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You're whole position here is divorced from reality. Google bought Android in 2005--two years before Apple released the iPhone. How could Android possibly have

You're whole position here is divorced from reality. Google bought Android in 2005--two years before Apple released the iPhone. How could Android possibly have been a strategic response to a product that didn't exist and wouldn't become a large-scale commercial success until almost four years later (because the iPhone didn't become a big hit until the 3g)? And I'd really like to see an explanation for your claim of Google "ripping off tons of features." So far all I've seen from Apple are overly-broad patent assertions and some rather absurd claims on copyright of look-and-feel. Worse, Apple is making the claims against handset makers--not Google--as you seem to be implying.

ForrestN 15y ago
Err, seems like I should have been much more explicit. I was unaware of the sensitivity here. I'm not saying I agree with Apple, just that out in the real world they've done a pretty good job of creating a conventional wisdom around the idea that Android phones are the cheaper version of Apple phones. I didn't imply that Google was being sued; it's Google's executive speaking in the article. One more time, I'm really not taking a position about who's copying who. Definitely learning a lesson about nuance in this context though.
- justinschuh 15y ago
  Sorry if I came across harshly, but your original comment seemed a bit like astroturfing. And to be entirely honest, I agree strongly with what Schmidt's saying (minor nit: he's not a Google executive anymore). Apple has done some really tremendous work on design, integration, and polish with the iPhone, and they deserve all the success it's brought them. But the fact is that their (along with Nokia and Microsoft's) responses to competition from Android have been to threaten, litigate, and abuse a broken patent system. That's not innovation, and it's definitely not a healthy pattern for the industry as a whole.
  - ForrestN 15y ago
    Not at all, I understand what you're saying and should have been clearer in the first place. Re: Schmidt, he's not CEO anymore, but I think he's still the Executive Chairman or something, right?
    - justinschuh 15y ago
      Ah, my bad on the "executive" thing. I'd thought he was no longer an executive at the company and just the chairman of the board, but you are correct.
foobarbazetc 15y ago
Er, have you seen pre-iPhone Android? Android was a BlackBerry competitor, not an iPhone one. When they saw the iPhone, they rebuilt the entire UI from scratch.

ForrestN 15y ago

Err, seems like I should have been much more explicit. I was unaware of the sensitivity here. I'm not saying I agree with Apple, just that out in the real world they've done a pretty good job of creating a conventional wisdom around the idea that Android phones are the cheaper version of Apple phones. I didn't imply that Google was being sued; it's Google's executive speaking in the article. One more time, I'm really not taking a position about who's copying who. Definitely learning a lesson about nuance in this context though.

justinschuh 15y ago
Sorry if I came across harshly, but your original comment seemed a bit like astroturfing. And to be entirely honest, I agree strongly with what Schmidt's saying (minor nit: he's not a Google executive anymore). Apple has done some really tremendous work on design, integration, and polish with the iPhone, and they deserve all the success it's brought them. But the fact is that their (along with Nokia and Microsoft's) responses to competition from Android have been to threaten, litigate, and abuse a broken patent system. That's not innovation, and it's definitely not a healthy pattern for the industry as a whole.
- ForrestN 15y ago
  Not at all, I understand what you're saying and should have been clearer in the first place. Re: Schmidt, he's not CEO anymore, but I think he's still the Executive Chairman or something, right?
  - justinschuh 15y ago
    Ah, my bad on the "executive" thing. I'd thought he was no longer an executive at the company and just the chairman of the board, but you are correct.

foobarbazetc 15y ago

Er, have you seen pre-iPhone Android? Android was a BlackBerry competitor, not an iPhone one. When they saw the iPhone, they rebuilt the entire UI from scratch.