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Yes, and iPhone was also Sony idea :-)
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    For its part, Apple‘s ―revolutionary iPhone design was derived from the designs of a competitor—Sony. In February 2006, before the claimed iPhone design was conceived of, Apple executive Tony Fadell circulated a news article to Steve Jobs, Jonathan Ive and others. In the article, a Sony designer discussed Sony designs for portable electronic devices that lacked buttons and other ―excessive ornamentation fit in the hand, were ―square with a screen and had ―corners [which] have been rounded out. Right after this article was circulated internally, Apple industrial designer Shin Nishibori was directed to prepare a ―Sony-like design for an Apple phone and then had CAD drawings and a three-dimensional model prepared.

    From: http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1257891/Samsung_unredacted_trial_brief.pdf

    I also like some parts:

    Apple seeks to stifle legitimate competition and limit consumer choice to maintain its historically exorbitant profits. Android phones manufactured by Samsung and other companies – all of which Apple has also serially sued in numerous forums worldwide -- offer consumers a more flexible, open operating system with greater product choices at a variety of price points as an alternative to Apple‘s single, expensive and closed-system devices.

    Apple relied heavily on Samsung‘s technology to enter the telecommunications space, and it continues to use Samsung‘s technology to this day in its iPhone and iPad products. For example, Samsung supplies the flash memory, main memory, and application processor for the iPhone. Samsung also manufactures Apple‘s A5X processor and is the sole supplier of the Retina display used in the new iPad. But Apple also uses patented Samsung technology that it has not paid for.

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  • 42 Replies sorted by
  • I have never bought an apple product. There is always something better at a cheaper price. ALWAYS. It is too bad that most people purchase brand names, not the product themselves.

  • @deturbanator

    Yep, just let's be careful, to not turn it to the flame war. Topic is quite dangerous :-)

    But report and cases reviewed in it are interesting.

  • I agree. I'm surprised how conversational the document is. I would expect a lot of lawyer jargon.

    Really, the only thing I would have to "bash" on apple is the fact that we have seen them do this countless times, to numerous groups. Samsung obviously has the money and power to fight back, but what about all the smaller and unheard of companies that faced the wrath of apple? Its pretty wrong.

  • Samsung obviously has the money and power to fight back, but what about all the smaller and unheard of companies that faced the wrath of apple?

    We don't really know that is happenig in reality, as Samsung has all the power to completely eliminate Apple from mobile and tablet markets. It looks like companies just came to some disagreement. Main point can be that Samsung offered too high value for their licenses, and Aplle due to being absent from mobile market and not having valuable patents want to make some value for free cross licensing.

    You can find it in reports.

  • As for iPhones. One simple solution will make huge changes on the market - disallow mobile operators to supply phones with long term contracts. Phones must be sold separately.

  • disallow mobile operators to supply phones with long term contracts.

    After years of crap contracts with crap rates and coverage, I've recently gone the month to month. I've also dumped my stupid 'Droid Epic and its 5 hour batter life and annoying touch screen for a dinky Samsung flip phone. Great coverage, portable size and 4 day battery life.

  • I'm sure Sony is kicking their self for not patenting their design. According to that link how come those companies that invented those technologies are not coming forward to say they invented the technology like the multi-touch? Interesting to see how this trail is gonna turn out.

  • I'm sure Sony is kicking their self for not patenting their design.

    If you look at the PDF, you'll find that Samsung claims that most Apple design patents are inapplicable because they contradict with law. Whole idea in patenting design is weird.

  • Aren't visual design features normally trademarked instead of patented? What's odd is things like the Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster, the headstock shape is trademarked but not the body shape.

  • Wouldn't be the first time.

    Sony owned personal music market with the Walkman, everybody had one or wanted one. Now it's all iPod or iPhone. It doesn't matter who comes up with the idea, it's who comes to market with it first, and even being first isn't always as important.

  • I still use my circa 2003 Sony Minidisc player because it hasn't stopped working perfectly.

  • The genius isn't just in design, but how products get implemented and the ecosystem that you create to make the user experience a good one. Apple haters seem to never really understand that part of the whole success. I respect people that have vision to see things others don't necessarily see the value in. There are a lot of directors out there but only a few that put it all together in such a way that masses are touched. Respect the Vision!

  • I'm against most patent law. I've been on the other side, and the idea is to make your claims as broad as possible, like a spider's web. Even if you don't have a working technology. The reality is with billions of people it is beyond possible for independent individuals to come to the same or similar solutions. To penalize someone's hard work because they didn't have the fastest, sneakiest patent lawyers is silly, and in the end limits inventiveness.

  • How silly the light panel lawsuits are. How hard is it to figure out LEDs could be used together on a square panel as a light source. THEY ARE A LIGHT SOURCE!!!

  • someone mention ecosystem created by Apple as genius move and i agree ... but that was closed system controlled from one source ...and irony is that first Apple commercial was 1984 spoof and IBM as big brother...and now most downloaded app for iphone is Jailbreak...Steve Jobs success formula was not design or tech innovation , it was a way to make customers a part of special elite club ... for few hundred (thousands) dollars u become someone who is better and sophisticated than rest of herd ...same technique now used by red camera ... go to redusers and feel that cult atmosphere ...all Jobs hippie talk didn't change a thing that Apple always been rich man toy and how many poor people would have chance to get their first computer if apple was only option ....now when innovation well is empty their way to control market is to sue all people who try to push technology beyond apple possibility to fallow .... apple is a dinosaur and looks like a meteorite is coming ....

  • @vladnik It's been a lot of years since the fist one said "a meteorite is coming on Apple". And all the "Apple=marketing" common places are not new as well.

    So, please, join the queue ;-)

    @deturbanator I don't like closed-minded people expecting that anybody should like what they like / do what they say.

    So you want me to buy what you, in your (not relevant) opinion, say is cheaper and better? Ok, no problem, just send me the money to get that stuff. Otherwise, my money, my stuff.

  • IMO, patent and copyright laws have gone too far. They're defeating the very reason they were introduced long ago, and that was to promote innovation

  • Quote from an Appleinsider article today:

    "Countering Samsung's allegations that the iPhone borrowed design elements from Sony, Apple has revealed an iPhone prototype dating back to 2005 that shares many design elements with the iPhone 4 released in 2010.

    Referred to internally as "Purple," the prototype created in August 2005 was revealed in new court documents in the Apple-Samsung lawsuit, which is set to kick off in court today. The filing, highlighted by The Verge on Monday, shows a white iPhone dominated by a touchscreen on the front, with a home button below the display that reads "Menu.""

    "Check"

  • @JanH

    First, you need to lie in interviews and books, and after your competitor catched you, you need to find "Purple". I think the name is symbolic :-)

  • @rikyxxx It's been a lot of years since the fist one said "a meteorite is coming on Apple" , yeah but then it was saved by Bill Gates :) ..and i didn't say Apple=marketing i say Apple=cult so there is a difference .....for me Apple was just one of tech company i didn't hated them , i just didn't care ... but now they become bully's of computer world ... they even sued Kodak for patents(kicking a half dead ) ... they try to slow and control tech progress same as GM in 1960 ...in our best interest ,they need to go ....

  • No, Apple was saved by Jobs, they didn't kill kodak (no need for it) they don't slow tech progress and in our best interest they need to stay and go on innovating like they did in the last 10 years.

    Do you remember pre-iphone smartphones? Low quality hardware together with a painful to use OS/interface and a 200 or 300 pages manual to read. Prices? As high as the iPhone and even more.

    But now those days have gone by and you can get an excellent Samsung Galaxy SIII with an excellent Android OS. Thanks to Apple.

  • Want to remind that this is not pro or anti Apple topic :-)

  • you are right Vitaliy ...its just a gadget company ...phones , tablets and music players ... there are much more interesting technologies we could talk about ... and i didn't say they kill kodak but they act as a vulchers ...and Jobs save Apple with Bill money ...

  • I just can not understand why this is so sesitive with Apple always. Some people like Apple some do not it is that simple. Also other companys steall ideas from others.

  • I just can not understand why this is so sesitive with Apple always.

    It is just a reality, so we need to live with it. :-)