You should approach more companies and tell them their legal fees could have been used for charity. That sounds totally realistic.
NO, it couldn't have.
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Apple's Legal Fees Rumored to Top $100M on HTC Patent Dispute Alone
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You should approach more companies and tell them their legal fees could have been used for charity. That sounds totally realistic.
NO, it couldn't have.
As an Apple shareholder, I don't care if they spend double that amount. I'd really like to see Apple break Android just to prove that a company can't go around stealing IP and get away with it. Apple can't totally get rid of Android, but I'm hoping that whatever steps Apple can take it will drive up the cost of use for Android smartphone vendors and make it not such a freebie product. Apple's reserve cash pile likely grows about $6 billion every quarter by now, so $100 million is a definitely a drop in the bucket. If Apple could guarantee to break Android by spending a billion dollars of reserve cash, I'd tell them to go ahead and do it.
Google used an unfair advantage to leverage Android over every smartphone vendor in the world by giving away the OS for free with the sole purpose of taking the most market share from every company that sold smartphones. I hope even Microsoft is able to claw its way back and help take down Android if it isn't already too late. I hope Apple is able to negate every advantage Android has by flat-out going head to head with them whether in court or in profits.
Google used an unfair advantage to leverage Android over every smartphone vendor in the world by giving away the OS for free with the sole purpose of taking the most market share from every company that sold smartphones. I hope even Microsoft is able to claw its way back and help take down Android if it isn't already too late. I hope Apple is able to negate every advantage Android has by flat-out going head to head with them whether in court or in profits.
This is the reason why Apple is unable to hire some competent OS- and GUI-engineers. Interesting!
And regarding the hardware: They want to return to NVIDIA to repeat this!? How user-friendly!
Whatever. Sounds like a waste of money to me. Have you ever compared an Android to a iPhone. The crap bloat ware alone would cause me to toss the device.
SJ wanted clean - simple - elegant. You do not need to spend 100M on lawyers to win the race.
Is there a point behind your asinine rant? I don't think I can think of a technology company that satisfies its users needs more than Apple. And yes, they're good at it, and that satisfaction from consumers has garnered them success that in turn has led them to make a ******** of profit- and so on. Your childish insinuation that it somehow has to be either consumer satisfaction or profits is just that- insanely childish. Does Apple need to be on the verge of bankruptcy to be defined as giving a damn? Apple is more loved by more consumers than any time in it's history. Satisfaction surveys for its products ar eoff the charts. Product reviews by critics are the best in class. In turn, their sales are enormous. There's nothing wrong with the profits they're making, because consumers have spoken out and made it clear they believe the products are worth the asking price. And so Apple has been rewarded for its vision and its insane level of meticulousness.
If Apple doesn't 'give a damn' about consumers, please tell me who does. HP? Acer? And of the other interchangeable compute companies than can't be credited with an ounce of original innovation? Microsoft? Samsung? Who the **** cares about consumers under your definition? I think I'm being pretty objective when saying that Apple stick out from the group BECAUSE they give a damn about the consumer experience, and using technology in practical ways to empower people to do things they couldn't have done before.
Cost of doing business
"That's life in the big city."
- Bob Morton (Miguel Ferrer, "RoboCop," 1987)
"That's life in the big city."
- Bob Morton (Miguel Ferrer, "RoboCop," 1987)
Patent troll? Not really, they made the cell phone, into where it is today, the rest are hangers on, and blatant copiers, Samsung is the worst. why do you think Apple would just throw their hands up and say oh well.
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Research, Kodak did not develop digital photography
Mac Pros arn't interesting because of a number of reasons:
1) Intel hasn't done anything interesting on the Xeon scene.
2) Most people don't need a Xeon workstation.
3) Mobile is more interesting.
I get more productivity for less cost using my MBP than my Mac Pro, and while I agree there will be people who do want a heavyweight desktop, the vast majority of people don't need it.
I'm sure they're spending loads of cash on legal cases. But I don't take anything Dan Lyons says seriously, and you folks shouldn't either. Check his track record and see if he does better than the fortune teller at your local carnival.
Peace,
Gene Steinberg
Host/Executive Producer,
The Tech Night Owl LIVE
Fortune teller at my local carnival said that I would get bilked out of $20.
So you're saying that Linux, Apache, Safari, gcc, etc have unfair advantages?
Ah, you're against open source software
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Apple needs to be careful not to wreck its image. It will be very hard to lose a negative association, look at Microsoft. They played dirty in the past, and are stilled referred to as "Micro$oft" today.
I would want to associate Apple with innovation, not patent wars.
I would want to associate Apple with innovation, not patent wars.
Where is your proof that Android has stolen IP? Your emotions / own opinions aren't valid - only solid evidence, i.e., law courts.
Since Apple have lost quite a few of law suits against Android, as the story states, your assertion isn't quite correct.
Unfair advantage? LOL. Its Google's choice to "give away" Android... Nothing unfair about that - no laws broken. A great deal of software is given away in return for services. Its fairly common practice. Even Apple give away some of its own software.... are they being unfair to their competitors, of course not!
Apple alone will never break Android. Like others have said, and microsoft have shown, Apple would gain more income by licensing out its technology to Google and others.
Since Apple have lost quite a few of law suits against Android, as the story states, your assertion isn't quite correct.
Unfair advantage? LOL. Its Google's choice to "give away" Android... Nothing unfair about that - no laws broken. A great deal of software is given away in return for services. Its fairly common practice. Even Apple give away some of its own software.... are they being unfair to their competitors, of course not!
Apple alone will never break Android. Like others have said, and microsoft have shown, Apple would gain more income by licensing out its technology to Google and others.
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I know, right? All those millions of dissatisfied Apple customers!
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20108336-17/apple-tops-in-customer-satisfaction-for-8th-year/
http://mashable.com/2011/09/09/apple-customer-satisfaction-survey/
http://www.intomobile.com/2011/12/22/apple-ipad-garners-84-customer-satisfaction-rating-survey/
Love the evidence. Unfortunately, the anti-apple tend to ignore this.
Contradict much? If you innovate, you better be damned well prepared to protect that innovation, wouldn't you agree?
re original article
first off - lawyers are vultures
second - aapl has money to feed vultures
$100 million - is chump change from aapl cash pile
first off - lawyers are vultures
second - aapl has money to feed vultures
$100 million - is chump change from aapl cash pile
So Lyons pulls a number out of his arse, you demonstrate your top mathematical ability by multiplying it by ten, and you call Apple idiots?
It's really not that absurd of a number. A partner probably bills $500/hr, and honestly a top litigator from NYC/DC has to bill more.
1,000 hours lets say - aka possibly only probably 40% of his billable hours in a year - is $500,000. Per year. This stuff has been going on for years. I also bet people are exclusively on this case and rack up more than 1,000 hours/year on it.
Then add in a team of partners overseeing, a horde of associates billing in at $300-450/hour, and so on.
Still a drop in the bucket to the end game cost. I would say it's money "well spent", but nothing about the billable hour is really well spent, so /shrug.
1,000 hours lets say - aka possibly only probably 40% of his billable hours in a year - is $500,000. Per year. This stuff has been going on for years. I also bet people are exclusively on this case and rack up more than 1,000 hours/year on it.
Then add in a team of partners overseeing, a horde of associates billing in at $300-450/hour, and so on.
Still a drop in the bucket to the end game cost. I would say it's money "well spent", but nothing about the billable hour is really well spent, so /shrug.
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Nothing to show for it??
It's a powerful deterrent to others. Message: screw with Apple and get tied up in litigation for god knows how long, and possibly deal with an injunction in a key market, to which Apple is practically indifferent.
Apple is using Samsung and Moto and HTC to mark their territory. Motorola for instance, already cited ongoing litigation with Apple as something that is causing them serious cash flow problems.
There is an ocean of other OEMs that are kept at bay by this. And if Apple successively does nothing, they can have no argument later. A show of half-hearted intention today results in a watering down of Apple's claims later.
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I'm sure this random macrumors poster has more intelligence than all of Apple's employees combined. He should call them up and offer his services as CEO.
Unbelievable how people can call something idiotic without an ounce of real knowledge about the context, stakes, and details of the situation.
Also, you people DO realize that Apple has like $100B in cash reserves.
$100M is one tenth of one percent of that. You make it sound as if they've spent a significant percentage of their $$ on this. As far as Apple's resources, it's insignificant, and I think they're in a better position to know how to spend their money. And that's assuming this # hasn't been over-inflated- which it certainly has. They haven't gotten to where they are by being morons. I wonder why some of you even visit this site and this board, because you seem to have nothing but venom and vitriol for every and any decision that apple makes.
100 million keeps
400 people on a $50,000/year salary for 5 years in the USA...
Being unemployed (again) - this is how I'm thinking of this...
Or 200 Apple lawyers