Walter Isaacson Says Jobs' Rage Over Android Was Real

[Boisv]

There's nothing wrong with selling software.

But there's something really wrong with selling COPIES of software, when the amount of money to make a copy after a master exists is negligible (even more so now with digital distribution).

Free software can be supported by donations, for example. But someone needs to come up with a better way of selling software without resorting to selling individual COPIES.

But it doesn't seem like you're factoring in the amount of money that went in to developing and writing that software. Sure, a COPY might not cost much, but the initial program, the master, probably cost a fortune. They make that money back selling copies.

Free software and donations may work for some companies and some software, but not all. It's naive to think that all software should be free.

I work in video and I hear this argument all the time. "Why does it cost a lot to produce a video? A DVD costs less than a dollar." Well gee wiz. Maybe because you aren't being charged for the DVD, but the content that is on it.

 

[Glideslope]

Larry Page. Well, with fools like this driving, Google is ok they way it is IMO.

 

[IJ Reilly]

I think that Steve discovered early on that if he got people emotionally riled up and pissed-off, they would produce more and better than otherwise. Many managers use this tactic on a regular basis. Out of the office they appear to be normal loving individuals. Outside perceptions and descriptions of this behavior vary on the observer's position and viewpoint.

He was supremely manipulative, even with people to whom he was close. The story about how he convinced his parents to send him to a very expensive private college that they really could not afford is revealing. Then he barely attended classes, and apparently never felt guilty about it. Very few people think like Steve did, so I think it's difficult for most of us to comprehend what made him tick. He was one white cat and a monocle away from being a James Bond villain. Fortunately for us his sociopathy was not also psychopathy, and he directed his great genius towards accomplishing something beneficial.

 

[faroZ06]

iPhone is selling more than any single Android phones, but Androids in the whole are selling more than iPhones, and that's what matters to Google. Getting its services in as many devices as possible. And they're doing it in about 100% of iPhones, every Android, and some Windows Phones.

iPhones are selling like hot cakes, and so are Androids. And guess what, both Apple and Google make money on both, but Google still earns more. ****, they even make money on Macs as long as people use Google on it. And most do.

Google is bigger than Apple. Their stocks are valued higher, and are going to grow for a long time. Again, just like Apple.

Absolutely not. Apple is worth more than Google and is the largest company in the world. Also, Apple makes tons of money from iOS, while Google barely makes any from Android. Do the research.

PLEASE don't tell me you thought that the price per share of Google being higher actually meant that the company was worth more! There are more shares of Apple out.

 

[paul4339]

'You can't pay me off, I'm here to destroy you'

love the drama!

It should be followed by:
'I'm gonna use all of the company's $40B, build a liquid metal android (using Android), send it back in time and terminate you, Schmidt!'


.

 

[DakotaGuy]

I am boycotting all Samsung products and will continue to do so. I urge you all to do the same. Not only is it illegal, but very unethical to steal ideas from your best customer. If that is how they do business, I will vote with my dollars. There are plenty of other TV choices. Soon, there may be one more.

Even as an Android owner I also boycott all Samsung products. The other Android makers have worked hard to come up with something that looks and feels somewhat different. Samsung phones and tablets hardware and software are complete Apple rip-offs.

I think it is always funny when Samsung gets slammed on here and there are always some Apple fans that stick up for them when it comes to their TV line. The fact is that other companies like LG have TV products that are just as good as Samsung. When you buy their products you are just giving them money to keep their copy machine running.

 

[maccompatible]

Here is a list of apps that have lagged on my iPhone 4 today, safari, plants vs zombies, YouTube, iTunes and angry birds space.

You're comparing the iPhone 4 to the newest android phones. The iPhone 4 has, like, a quarter of the CPU and gpu as the razr maxx and still runs more efficiently, overall. Not to say it will never lag..

 

[faroZ06]

[/COLOR]

Even as an Android owner I also boycott all Samsung products. The other Android makers have worked hard to come up with something that looks and feels somewhat different. Samsung phones and tablets hardware and software are complete Apple rip-offs.

I think it is always funny when Samsung gets slammed on here and there are always some Apple fans that stick up for them when it comes to their TV line. The fact is that other companies like LG have TV products that are just as good as Samsung. When you buy their products you are just giving them money to keep their copy machine running.

This is right. Samsung is one of the worst companies in my opinion, copying everything. Motorola is way more respectable.

 

[Renzatic]

Android was kind of a ripoff of the iPhone, but it wasn't a real copy like Windows was of Mac.

I don't get it. I really truly honestly don't get it. Apple licensed the idea of the GUI from Xerox. They didn't come up with the idea on their own. Rather, they improved upon the preexisting framework.

So in this situation, how did Microsoft rip off Apple with Windows? It wasn't their idea in the first place? Yeah, they they were probably inspired by some of the things Apple had done. But in turn, Apple was inspired by some of the things Xerox did long before them. So why is one right, and the other wrong?

 

[faroZ06]

You're comparing the iPhone 4 to the newest android phones. The iPhone 4 has, like, a quarter of the CPU and gpu as the razr maxx and still runs more efficiently, overall. Not to say it will never lag..

No, the iPhone 4 should not be lagging. It's not that old, and I have no problems with lag on it. Everything moves smoothly for me. Maybe that guy jailbroke it and installed some trash?

 

[IJ Reilly]

I don't get it. I really truly honestly don't get it. Apple licensed the idea of the GUI from Xerox. They didn't come up with the idea on their own. Rather, they improved upon the preexisting framework.

Apple did not license the GUI from Xerox, and those ideas did not even come from Xerox, they came out of academia.

Die myths, die.

 

[faroZ06]

I don't get it. I really truly honestly don't get it. Apple licensed the idea of the GUI from Xerox. They didn't come up with the idea on their own. Rather, they improved upon the preexisting framework.

So in this situation, how did Microsoft rip off Apple with Windows? It wasn't their idea in the first place? Yeah, they they were probably inspired by some of the things Apple had done. But in turn, Apple was inspired by some of the things Xerox did long before them. So why is one right, and the other wrong?

MS Windows had basically the same GUI as Macintosh, a total knockoff. While Apple did not invent the concept of GUI on a PC, they did all of the work to make it possible and make it practical. Even Xerox did not really invent it; some guy who worked for them did. You have to pay attention to who actually used it first.

So what Microsoft copied was all of the improvements Apple made on Xerox's idea, which was a LOT.

 

[Boisv]

This is right. Samsung is one of the worst companies in my opinion, copying everything. Motorola is way more respectable.

I agree. Samsung is the worst offender.

 

[Glideslope]

Apple's soon to be problem appears to be Tim Cook.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Jobs gave Apple a vision to carry for 5 years.

Part of that vision was to destroy Google's Andriod OS. Cook seems to not share what Steve wanted Apple to continue with.

I wonder if a person like Forstall might have been more of the right choice for Apple, if he was more seasoned.

I hope Cook isn't the 21st centurey Sculley, with his "play nice mentality". Apple can't afford that a 2nd time around. Cause their won't be a 3rd Coming of Jobs to the rescue.

Your point is very real. The 5 year point will be the test. Forget about the second set of 5 years. If Apple appears too happy to coexist with others, and not push the envelope toward breakthroughs you could see Scott move in.

Jony and Scott are the most Steve Like in the Co. Scott was recruited by Steve while a Junior at Stanford. Scott also pisses people off just like Steve. He is a "Function" guy. Tim is a supply chain guy. Yes, Tim is a great guy. However, most people forget Apple is still on Steve's ideas.

Scott has not been out front much lately. He is giving Tim plenty of space to run the show for a few years.

Don't even dare to think Art and the rest of the board do not have a Plan B at the 5 year mark.

 

[markfc]

Apples share price just topped googles...

 

[aerok]

Is this a joke?! Form, function of iPhone. Full touchscreen, The whole idea of apps. The list goes on. Wow, I hope you were kidding.

Full touchscreen? Seriously? I don't have enough fingers to count all the phones with full touchscreens that came out before the iPhone.

Idea of apps? The Sidekick and other phones had a app store.

Form? Android is not hardware

Functions? The list goes on? Enlighten me.

I hope you were kidding.

 

[fidelityrevo]

I wonder how Xerox felt?

With all the hagiography created around Steve Jobs, it is astonishing so few people realize that the Star operating system developed by Xerox was the basis for the mouse and "macintosh user interface" and much of the macintosh's "feel". Jobs was a hypocrite to complain about the android being a rip off. Jobs did the same thing, but to Xerox. Most intellectual property disputes are sophisticated forms of robbery. IP laws should be radically changed with patents given more sparingly.

Jobs was a PR man. He wasn't generous, he was a stingy man who made Apple rich off the labor of tens of thousands of Chinese workers who have endured horrible work conditions, poisonings, terribly long hours, and miserable pay. Some saint. If he is a saint, he bought it like they used to buy indulgences from the Catholic Church.

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson says Jobs' anger over Android was real and not "for show" as alleged by Google's Larry Page in an interview this week. Macworld UK attended a lecture Isaacson gave at the Royal Institution and the biographer said that Jobs felt Android's similarity to iOS was "history repeating itself", and compared it to Jobs' feeling that Microsoft's Windows was a rip-off of the Macintosh.

Image

Isaacson went on to say that he believes that Tim Cook will handle things differently and "will settle that lawsuit." Apple is currently involved in a number of lawsuits over Android with manufacturers around the world.

Article Link: Walter Isaacson Says Jobs' Rage Over Android Was Real

 

[Renzatic]

Apple did not license the GUI from Xerox, and those ideas did not even come from Xerox, they came out of academia.

Die myths, die.

What? Apple visiting Xerox and using their OS as a base for their own is well documented history. They had a fully functional working prototype that could be interacted with. a GUI based OS on top of it all, and a mouse to use with it.

Nowhere have I read that Steve Jobs went walking around college campuses culling neat ideas from hobbyist computer clubs to form the basis of the Mac. No. Jobs went to Xerox Parc, saw the Alto, and went to on to form the Lisa, then the Mac.

 

[ryuok]

That's why I said Cook is one boring executive type who is going to focus on workers' conditions, CSR and lots of other bullcr*p and lead Apple with no character and taste. Steve would have never shaken hands with Chinese communist premier or settled the lawsuit with Google.

 

[paul4339]

...
So in this situation, how did Microsoft rip off Apple with Windows? It wasn't their idea in the first place? Yeah, they they were probably inspired by some of the things Apple had done. But in turn, Apple was inspired by some of the things Xerox did long before them...

The difference is that Apple made a deal with Xerox and got their consent for their ideas (which Xerox tried to sue them later for, but was too late);
and MS copied Apple without their consent (which MS actually did have licensing rights from Apple; and Apple eventually lost the lawsuit .. go figure!)

On a side note, one of my fav parts of Isaacson's book:

Gates:
"Well, Steve, I think there's more than one way of looking at it. I think it's more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found that you had already stolen it."

.

 

[WeegieMac]

Full touchscreen? Seriously? I don't have enough fingers to count all the phones with full touchscreens that came out before the iPhone.

Idea of apps? The Sidekick and other phones had a app store.

Form? Android is not hardware

Functions? The list goes on? Enlighten me.

I hope you were kidding.

And they were horrid, unresponsive or stylus based, pieces of junk. Trust me, I owned a few.

The iPhone changed the mobile phone forever, it raised the bar, it introduced certain standards. Yes, there was touchscreen phones first, but nothing like the iPhone in terms of features or responsiveness. Also, pre-iPhone, Android resembled RIM, which was surprise surprise, the market leader at that time. Schmidt sat on the Apple board and hoovered up the iPhone ideas and snuck them off to Google, and low and behold Android soon resembled the iPhone rather than RIM's interface/hardware. Jobs is also on record stating that he HID the iPad work in progress from Schmidt as he didn't trust him.

Those are the facts, deal with them.

 

[jona2125]

I'll be curious to see Apple start to make actual technology that does something. The biggest thing I see with Apple products, is iTunes. iTunes tethers more people than oxygen. It's the only, only reason I have an iPhone. This phone is nice as everything but a phone, and that's coming from AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint variations of the 4S. The iOS is smooth because it's fairly simple to tune. You have a device with a fixed specification, doesn't take much to optimize it. It's like the PS3 vs a PC (Can't say Mac, doesn't apply to games lol). A PC with the same power as a PS3, so low level, wouldn't be able to do what the PS3 can. The whole Apple versus Android is a joke. That's again like Sony saying the Xbox shouldn't be able to use discs. Apple built a Mac as competition to Microsoft and still do. Why can't another company build the competition to their phones? Mac and PC share 90% of the same things I don't see Microsoft complaining. Apple is the only company I ever hear that has a complaint about everything else. It's like a 2nd grader getting picked on by a 5th grader. Sounds like whining. Here's what I'll do. I will go to Ford and tell them to sue and make sure they destroy GM because GM trucks use a V8 engine. Makes about as much sense to me. Apple has a tendency to get butt hurt. It's laughable. I'm gonna find the blacksmith that invented the lock style on my gate and say Apple stole his idea for slide to unlock. Thanks for totalitarianism of technology Apple.

 

[IJ Reilly]

With all the hagiography created around Steve Jobs, it is astonishing so few people realize that the Star operating system developed by Xerox was the basis for the mouse and "macintosh user interface" and much of the macintosh's "feel". Jobs was a hypocrite to complain about the android being a rip off. Jobs did the same thing, but to Xerox. Most intellectual property disputes are sophisticated forms of robbery. IP laws should be radically changed with patents given more sparingly.

Untrue. First I presume you referring to the Alto, which is the computer Apple actually got to see in operation at Xerox PARC. The Star was developed a couple of years later. Second, the Xerox GUI was far more primitive than the the GUI Apple developed for the Mac. Essentially all Xerox demonstrated is that a computer could be operated with a pointing device and have a bit-mapped screen. It was little more than a proof of concept for some ideas that had been tossed around by computer science academics for about ten years.

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

Apples share price just topped googles...

Apples been around a lot longer than Google.

 

[Born Again]

whatever sells more books Isaacson