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Apple Parts Ways With Engineering Consulting Firm Over Tablet Prototype

G5isAlive said:
you might want to do some research before ranting about big bad apple..

http://besttabletreview.com/surfaceink-12-1-inch-linux-ubuntu-tablet-pc/

this is the prototype that SurfaceInk was promoting, claiming they are going to be big in the market with their own product. Just why SHOULD Apple fund them?

Apple's creates a market and SurfaceInk made a decision to jump in. They are big boys, clearly they knew the risk and decided the tablet market potential justified it. And the specs on their prototype sound an awful lot like what people are saying for next year's ipad... except that surfaceink's will be running android.

Yeah big bad apple squashed the little guys for absolutely no reason at all (rolls eyes)
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Exacly . :cool:
 
Winni said:
Well, I guess that Apple once more lives up to its reputation of being a company that doesn't play well with others. Especially when its a smaller company that can easily be squashed - Apple never "parted ways" with Microsoft who compete with them on so many levels that it's not even funny anymore.
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So, you really think that Apple should share its trade secrets and future plans with a company that is developing and promoting a product designed to compete with them? To continue to have a relationship with this company would be a terrible business decision, and would certainly raise a lot of questions for Apple's shareholders.
 
HLdan said:
And just when was Apple actually joined together with Microsoft? But I guess you forgot when Microsoft tried to copy Apple's Mac OS Apple took them to court? :p
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And the court told them to knock it the hell off, since they were not only both copying from each other, but had designed their respective OS based on stuff both of them copied from others in first place?
 
velocityg4 said:
I wonder why Apple didn't just buy them and integrate the designers into Apple. It must be that SurfaceInk was to insignificant to even bother with that.
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A manufacturing and marketing company buying an engineering consulting company is a always a bad idea. It is like a general contractor buying an architecture firm. They need to be separate so they can each follow complementing and contracting trends.

The tablet concept has been dumped on a long time with the failure of the GRiDpad going back to the mid-90s. So here we are with the proper battery, display and low power semiconductor technology and Apple does it right in the middle of a recession. Everyone else is dumbfounded. Now it is time for everyone else to rush in and try to get a piece of this new market.

SurfaceInk is going to make a small fortune on consulting and royalty fees giving out a few yellow bricks to the wanna be tablet makers. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised there was a final sushi and sake with Steve wishing them the best and were invited back in a few years after they reincorporate.

The amount of totally rushed and crap tablet computers hitting the retail stores this Christmas season is going to be a folly and a half!
 
MacinDoc said:
So, you really think that Apple should share its trade secrets and future plans with a company that is developing and promoting a product designed to compete with them? To continue to have a relationship with this company would be a terrible business decision, and would certainly raise a lot of questions for Apple's shareholders.
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Funny, Microsoft doesn't seem to have a problem with HTC who manufacture Windows Mobile and Linux devices and sells them both under their own name and as re-branded products.
 
Kar98 said:
Funny, Microsoft doesn't seem to have a problem with HTC who manufacture Windows Mobile and Linux devices and sells them both under their own name and as re-branded products.
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Microsoft is not in the cell market. HTC is. HTC must do what it has to and produce products people will buy. Microsoft needs HTC to carry their operating system. Therefore, as long as HTC is producing handhelds with Microsoft software, they really can't complain.

If they did, they'd have to get rid of LG and Samsung as well. But that wouldn't be good business, because no manufacturer would be using their product.
 
look it's very simple. Apple raised the bar with the iPad. It's up to the competition to not just clone it - but innovate and surpass it. I won't hold my breath on that. When's the last time the tech industry has surpassed Apple in the last 5 years on anything?

Microsoft is not in the cell market. HTC is. HTC must do what it has to and produce products people will buy. Microsoft needs HTC to carry their operating system. Therefore, as long as HTC is producing handhelds with Microsoft software, they really can't complain.
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Unlike Google, MSFT will charge a license fee for WP7. Not that it matters since they'll not sell more then a million a year which is peanuts.
 
PerfSeeker said:
Unlike Google, MSFT will charge a license fee for WP7. Not that it matters since they'll not sell more then a million a year which is peanuts.
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Exactly what I was trying to illustrate when I quoted Kar98. His logic didn't make sense.
 
Everything seems to be outsourced at Apple. It wouldn't surprise me if all the top brass at Apple were outsources themselves. Like, when you order an Apple product, it gets shipped directly from China's factory floor.
 
Small White Car said:
If I hire someone to mow my lawn for 10 years and then, for whatever reason, decide to stop hiring him, that's totally my choice. It doesn't mean I "don't play well with others." Give me a break.
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actually it kind of does if... your "for whatever reason" is that they started mowing your neighbors lawn :rolleyes:

of course we don't know with 100% certainty that was the reason but thats what was being implied here

It's my money, I can spend it how I like.
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Now that part i totally agree with ;)
 
The best way to make an enemy of a company...

The best way to make an enemy of a company is for your company to work with them on a project. Culture clash, design disputes, technological incompatibility, and orthogonal long-term goals all cause the honeymoon to end quickly. Trust me. I know.
 
Arrogance leads to Ignorance

Jobs remains the King of the Hill "Kill off that Lowly upstart" doesn't matter why I am King, Just don't hold me by my edges it will short out my brain! :p
 
Liquorpuki said:
That $150M investment + Office Mac comes to mind
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If I had a dime for every time somebody was misinformed about this, I would be too rich to post here. :p.

I'll let you figure that out, since your line seemed to come directly from the first paragraph of a blog. :rolleyes:

FYI, Office was on Mac, before it was on Windows.
 
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