It's not innovation, it's how fast you can take it to market. Jobs learnt the hardway first. Many people claim to be the innovator.
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HP Defends New Ultrabook Design Against Noted Similarities to Apple's MacBook Air
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It's not innovation, it's how fast you can take it to market. Jobs learnt the hardway first. Many people claim to be the innovator.
I thought it was Sony?
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Looks nothing like the MacBook Air. The power button is at a different location, the trackpad is different, the hinge is different. But hey at least the Spectre will have better specs and customisability than the MBA could ever dream.
uninformed or ignorant...
Although no one is really blasting HP, (which is nice),-{I take this back, plenty of ignorant people are blasting HP} --
you who seem to think that HP "copied" the Mac design need to look at HP design history. !!
It is a clear fact that they have been using this color scheme, Silver base, black keys, and black bezel for a very long time - It is a fact, that indeed, it was APPLE who copied the design from HP.. Jeez!! Do a little research people.... - and one person says,
Although no one is really blasting HP, (which is nice),-{I take this back, plenty of ignorant people are blasting HP} --
you who seem to think that HP "copied" the Mac design need to look at HP design history. !!
It is a clear fact that they have been using this color scheme, Silver base, black keys, and black bezel for a very long time - It is a fact, that indeed, it was APPLE who copied the design from HP.. Jeez!! Do a little research people.... - and one person says,
ARe you serious? You're quoting the Master of stealing design and ideas and then claiming them as your own, and then suing people for "copying" the stuff you stole in the first place.... -
Since this hasn't happened here with the SPECTRE, why do you feel the need to discuss it then ?
There were rumors of ASUS going all out by bringing 1080p IPS to their Zenbooks in late April. The 620GT is not much to write home about. I guess the drivers are better than Intel's offerings but the GPU power is more than likely neck and neck with the Intel HD 4000.
Scary to think a consumer product starts off with $50 cables vs. USB disposable.
Didn't rip Apple off? Jesus christ. Why do they bother defending themselves you can see here the similarities
Apple only caters to simpletons(with deep pockets) or consumers with very specific tasks/requirements (mainly media related, which they seem to be good at).
The 3 segments you listed require flexibility and the ability to fully configure their computers. They are not Apples audience.
Really? I take it back then - I was sure I'd read somewhere it came with Apple with the final update to the iBooks.
The ultrabook push could be summarized under "help, the future of computing is tablets and we're not on them". They're trying to stem the tide until they have some metal that can power tablets but it looks like a long shot right now.
Intel doesn't mind selling their CPUs to Apple but Apple is making more money off iPads than Macs, if not now then in the very near future. They're already selling more iPads than Macs.
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Didn't rip Apple off? Jesus christ. Why do they bother defending themselves you can see here the similarities
I think the defense is silly, mainly - if they were honest they'd say, yeah, of course just like everyone else we now want to make computers that are really cool like the Air. But we did do our own Air-inspired design so nobody can sue us. And they did, this isn't a blatant rip-off, it's fine both professionally and from a legal standpoint. At the same time, do I think they would have produced this without the MacBook Air? No way in hell.
In design, it's normal to be inspired by others. Check out cars - there's Mercedes and BMW, and then there's everyone else and they are using the design details pioneered by the Germans in their next and next-next year models. No blatant rip offs - but certainly a lot of inspiration.
YEAH, HP! YOU GET BACK IN YOUR CORNER!
Actually, HP is well known and respected for their high end server and workstation computers. They probably sell more workstations than Apple does Mac Pros.
Only to corporate clients trying to stay under budget right? That doesn't seem like a good analogy to this type of luxury PC device.
I should harsh on HP, but do you think this Envy Spectre is going to sell at this price?
I'd say you're being anal about this, but I do have to agree.
Saying Apple is plural because it is comprised of many members is like calling an individual plural because (s)he is comprised of numerous cells.
I guess you missed the post from the British guy explaining how they say it over there. In Britain, corporations are considered plural, so they would say "Apple are crushing the competition," and stuff like that.
So it's correct both ways. Depends on where you're raised.
Incidentally, in the US, it's typical for companies to be described as a single entity (e.g. Exxon is report their earnings), but sports teams are described as plural (e.g. the Mets are really crushing it). Not really important, but something I've always found odd.
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Thank you for that. I never thought of that before, though I wonder if it's because the name is plural (Mets, Phillies, Devils, etc.). I can accept the British explanation, though I'll probably still want to read up on it.
It has a keyboard, a folding lid and a trackpad! And It is all silver and black: SO APPLE!
Sometimes things just look similar: a spade is a handle and the flat piece of metal connected by a rod to give leverage. There are only so many ways to to that. Consider the thickness of a USB port and RAM/an SSD or the size of a keyboard. Now consider the size of a screen; it leaves you with a bit of area where you don't really need to put anything. You could keep a constant thickness but the laptop would appear much bigger and would be much heavier OR you could do a wedge. OH LOOK it already looks similar to the MacBook Air. The only other way would have been a step like on the F1 noses (if you follow F1) but that would be horrifically ugly.
So you are saying that there is only one logical way to design a laptop, and that is to take 90% of what Apple put together and do the same thing.
This is why there have been thousands of unique laptop designs over the past 20 years, because there is only one design that actually works. And, the fact that HP happened on this design just a few years after Apple evolved to it, is pure coincidence.
There are at least a dozen other ways to construct a modern laptop, and at least as many color schemes. Now, to create one which sells, yes, there is really only one approach, and that is to copy Apple's design. But don't lie to us and say that you came to that design in an isolated remote laboratory and were shocked - shocked - to see that Apple had happened to come out with the same design years ago. We aren't stupid. Use Apple's cache if you can't build your own brand image up. It will get you sales. But, the people who buy those products are buying them because they look like Apple products, and will be pegged as wannabe losers by those who know.
Regarding the sports team thing ... I think your right about that. Most sports teams are pluralized. However, there are a few in the US that aren't. We still say, "the Heat are shooting well."
I wonder what they say in England/Europe as their sports team naming convention is very different than ours. Manchester United, Real Madrid, etc.
Wolff has a point. The HP and all other will form around the technology available and therefore the wedge shape will be the preferred form factor. Apple certainly don't own that general design and its good to see that competition is outdoing Apple in many respects by actually giving great I/O like USB 3.0.
Apple do their thing everyone does theres but overall Apple probably does it that bit better.
No one is claiming Apple "owns" a design.
HP looked at the MacBook Air, saw it was what people were willing to buy, and started from there. They added a few whacks of the "ugly stick", adding stuff like the ludicrous red button at the top, but nothing significant. The intent is clear: hew as close to the MacBook Air design as possible, without looking exactly like one.
That much is fine. Immitation/flattery/blah blah blah. But there is a word for it: derivative. A lot of companies put out derivative crap, but when called on it, they don't claim that they came up with this design completely separate from Apple and "who voted Apple king of the world anyway?" like a first grader called out in the playground. Own up to it. This is derivative crap. If you're actually proud of it, highlight where you put some innovative design into it.
But, no, we get "It is not because those guys did it first; it's just that's where the form factor is leading it." ********. The "form factor" is Apple's design. The form factor is what it is because Apple did it first.
Next year, when Apple comes out with a new design, obviously HP will have to follow that as well. Not because they are following Apple; no, because the "form factor" means that there is only the one design that works and so that's what they have to make.
If you're walking down the street and every time you zig the guy behind you follows, and every time you zag the guy behind you follows, the argument that zigging and zagging in your exact pattern is the only way to walk down the street isn't entirely credible. It's time to consider the fact that the guy shadowing you is about to mug you.
Oh.
Right.
Du-uh.
Sorry.
(imagine a blushing smiley)
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Like the "centre" vs "center" or "colour" vs "color" thing.
Funny: Yanks say they can't get us to pronounce our U's and we Canucks can't get the the Americans to spell with 'em... A nice irony.
I agree with the Macalope....
__________________________________________
As Ultrabooks start hitting the market this year, you can look forward to Olympic-level verbal gymnastics as PC OEM executives attempt to explain away the many similarities between their laptops and the reference platform for their laptops, the MacBook Air.
First up on floor exercise, HP’s Vice President of Industrial Design, Stacy Wolff. The excitement is palpable, as word has it that Wolff will be performing a roundoff back handspring into a triple Lutz!
And here he goes!
{{Apple may like to think that they own silver, but they don’t. In no way did HP try to mimic Apple. In life there are a lot of similarities.}}
“In life there are a lot of similarities.” You are deep, Stacy. Or just really stoned.
There are particularly a lot of similarities if you’re, you know, copying someone else. In that instance, there a tons of similarities. Life sure is funny with its startling and completely natural similarities (tip o’ the antlers to Marco Arment)!
Wolff claims that the design of the possibly-named-by-a-12-year-old boy HP Envy Spectre XT was inspired more by the Compaq TC1000—in that it was silver with black keys and will probably suck. See, the TC1000 was inspired by the Titanium PowerBook, so you Apple nerds are totally off-base with this idea that HP’s new Ultrabook was inspired by the MacBook Air! Ha! As if!
{{The thing is that you have to design what’s right…}}
Which just happens to be exactly the design Apple’s already selling.
{{…and that is that sometimes the wedge is the right solution, silver is the right solution.}}
Sometimes black keys are the right solution. And ports on the sides instead of the back. And taking out the optical drive. And…
Oh, screw it! We copied Apple, OK?!
{{So there are a lot of things I can list off that are differences; but if you want to look at a macro level, there are a lot of similarities to everything in the market that’s an Ultrabook today.}}
That’s a nice sleight of hand there. Lots of similarities to everything in the market … today. Like, say, the MacBook Air.
{{It is not because those guys did it first; it’s just that’s where the form factor is leading it.}}
Whatever you need to get to sleep at night, Stacy.
{{Again, like I said, with our TC1000, I didn’t come over to the Cupertino office and say “Hey, this looks like our old tablet. Why did you guys do this?”}}
Right. Look at your ridiculous tablet. Look at a MacBook Air. Now look at your Ultrabook. Now look at the Macalope. He’s on a horse.
You can talk about how Apple didn’t invent silver and it didn’t invent black keys and how a wedge is just the natural shape, but the fact is that you weren’t even making this class of laptop until Apple did. Ultrabooks weren’t even a thing until the MacBook Air came along. You guys were pushing cheap pieces of plastic with low margins. Then you saw Apple selling something better and being successful with it, and you wanted in.
That’s not a bad business decision, and the Macalope knows you can’t just admit you’re copying Apple, but let’s just be clear that that’s what you’re doing—no matter how you phrase it.
[Editors’ Note: In addition to being a mythical beast, the Macalope is not an employee of Macworld. As a result, the Macalope is always free to criticize any media organization. Even ours.]
http://www.macworld.com/article/1166743/macalope_copy_paste.html
__________________________________________
As Ultrabooks start hitting the market this year, you can look forward to Olympic-level verbal gymnastics as PC OEM executives attempt to explain away the many similarities between their laptops and the reference platform for their laptops, the MacBook Air.
First up on floor exercise, HP’s Vice President of Industrial Design, Stacy Wolff. The excitement is palpable, as word has it that Wolff will be performing a roundoff back handspring into a triple Lutz!
And here he goes!
{{Apple may like to think that they own silver, but they don’t. In no way did HP try to mimic Apple. In life there are a lot of similarities.}}
“In life there are a lot of similarities.” You are deep, Stacy. Or just really stoned.
There are particularly a lot of similarities if you’re, you know, copying someone else. In that instance, there a tons of similarities. Life sure is funny with its startling and completely natural similarities (tip o’ the antlers to Marco Arment)!
Wolff claims that the design of the possibly-named-by-a-12-year-old boy HP Envy Spectre XT was inspired more by the Compaq TC1000—in that it was silver with black keys and will probably suck. See, the TC1000 was inspired by the Titanium PowerBook, so you Apple nerds are totally off-base with this idea that HP’s new Ultrabook was inspired by the MacBook Air! Ha! As if!
{{The thing is that you have to design what’s right…}}
Which just happens to be exactly the design Apple’s already selling.
{{…and that is that sometimes the wedge is the right solution, silver is the right solution.}}
Sometimes black keys are the right solution. And ports on the sides instead of the back. And taking out the optical drive. And…
Oh, screw it! We copied Apple, OK?!
{{So there are a lot of things I can list off that are differences; but if you want to look at a macro level, there are a lot of similarities to everything in the market that’s an Ultrabook today.}}
That’s a nice sleight of hand there. Lots of similarities to everything in the market … today. Like, say, the MacBook Air.
{{It is not because those guys did it first; it’s just that’s where the form factor is leading it.}}
Whatever you need to get to sleep at night, Stacy.
{{Again, like I said, with our TC1000, I didn’t come over to the Cupertino office and say “Hey, this looks like our old tablet. Why did you guys do this?”}}
Right. Look at your ridiculous tablet. Look at a MacBook Air. Now look at your Ultrabook. Now look at the Macalope. He’s on a horse.
You can talk about how Apple didn’t invent silver and it didn’t invent black keys and how a wedge is just the natural shape, but the fact is that you weren’t even making this class of laptop until Apple did. Ultrabooks weren’t even a thing until the MacBook Air came along. You guys were pushing cheap pieces of plastic with low margins. Then you saw Apple selling something better and being successful with it, and you wanted in.
That’s not a bad business decision, and the Macalope knows you can’t just admit you’re copying Apple, but let’s just be clear that that’s what you’re doing—no matter how you phrase it.
[Editors’ Note: In addition to being a mythical beast, the Macalope is not an employee of Macworld. As a result, the Macalope is always free to criticize any media organization. Even ours.]
http://www.macworld.com/article/1166743/macalope_copy_paste.html
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Not here. Corporations were recently given personhood, so in America Apple would be "sir", and "is". Why? Because we are retarded.
