Evil Apple

[Thunder]

Who here have any iCrap devices? All those that does should be ashamed of themselves.

I'm surprised no discussion was started on this topic. Anyone aware of what Apple is attempting to do? Well...attempting...and actively doing. Apple has been bullying many other companies. Why? Apple believe they should be the only one to sell iCrap devices such as smartphones (iCrap) and those mini-computers "iPad" which is also iCrap. Apple want to terminate the production of superior Android, Tablet, and the list goes on and on.

Apple want the consumers to have only one option. To buy from Apple. HELL NO!!!

[Bunty]

If Apple is far superior to Microsoft Windows, then why the hell doesn't it rule? It seems plenty of people think Windows is a far, far inferior operating system, yet it still easily rules.

[HewenttoJared]

As someone who sells every kind of tablet, I can assure that Android tablets are not exactly dominating our sales right now.

[BBatesokc]

I call "iCrap" on your assertion Thunder. What Apple IS doing is protecting their patents. Seems they do all the innovation and then other companies come along and try and steal their work. And, the Android tablet has yet to even get a foothold and is not even close to being superior.

[Richard at Remax]

Long Live Blackberry

[Wishbone]

If Apple is far superior to Microsoft Windows, then why the hell doesn't it rule? It seems plenty of people think Windows is a far, far inferior operating system, yet it still easily rules.

That's easy, cost.

[BBatesokc]

That's easy, cost.

and more available 3rd party access to integration.

[Swake2]

Long Live Blackberry

Dead man walking…..BlackBerry is going to be this year’s Palm.


Here’s a funny quote I read about BackBerry/RIM “RIM is already dead, it’s just the corpse hasn’t started stinking yet”.

[BBatesokc]

Speaking of Palm. My wife has had the Palm Pixi cell phone since it came out and she hates that she is going to have to go with something else when she upgrades. The phone has held up great and she loves the features. But their app market is pitiful.

I used to have the Palm Centro - loved it. Prior to that I used Palm handheld organizers. Such a shame.

[Thunder]

I call "iCrap" on your assertion Thunder. What Apple IS doing is protecting their patents. Seems they do all the innovation and then other companies come along and try and steal their work. And, the Android tablet has yet to even get a foothold and is not even close to being superior.

Error! Brian needs help!

The patents that Apple applied for was too broad and should never been approved. The whole patent system needs a major complete overhaul. One of the patents Apple got was motions by hand/finger on screen. WHAT THE HELL?! Obviously people can see how stupid Apple is. They are a bunch of crybabies when other companies produce bigger and better products. We don't see Ford crying and suing all automakers for copying their invention of 4 wheels. We don't see brand name companies suing for production of similar generic brand. The bottom line, and this is fact, Apple is a pathetic joke.

[BBatesokc]

I agree - something in this thread is a "pathetic joke" - but its not Apple.

[Thunder]

C'mon, Brian, you know Apple shouldn't be bullying other companies. We have the right to choose what we want. Why would you support a patent made by Apple that prevent other companies making smartphones with same hand motion?! This doesn't even make sense.

[redrunner]

[ctchandler]

Bunty,
Cloning, and IBM (which threw their support behind the PC) drove prices down. Apple wouldn't allow cloning and they had a lot of problems hanging on in the 80's. But don't forget, Windows was Microsoft's crummy attempt to do what the Apple products have done for many years. It's taken a long time but Windows 7 is a pretty good product.
C. T.

If Apple is far superior to Microsoft Windows, then why the hell doesn't it rule? It seems plenty of people think Windows is a far, far inferior operating system, yet it still easily rules.

[Roadhawg]

C'mon, Brian, you know Apple shouldn't be bullying other companies. We have the right to choose what we want. Why would you support a patent made by Apple that prevent other companies making smartphones with same hand motion?! This doesn't even make sense.

It's called proprietary... Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, but restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering. Just as you would trademark a name for your company you can trademark the things made/developed/invented by that company that prevents others from copying it. Why would companies spend millions of dollars developing a product if others can just copy it for free?

[SoonerDave]

It's called proprietary... Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, but restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering. Just as you would trademark a name for your company you can trademark the things made/developed/invented by that company that prevents others from copying it. Why would companies spend millions of dollars developing a product if others can just copy it for free?

The issue here is even more fundamental - patents.

In an ideal world, someone gets a good idea or process, files the paperwork, and gets a patent. In practice, however, you have large companies with scads of lawyers who file patent claims on just about everything you can imagine - and some things you can't. The intellectual property world in which we now live really exposes the weaknesses in our current patent law system.

I have no problem with a patentholder protecting their interests. By the same token, trying to patent every inane incarnation of some aspect of a process with no real intent to leverage it is nothing more than the old Internet domain homesteaders of a few years ago. No value-add, nothing new to the table, just a stake in the ground to make profit out of hole cloth.

Apple hates Android's success in general. In the business world, there's an axiom that if you can't compete, litigate, and that's precisely what Apple is trying to do - litigate Android out of business under the guise of patent protection. It may follow the legal letter of the law, but it is at best a disingenuous effort to eliminate a competitor. But because Apple is the one doing it, and they tend to retain "favored nation" status in the media, no one calls them on it. The media is so enamored of the "gee-whiz" Apple store and the inherently chic, trendy social status implied with anything having the Apple logo, they just figure they're too cool to investigate negatively.

U.S. patent law is archaic and needs to be overhauled. Unfortunately, the last intellectual property law overhaul gave us the asinine and hideous Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which was created primarily at the behest of movie studios to circumvent the ability of private individuals from collecting their own, legally obtained library of movies....but that's a separate thread.

[BBatesokc]

It's called proprietary... Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, but restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering. Just as you would trademark a name for your company you can trademark the things made/developed/invented by that company that prevents others from copying it. Why would companies spend millions of dollars developing a product if others can just copy it for free?

Exactly. Speaking of trademarks. I exercise mine regularly. Several media outlets pay me to use the name Video Vigilante, because I own the trademark on it (along with others). That, that you cease to enforce, you cease to own.

Don't blame Apple, blame whomever granted them the patent.

[Of Sound Mind]

Apple hates Android's success in general. In the business world, there's an axiom that if you can't compete, litigate, and that's precisely what Apple is trying to do - litigate Android out of business under the guise of patent protection. It may follow the legal letter of the law, but it is at best a disingenuous effort to eliminate a competitor.

I don't think Apple hates Android's success as much as the way Google likes to generously and shamelessly "borrow" others' intellectual property, as this writer points out:

Judge Alsup — the federal judge presiding over this litigation — attaches a great deal of importance to that particular document. At a recent hearing, he essentially said that a good trial lawyer would just need that document “and the Magna Carta” (arguably the origin of common law) to win this case on Oracle’s behalf and have Google found to infringe Oracle’s rights willfully. The judge told Google that “you are going to be on the losing end of this document” with “profound implications for a permanent injunction”. Let me add that a finding of willful infringement would not only make an injunction much more likely than otherwise. It can also result in a tripling of whatever damages will be awarded. […]

It’s certainly remarkable that those two emails show a consistent attitude: the Android team basically says “let’s just infringe” whenever an intellectual property issue comes up. If they did this to Oracle, what about the intellectual property of other companies like Apple, Microsoft, eBay and Skyhook?

http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2011...ling-over.html

[BBatesokc]

Bunty,
Cloning, and IBM (which threw their support behind the PC) drove prices down. Apple wouldn't allow cloning and they had a lot of problems hanging on in the 80's. But don't forget, Windows was Microsoft's crummy attempt to do what the Apple products have done for many years. It's taken a long time but Windows 7 is a pretty good product.
C. T.

I still have a Power Computing Apple clone in my attic. What a nightmare that company was to deal with. While the lack of cloning and 3rd party integration stifled Apple's market penetration, I feel it helped them produce a superior product.

[Larry OKC]

LOL. I still have my Power Computing clone too. i didn't have any issues with the company though, mine worked well and was certainly cheaper than the Apple made ones. Have worked on both Windows and Mac based machines (about 10 years on each), and would never consider owning a Windows one based on performance, security issues and the like. The only attraction would be the price point difference. Each platform has its place.

Now when it comes to the iPhone and similar products, i just can't see paying those kind of prices for what should be a phone. I but a phone to be a phone and a computer to be a computer. At least when they first came out, the iPhone wasn't a great phone at all. Don't know about now.

That said, the iPhone and later products really saved Apple from oblivion (at one point they only had 10% of the home computer market). But they were a computer maker and not just a platform company (like Microsoft which didn't make the equipment). Now Apple has more money the the U.S. government 9or something like that). LOL

[White Peacock]

I never owned an Apple product until I bought my iPad (first generation), which I loved. It's a great tablet. Then I bought my 7" Galaxy Tab, which I take with me most of the time, and now when I pick up the iPad the experience is just dull in comparison. While the apps for iOS are generally superior, the overall experience with Android can't be beat. Also note how, coming full circle, Apple is introducing so much in the vein of Android with the release of iOS 5, all the while complaining about their "look and feel" being stolen from other companies.

The fact is, Apple's initial success was granted them because they stole from Xerox. They then went after Microsoft for stealing their stolen interface. Technology is a cutthroat industry. Corporations will get patents for things that shouldn't be patentable, then sue the pants off of other companies who issue a vaguely similar device. I can see Apple's complaint about the TouchWiz UI on the first Samsung Galaxy S phone. But the other devices they're going after are a bit baffling. The 7" Galaxy Tab was part of their lawsuit, which doesn't bear any resemblance at all to any Apple product. The same goes for the Galaxy S II, Infuse and Tab 10.1. In fact, these devices are technically superior to Apple products, and that truly is the drive with Apple's lawsuits. If these devices weren't a challenge to Apple's bottom line, but actually did rip off the "look and feel" of iProducts, Apple wouldn't be concerned. Apple is biting when threatened, and Samsung is the biggest threat to Apple right now.

I don't intend to knock Apple or belittle anybody who supports them. I despise their business practices and I think the motivation behind their legal actions is transparent, but they make some good products. I just happen to prefer a more open ecosystem that won't tether me to iTunes, and I think that any company that appeals to the courts while they're being lapped in the innovations arena should focus more on product development than spending millions on attorneys to stifle the competition.

That said, if they released a 7" iPad, I'd probably consider having a go at it.

[metro]

I'm typing icrap on my iPad right now iThunder

[Swake2]

That said, the iPhone and later products really saved Apple from oblivion (at one point they only had 10% of the home computer market). But they were a computer maker and not just a platform company (like Microsoft which didn't make the equipment). Now Apple has more money the the U.S. government 9or something like that). LOL

As of yesterday Apple passed Exxon as the largest company in the world (based on market valuation)

And Google has yet to make a profit on Android.

Android is a freeware buggy slapped together operating system without patent support that phone manufactures like to slap half a$$ed proprietary GUIs over the top of making the system even more buggy and making upgrades and fixes very difficult to accomplish. This is why Android users lag iPhone users in satisfaction surveys by almost 30 points and why almost half of people with an Android phone plan to buy an iPhone next. Google recently declined to buy a set of patents for $4.5 billion that would have protected Android, likely because they internally already know they have a losing business plan with Android.

[SoonerDave]

I don't think Apple hates Android's success as much as the way Google likes to generously and shamelessly "borrow" others' intellectual property, as this writer points out:

http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2011...ling-over.html

Understand, but the "shameless borrowing" wouldn't amount to a hill of beans had Android never seen any traction in the marketplace.

[Of Sound Mind]

Understand, but the "shameless borrowing" wouldn't amount to a hill of beans had Android never seen any traction in the marketplace.

If someone else was generating revenue off your innovation, are you saying you wouldn't care? Protecting your ideas and intellectual property is just simply a case of envy -- even though as others have pointed out, Apple has continue to enjoy record sales, record profits and amazing stock price jumps?

Then, if that's the case, then I want to hate Android too so that I can enjoy those kind of profits.