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Compare Android to Windows Phone, Android tablets to the Surface, and the Lumia to the Galaxy Nexus. Google and their partners could have taken the high road a

Compare Android to Windows Phone, Android tablets to the Surface, and the Lumia to the Galaxy Nexus. Google and their partners could have taken the high road and created their own take on what a touch screen phone OS is, but instead they took the low road and did a wholesale look and feel copy and paste job of iOS to get scale. Copying look and feel isn't actual wrongdoing, but it's certainly not the high road. Now Apple is taking the low road and trying to smack the fuck down Google legally, instead of taking the high road and competing on its own merits. Both companies have taken the low road, and both companies are culpable here- no one comes out looking good in this story.

scarmig 14y ago
I really don't want to get into a stupid religious war about whether Android is a blatant copy of iOS or not. Let's grant, just for the sake of brevity, that Android is an identical copy of iOS. There's still a world of difference between that and using government violence to ban a competitor from business.
angryasian 14y ago
If we're comparing current iterations. Android now looks nothing like ios and in actuality ios is looking more like android. Adding polish and bigger icons for touch to existing ui was all Apple did. Objectively look back at early Blackberry and Nokia phones. Where they they completely innovated on was multitouch and getting rid of the stylus.
- sbuk 14y ago
  "Yeah, what have the Romans ever done for us?"
  - angryasian 14y ago
    I didn't mean to discount their accomplishments as I do think they made huge strides in the pushing of manufacturing of mobile components along with pushing the competition. But the look of grid icons, and pim applications has relatively remained unchanged.
gouranga 14y ago
They're only pissed off because Android sells at a lower margin and a lower price point and therefore has more volume and marketshare. If they actually cared about the similarities, they would have picked a fight earlier on. They only pick a fight now as the successor is competitive enough to win some cash off, so it's less risky. I have no respect for anyone who does this. Fuck them.
- cageface 14y ago
  This is exactly the problem. All the arguments about copying are just a smoke screen for an attack on a successful competitor. Unfortunately for Apple these suits put the Android vendors in the role of the underdog and people tend to root for the underdog.
dannyr 14y ago
Yeah. Look at the notifications. Android blatantly copied it from the IPhone. #sarcasm
mladenkovacevic 14y ago
>>but instead they took the low road and did a wholesale look and feel copy and paste job of iOS to get scale.<< You take this as a fact instead of a subjective opinion of few that it really is. I've never seen anyone mistake an Android for an iPhone. The user-experience is entirely different and different people like both for different reasons. Also I don't think copying "look and feel" is how you build scale... maybe a cheaper, poorer quality alternative that sells on the down-low in some guerrilla market.. but definitely not a viable competitor that scales faster than the originator of that "look and feel"
eagsalazar 14y ago
Dear delusional apple fanboi, Apple didn't invent their interface and there was nothing particularly innovative about it except: the concept of an app store and the integrity of doing a very very good job. Google also did many things with Android that were totally revolutionary and unprecedented (security model, intents, notification area...) many of which Apple has completely ripped off wholesale. I'm not saying there wasn't influence and some stealing both ways, but please let go of this notion that Android is a copy of iOS and that only Google is guilty. It is just incorrect.

scarmig 14y ago

I really don't want to get into a stupid religious war about whether Android is a blatant copy of iOS or not. Let's grant, just for the sake of brevity, that Android is an identical copy of iOS. There's still a world of difference between that and using government violence to ban a competitor from business.

angryasian 14y ago

If we're comparing current iterations. Android now looks nothing like ios and in actuality ios is looking more like android. Adding polish and bigger icons for touch to existing ui was all Apple did. Objectively look back at early Blackberry and Nokia phones. Where they they completely innovated on was multitouch and getting rid of the stylus.

sbuk 14y ago
"Yeah, what have the Romans ever done for us?"
- angryasian 14y ago
  I didn't mean to discount their accomplishments as I do think they made huge strides in the pushing of manufacturing of mobile components along with pushing the competition. But the look of grid icons, and pim applications has relatively remained unchanged.

gouranga 14y ago

They're only pissed off because Android sells at a lower margin and a lower price point and therefore has more volume and marketshare. If they actually cared about the similarities, they would have picked a fight earlier on. They only pick a fight now as the successor is competitive enough to win some cash off, so it's less risky. I have no respect for anyone who does this. Fuck them.

cageface 14y ago
This is exactly the problem. All the arguments about copying are just a smoke screen for an attack on a successful competitor. Unfortunately for Apple these suits put the Android vendors in the role of the underdog and people tend to root for the underdog.

dannyr 14y ago

Yeah. Look at the notifications. Android blatantly copied it from the IPhone. #sarcasm

mladenkovacevic 14y ago

>>but instead they took the low road and did a wholesale look and feel copy and paste job of iOS to get scale.<< You take this as a fact instead of a subjective opinion of few that it really is. I've never seen anyone mistake an Android for an iPhone. The user-experience is entirely different and different people like both for different reasons. Also I don't think copying "look and feel" is how you build scale... maybe a cheaper, poorer quality alternative that sells on the down-low in some guerrilla market.. but definitely not a viable competitor that scales faster than the originator of that "look and feel"

eagsalazar 14y ago

Dear delusional apple fanboi, Apple didn't invent their interface and there was nothing particularly innovative about it except: the concept of an app store and the integrity of doing a very very good job. Google also did many things with Android that were totally revolutionary and unprecedented (security model, intents, notification area...) many of which Apple has completely ripped off wholesale. I'm not saying there wasn't influence and some stealing both ways, but please let go of this notion that Android is a copy of iOS and that only Google is guilty. It is just incorrect.