upon -- some of the genuinely useful innovations that other companies developed first (e.g. actionable notifications, swipe keyboards, etc.).
Please. Where are the patents for those things you mentioned? If someone has a patent then I strongly encourage them to sue Apple and collect royalties.
Apple sues Samsung for copying IP and wins in court. Twice now. Then the loser trolls come out of the woodwork and say Apple is a hypocrite for suing Samsung when Apple has used ideas they didn't come up with (like notifications). The difference is Apple never sued Samsung (or anyone) over some commonly used feature that's been around forever in countless versions - they sued Samsung over features they own patents on.
I thought the main court case was over look and feel? Apple didn't have any explicit patents on that, did they? This is why there was so much grumbling about Apple suing over "rounded corners".
That patent is still to be granted (it's an application), so Google wouldn't be able to use it. But like you said not that it matters now as they agreed to stop litigating for the time being. Still no cross-license deal though, but I personally think that might still happen in the future.
All I know is Tim Cook surely has to be THE best CEO in the world to lead his company through those patent lawsuits at the same time they were creating Swift and improving iOS and OS X (while simultaneously having Apple presumably engineering some of their most advanced products in Apple's history).
When Tim eventually writes a business book, it's going to be a blockbuster.
Actually it may be not a bad idea. The issue that confront Tesla right now is the in ability to make lots of cars at a lower cost. Yes I see Tesla showing up all over the place, and I love the design.
However, unless he can get more companies making more of parts he will never get the economy of scale they need to bring the cost down. Right now everything in that car is unique to Tesla so so he barring all the costs. Today in the automotive industry every company are sharing designs and IP and they have a large and competitive supply base.
This may be the right move for Tesla, verse going the battle which Apple is dealing with today.
What exactly is Samsung copying right now? And is Apple copying because things like actionable notifications, third party keyboards and inter-app communications all existed on other platforms before they did on iOS?
Apple didn't appropriate anything from Android for which anyone owned copyright or patent. That's the glaring, fundamental difference that most people seem to miss. Google can't patent these software innovations because they copied most of them from the jailbreaking community in the first place.
Actually it may be not a bad idea. The issue that confront Tesla right now is the in ability to make lots of cars at a lower cost. Yes I see Tesla showing up all over the place, and I love the design.
However, unless he can get more companies making more of parts he will never get the economy of scale they need to bring the cost down. Right now everything in that car is unique to Tesla so so he barring all the costs. Today in the automotive industry every company are sharing designs and IP and they have a large and competitive supply base.
This may be the right move for Tesla, verse going the battle which Apple is dealing with today.
That's a good point. They are supposedly still loosing money, yet less than before. I heard there are now 6 dealers in my country, and they just opened an assembly plant in Tilburg. Good for my economy as well, I suppose.
Though I do see more Bentleys in my town than Teslas, but I don't think these can be compared(?)
Comments
I think the whole idea of trying to protect iOS and the devices via patents was Steve's baby.
Nope, it predates Steve by several hundred years.
Uh... yeah. It does.
I think the whole idea of trying to protect iOS and the devices via patents was Steve's baby. He's the one who prominently featured the patented-ness of the interface and physical features in the slides that introduced the iPhone to the world. That's a feature that should have mainly impressed investors, not users. Why should a devoted iPhone owner care whether Android phones have similar features, and vice versa? The fact that Androids have swipe keyboards available doesn't make your iPhone any worse at what it does.
I also think it may have mattered more early on. When iOS and the devices were still new, they were a huge gamble for Apple that required critical mass to be successful in terms of attracting app developers. That critical mass has been achieved and isn't going anywhere. Apple's products are now simultaneously truly mass market -- not niche goods -- but also have a stellar reputation for quality. Apple doesn't really need to try to fend off its competitors via legal means when it's winning in the marketplace anyway, and clearing the issue out of top management's attention allows them to focus on further innovation rather than distracting legal battles (that aren't going amazingly well anyway).
And if Apple stops suing its competitors, they'll probably stop suing Apple in turn -- most of their lawsuits have been retaliatory -- which will permit Apple to gather up -- and improve upon -- some of the genuinely useful innovations that other companies developed first (e.g. actionable notifications, swipe keyboards, etc.).
There are a lot of patents about Notification Bar, but Apple and Google agreed to drop cross-litigations. This is one of them ( http://www.google.com/patents/US20090249247?printsec=drawing#v=snippet&q=status area&f=false ) filed in 2009.
Apple sues Samsung for copying IP and wins in court. Twice now. Then the loser trolls come out of the woodwork and say Apple is a hypocrite for suing Samsung when Apple has used ideas they didn't come up with (like notifications). The difference is Apple never sued Samsung (or anyone) over some commonly used feature that's been around forever in countless versions - they sued Samsung over features they own patents on.
I thought the main court case was over look and feel? Apple didn't have any explicit patents on that, did they? This is why there was so much grumbling about Apple suing over "rounded corners".
There are a lot of patents about Notification Bar, but Apple and Google agreed to drop cross-litigations. This is one of them ( http://www.google.com/patents/US20090249247?printsec=drawing#v=snippet&q=status area&f=false ) filed in 2009.
That patent is still to be granted (it's an application), so Google wouldn't be able to use it. But like you said not that it matters now as they agreed to stop litigating for the time being. Still no cross-license deal though, but I personally think that might still happen in the future.
When Tim eventually writes a business book, it's going to be a blockbuster.
Samsung sued apple and won and got the itc to ban sales of iphones. Then apple got the American president to veto the ban.
Nice going there ... American nepotism.
I don't know, but Tesla Motors seems to feel the same way: they're sharing all their IP:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/2266983-tesla-shares-all-its-patents-what-does-this-mean-for-shareholders
Actually it may be not a bad idea. The issue that confront Tesla right now is the in ability to make lots of cars at a lower cost. Yes I see Tesla showing up all over the place, and I love the design.
However, unless he can get more companies making more of parts he will never get the economy of scale they need to bring the cost down. Right now everything in that car is unique to Tesla so so he barring all the costs. Today in the automotive industry every company are sharing designs and IP and they have a large and competitive supply base.
This may be the right move for Tesla, verse going the battle which Apple is dealing with today.
Correction: He doesn't patent any of it. He relies on trade secret.
That's not the definition of nepotism... Unless you have evidence Barack Obama is related to Tim Cook or Steve Jobs.
Apple didn't appropriate anything from Android for which anyone owned copyright or patent. That's the glaring, fundamental difference that most people seem to miss. Google can't patent these software innovations because they copied most of them from the jailbreaking community in the first place.
That's a good point. They are supposedly still loosing money, yet less than before. I heard there are now 6 dealers in my country, and they just opened an assembly plant in Tilburg. Good for my economy as well, I suppose.
Though I do see more Bentleys in my town than Teslas, but I don't think these can be compared(?)
They are copying Google Glass. Samsung is an equal-opportunity offender.
http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-gear-glass-2014-5
Such as?
Of course all the techs take inspiration from note-worthy ideas and features on other platforms. We as consumers should say thank you.