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Apple and HTC Settle Patent Dispute, Agree to Ten Year License
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Don't let the screen door hit ya' where the Good Lord split ya'!
Apple is not a computer company, not anymore. Steve set them on the path to huge profits, and that path does not lead anywhere near making yesterday's products for tiny splinters of the market.
...Uh, no. They still have the ripped UX across the bottom and the same tiled app interface Main interface and that's probably what the license agreement covers. Windows Phone is the only non-total Apple interface rip off phone available now.
Good points. I suppose I'm more disconcerted with their focus on consumer products since the iPhone. The iMac refresh was impressive, but I'm on the fence with it a bit. The obsession with "thin" for a desktop system seems antithetical as the compromises to achieve its size may [arguably] impact performance. Some have suggested heating issues, others pointed to Apple's removal of built-in ODD's, and others the lack of user upgradability (one reason why I will stick with towers for my main system).
If it weren't for my Mac Pro's ability to be upgraded (have installed a CalDigit USb 3 PCIe card, additional HDD's, a OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G 256 SSD, an LG Blu-Ray burner - which I need for large film projects), my system would be running on three year old hardware (aside from the processor(s), RAM). I require a heavy system for my work, and while I could use my 12-Core for years, I need AppleCare coverage. After three years I'm SOL should the logic board or such fry. I've never purchased protection plans outside of Apple as I've read nothing but nightmares. Plus selling my system on eBay with AppleCare ups its value, and often times I can get into a new system without breaking the bank.
The problem in our world is that experts have an interest of putting complicated rules so that they are the only ones understanding them and need more and more "expert" fees.
That is happening in law (American law), accounting, and financial markets, and the brightest just go in that sector to graduate, make millions, and more complex rules to ensure future profit. The best rules to put in place are contradictory rules so you can have fees for ever
That is a major error, if something is too complex to handle, the best answer is often to forbid it period. Like financial weapons of mass destruction, glass steagall act (19 pages versus 956 pages for dodd franck), or patent on trivial shapes. Of course the lawyers fees would be zero in that case.
Well said. If everybody knows how to do their stuff they're not professionals anymore.
Hmmm. I agree and disagree. The market is certainly there, especially with high paying businesses and industry's (editing houses, etc). It may not be cheaper iPhones and iPads at high quantity, but a lot of businesses would spend upwards of $100,000+ for PowerMac's/Mac Pro's, software license upgrades, etc. when the time came. That adds up.
Apple didn't neglect the market as it's "niche". They tapped into a great consumer system; less expensive, cross platform iPhones and iPads give people a taste of Apple products, lock them into iTunes with their purchases, and soon the general consumer is interested in MacBook's (and some, iMac's). Apple has neglected the Mac Pro, even the CCFL LCD's that garnered much praise for their unnecessary system calibration and fine quality went neglected for years before Apple replaced three models with one stripped down iMac LED LCD with cables too short to reach their Mac Pro (although advertised with Mac Pro's).
Their neglect is a great part of why many professionals have moved on and many hold out and hope for updates as they can't afford a full switch monetarily or time wise. Apple has focused much on consumer goods and made bank, yet turned their back on their professional line (at least compared to before). When high end sales dropped, Apple turned around and claimed "See! The professional/desktop market is dead! It's a post-PC era!" (keep in mind, a loaded MacBook Pro isn't much less than a Mac Pro, so it can't be the money). It's frustrating to us who have used power systems and OS 8, 9, X and now are being forced into other platforms. Just because a 12 year old can edit HD movies on their iPad, doesn't mean the market has changed, it just means Apple has changed its market focus.
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That's an interesting, albeit naive, perspective on the situation. The "products of yesterday" are also the products that power the internet and play a pivotal role in authoring all of the content you like on your pretty little dumb device. Continuing on the same path Apple is on in five years Apple will be overrun with knock off consumer products they'll be collecting licensing fees from, but incompatible with the world...same as 90's up until the Intel era. Hopefully Apple will begin offering some compelling professional and enterprise products soon, they should have already learned that half-arsed serving the enterprise and content creation sectors eventually erodes your bottom line...dramatically.
Why do you even have brand loyalty? We all know that smart phones are the new fashion trend. Let's all stop kidding ourselves. iPhone was one of the best devices out there and by all means still one of the best. Its just getting too popular with the masses and that makes it boring. So just buy whatever phone you like and use it. I don't really think people care what phone you use. it should be a productive tool for your life not a status symbol.
Hope this is a sign of things to come. Just not holding my breath that it is; unfortunately, I suspect that patent litigation will continue to spread, to the point that it will dominate the industry.
On a phone/device with capacitive touch?..ABSOLUTELY. At the end of the day the ownership rights go back to the question of whether the device is designed as phone with some basic alternative functionality or whether it's a miniature computer with phone functionality. When you look at the tiled interface of some older devices from the "PDA Era" even they heavily draw on an older product from Apple...The Newton. The iPhone/iPad essentially are what the Newton was supposed to be it's been a closed party that a whole lot of manufactures keep trying to crash.
But that would be a defective strategy. That would be to take high margin customers and steer them to low margin product lines.
Apple should just make a clean breast of it and get rid of their entire computer line. The fight for computers was over long ago, and Microsoft won.
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Apple never made much profit on those. Why would they want to fall into that rat hole again?
That crap is like plumbing products. What Apple sells is floral scented hand soap.
That's like saying that Henry Ford invented having four wheels ON A CAR with A GAS ENGINE.
The tiled interface was tired and old way back when Win95 made it easy to keep scads of icons on a naive user's desktop. Apple should have done something better then, but as of now, the launcher on iOS is a joke.
Ok So my decade+ of using Apple products since grad school and now work is a figment of your imagination?
I own a 12-Core Mac Pro, 2 24" LED LCD's, an iPad, every iPhone incarnation, and am writing on a MacBook Air. I used to WORK for Apple Corp., but I suppose someone who can objectively critique a company they value must be a "troll" (I loathe that term and as a 35 year old man, 36 tomorrow, hate that I have to use such a childish term in response to an immature post).
Blind infatuation will yield to stagnation, however objectively stating "I don't agree with said product or such act" and voting with your dollars will get a company's attention. Take a look at Apple stock, maybe a hiccup, maybe not. Regardless, I hope it wakes them up a bit to innovate more. I'm glad Forstall is gone, and thrilled Browett is as well; that duo would have walked Apple down a dark path (Johnson was/is amazing in retail, shame Apple lost him to Penny's).
(PS if I really hated Apple as you claim, why would I donate annually to a site dedicated to Apple products? I guess I really must hate Apple)
Happy birthday!
I think when people talk about choice - they mean there isn't just one phone OS. I further think that people who talk about choice talk about different form factors, screen sizes, etc - all of which - Samsung makes.
So your logic/flamebait is extremely flawed. I don't think choice means what you think it means.
I dont understand this statement. Windows Mobile (not phone), Blackberry and Symbian had similar UIs, both of which were customizable to be a grid of icons with a "dock", if the user chose. This was all MANY years before Apple's iPhone came out. I hate all of this blind mudslinging about who copied who. It's a GUI. There are going to be similarities, much like there will be huge similarities between various makes/models of toasters. It's the way of the world. And for the record, Windows Phone isn't so different, sans the fact that there is no real "dock" to speak of. Otherwise, the UIs are pretty damn similar.
Please not that I am not claiming that one is is better, worse, or equal to another in user experience. All I am saying is that this "magical smartphone UI" that everyone seems to think Apple was the inventor of has been around for quite some time. Like EVERYTHING Apple does, they simply made it better and work (almost) flawlessly.