Slashdot Mirror
Apple Is Giving Away Its Secrets By Litigating
An anonymous reader writes "Apple, by going to a jury trial to defend the patents of its most prized products, is allowing competitors and the public to see inside one of the most secretive companies in the world. From the article: 'While in court on Friday, Philip W. Schiller, Apple's senior vice president for worldwide product marketing, pulled the curtain further back when he divulged the company's advertising budgets — often more than $100 million a year for the iPhone alone. Also at the hearing, Scott Forstall, senior vice president for iPhone software, explained that the early iPhone was called "Project Purple." Mr. Forstall said it was built in a highly secure building on Apple's campus. A sign on the back of the building read "Fight Club." Behind the security cameras and locked doors, most employees on the project did not even know what they were working on.'"
So the secret sauce I need to become a multibillion dollar multinational corporation is spend a lot on advertising, give my projects fabulous color names, hang up a fight club poster... Thats all it takes?
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Patents are publicly available documents...any way you go...there's no secrecy there at least...Thank you Google!
There are three kinds of people in the world. Those that can count, and those that can't.
This a slow day samzenpus? This article is bad, and you should feel bad.
Possibly the worst headline ever. I notice nowhere in the summary or the linked article where Mr. Schiller specifically avoided commenting on the new iPhone due this fall. Don't worry, I'm sure there will be plenty of back and forth between fanboys and fandroids. Slashdot will get pageviews, and my karma will end up in the terlet.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
So, by the way, is patenting something. The moment any big tech company files for a patent, hordes of onlookers start speculating on what's behind it.
Koans and fables for the software engineer
So I guess when I code a url in my app to point to the app store for posting a review I finally know what the "purple" means "itms-apps://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?type=Purple+Software&id="
Uh, ok. I admit - I'm an Apple fanboy so I follow Apple news pretty closely but, thus far, nothing secret has been revealed. A large marketing budget for their key products? Uh, duh! A massive and secretive development process behind the iPhone? Seriously, duh! Literally, nothing at all that has been revealed thus far is anything remotely close to a "secret". The closest thing to a secret has been the revelation of specific prototypes but everyone knew there were prototype iPhone designs and most people already had a basic idea of what they looked like - now we have pictures. But the only people who consider any of this a secret are people who don't follow the tech industry at all and anyone who follows Apple surely finds nothing to be a shocking secret thus far.
...most employees on the project did not even know what they were working on
That's supposed to be surprising? I've seen many a project where the engineers, after a period of spec and requirements changes, didn't know what the hell they were working on...and they had to do it anyway. :]
Ezekiel 23:20
A tour through Willy Wonka's chocolate factory? Where's the sweatshop full of Oompa Loompas?
iOompa iLoompas you insensitive clod.
<old man rant>
When Slashdot didn't cover the smart phone wars and we conversed open source and linux, then did a healthy microsoft bashing for good measure. I miss those days.
I get that the editors love the traffic from Apple stories but I find them so damn tiring. Yes, they are a tech leader but does the Slashdot community need to notified about every little quibble? (hey look, a slashdot headline!) If Tim Cook so much as farts, it makes frontpage news here, followed by some idiotic editorial that would be modded flamebait if posted to a story.
Slashdot reminds me of this video ... with Slashdot playing the role of Paranoia. Now, if only we could successfully "stab em".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bCD8M0EnxA
</old man rant>
Apple's not doing anything spectacular. The company is just creating a product design that differentiates themselves from the competition and marketing it. They have a lot of money to do that. It's not like they really have anything all that unique functionality wise. They are dependant on the same companies Dell, HP, and everybody else is. That is they are dependent on Samsung for hard drives, Atheros/Realtek/Intel/etc for wireless chipsets, Intel/AMD for CPUs, etc. If they actually were to create a new product it would be one thing. They aren't doing that though. They might be the first to market for some items although more frequently than not it seems they really aren't. They are just the first to mass market a particular product.
The portable audio player is a perfect example of this. Apple didn't invent the portable mp3 player. These were around before Apple and another company fought the hard battle to 'legalise' the technology.
They didn't invent the sleek design. There have been other products with few buttons. Palm had devices that were extremely sleek. Even to this day would be considered slim. Like the Palm M500 (though it did have a few buttons- which actually made it better than the crap Apple puts out).
Apple just takes a product and mass markets it and then claims to own the technology/design. It's a load of crap. There are smaller players on the market like ThinkPenguin which have similar products. I'm not saying everything came before Apple. What I'm saying is that Apple's product line isn't that unique. It's not the only company which sells hardware with a non-Microsoft operating system or the only company capable of designing / releasing a sleek stylish design. Humorously there are a lot of "Apple" fanboys who like ThinkPenguin's stuff. Sadly they like it for all the wrong reasons. They should like it because it's freedom friendly. Not because it's stylish, slim, fast, etc.
Every new iPhone model sells more than all the previous models combined. That's a heck of a lot of people to pay off for standing in line. I want in.
The amount of people in line is eerily similar with each product launch, how many of these people are the same and what is their association to Apple?
Or maybe the same early adopters line up for upgrades each time. No conspiracy theory necessary.
Much like the same people line up to buy [insert appropriate video game franchise name here] at midnight on launch day.
Yesterday I was at the Mall of America to let my kid ride some rides while it drizzled outside. I needed a new Invisible Shield for my phone (not realizing that the one that began to peel off, had I gone to a kiosk with it still on the phone, would have been covered by their lifetime warranty) and had one put on there for an additional $5 (saving me 20 minutes of utter frustration and sweat).
After waiting the 30 seconds for the dude to do it for me, I was about to walk away when a young guy and his family came up to me and asked about the product. I told him I had it on my phone for nearly two years and never suffered a scratch--except in the material itself. Two days after peeling it off, I ended up with a scratch in the glass--and thus why I was more than happy to pay the $20 to get another (even though, if I had known better, I wouldn't have had to). He bought one himself right then and there.
Could this have been interpreted as undercover marketing? Surely it could have. In fact, it probably would have looked just like that to anyone who walked by who is as paranoid as the typical Slashbot. However, I am genuinely impressed with the product (even though I was HIGHLY skeptical when my wife bought it for me the first time) and I have absolutely NOTHING to do w/the company.
No, it's mostly product placement in TV shows, movies, and other popular media. Watch the shows popular with the 18-34 crowd and count how many iphones, ipads, macbooks, and apple logos you see in the course of each show. You'll be surprised how large the number is.
These are the important secrets?
It's more likely that Apple's competitors are going to look at this thin slice of evidence and apply it badly, as has been done so frequently in the past.
I'm more worried about Apple drifting away from its own successful values than I am about somebody else "discovering" them on the basis of this trial's discovery.
How many of those Apple users lining up to buy the new Iphones are Apple employees or associates paid to stand in line? The amount of people in line is eerily similar with each product launch, how many of these people are the same and what is their association to Apple?
Undercover marketing is real. For all who don't know what it is, here is a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcZkbUH-lOc
The man in the video does not appear to be honest.
Why would you pay kids to walk around and eat popcorn and cotton candy when you could just hand out a few free ones?
Same with the "leaners", it sounds too contrived, a poster, coasters, or again, giving away free stuff would be cheaper.
A huge line doesn't make people want to go stand in it. Disney puts a lot of work into hiding long lines to make the wait appear to be shorter.
What is supposed point of secret marketing other than an explanation for the popularity of something you just don't like?
Geeks can make serious money at suburban malls these days. Apple pays me to stand around in front of their store, and Abercrombie and Fitch pays me to stay away from theirs.
A huge line doesn't make people want to go stand in it. Disney puts a lot of work into hiding long lines to make the wait appear to be shorter.
A fundamental difference being that in Disney's case, people have already paid for whatever is at the end of the line. People really, really, really hate that scenario.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Shh... You've said too much!
Sorry I know too many regular people who get excited by Apple products and do that sort of things. On the annual WWDC when new hardware is often announced there a 1/2 dozen websites live blogging for the people who can't wait till the next day to watch the video.
I've been excited about product launches in the past, I can understand that. I can't understand getting excited about a video of a product that I know nothing about, which may or many not exist just because it's rumored to be some unknown new thing from a company which has produced products that I liked in the past.
If you can offer any insight, I'm all ears.
Required reading for internet skeptics
Not everyone in line is paid but a portion probably are.
So i guess that means that Samsung now have to order themselves some big-ass Fightclub posters...
I find it curious Apple spends so much money on advertising yet its pretty seldom i have seen an Apple advert at all. Where does all that money go really? Since not much seems to end up in normal advertising one could suspect it was spent on guerilla marketing or astroturfing as i call it.
HTTP/1.1 400
No, it's mostly product placement in TV shows, movies, and other popular media. Watch the shows popular with the 18-34 crowd and count how many iphones, ipads, macbooks, and apple logos you see in the course of each show. You'll be surprised how large the number is.
Actually, you'll see pretty few Apple logos.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
Relatively speaking 100+ million compared to the revenue generated by the products in question?
Spending "alot" on marketing and advertising is when you have a movie such as Battleship that spent more marketing itself than it did making the movie.. (something near 55%)..
Apple spent 500ish million over 4 years to sell somewhere north of 175 million units..
GM spent nearly 5 billion dollars on advertising in 2011 alone.. to move 9 million units in 1 year.. which is a cost of 555$ or so per vehicle..
Is the shock and awe how LITTLE they spend on advertising? or?
For example, though a tablet device is listed in Apples rounded corners patent as non-infringing prior art, there's nothing about why it isn't invalidating prior art. So you have a design similar to that other product but Apple complains that you stole their version (because yours isn't a precise copy of either).
The people who follow Apple are technology enthusiasts. They use Apple products all the time. They are already strongly committed to Apple. So what Apple chooses to do has a strong influence on their life. Which means that these people are not relating to Apple as "a product that has produced products that I liked in past" but rather "unless things change drastically the product I'm going to get, and use all the time". They are experiencing the same kind of excitement kids do on Christmas morning, because they are already committed not shopping. And the same way kids might shake the box or look at the size the initial leaks about the product tell them what is happening.
Around Oct 2013 Apple is going to release another phone. Unless they screw up, that's my phone from 2013-2015. I'm going to be following the rumors from March-Oct both out of excitements and curiosity. The mystery,tension and excitement, as well as the disappointment are part of what Apple delivers to their customers. And their able to do that, because I'm Apple customer I'm not a phone customer who has liked Apple products before. I never had that relationship with LG even though over the years I've probably bought more LG phones than any other manufacturer. Then to compound that, this excitement is going to be happening along with friends and family, so it is going to be a social thing we are all discussing. I'm very curious about Oracle 12g, but I don't get to talk about it with my wife, my daughter, my mother, my best friend.
You see this kind of serial loyalty with musical groups but they generally don't have followings large enough. You see this kind of serial loyalty among TV shows and movie series and the discussion is similar. And frankly this kind of serial loyalty and a betrayal of it is what generated the passion you see about the debate over the switch to Unity / Gnome 3 in Ubuntu.
You're talking about the Newton, and yes it was Sharp. The OS wasn't the same as Sharp put on their hardware, and the Sharp version was not really a consumer targeted device (it was built for use on factory floors and for out of office employees as an easy to use portable terminal). Sharp later evolved it into the Zaurus series which was quite popular as a consumer level device in Japan and Asia, and in the mean time Apple gave up on the idea I'm guessing about the time they got rid of Jobs.
I've got 4 different Zaurus versions that still run great btw. My favorite is the Ubuntu based NetWalker-Z1, if I hadn't gotten an Android phone I'd still be carrying it.
The people who follow Apple are technology enthusiasts
Around Oct 2013 Apple is going to release another phone. Unless they screw up, that's my phone from 2013-2015.
No, that is an Apple enthusiast, not a technolgy enthusiast. If they were technology enthusiasts, they would be following the trends and happenings of more than just Apple along with other technologies that Apple does not make or use in its own products.
A car analogy here. If I follow the Ford Mustang, its future, it's past, upcoming changes, have a few in my driveway, have plans to buy one next year without knowing all the specs etc.. But i don't do that with other cars. I would be a Ford Mustang enthusiast, not a car enthusiast. Sure, I know some details of other cars, I can point them out and bring up some tidbits of info hear and there but that's all.
No, that is an Apple enthusiast, not a technolgy enthusiast. If they were technology enthusiasts, they would be following the trends and happenings of more than just Apple along with other technologies that Apple does not make or use in its own products.
Most of them do. The most common being Adobe enthusiasts, but other software companies like Omni have followings. Quite a few follow Nikon or Canon. Avid and Microsoft products get mentioned.
And I'd consider a Ford Mustang enthusiast to be a car enthusiast. There is no way you can know a lot about the Mustang without knowing a lot about cars.
You are brave here to confess to being a totally committed Apple fanboi. I don't mean that disrespectfully, the word is right in this context. I can understand the psychology as I have felt such a thing myself, although not in the PC context. Much less expensive, in my case more like hearing that the next Bernard Cornwell book is coming out.
However it is not comparable with "the debate" over loyalty arising over Unity or Gnome 3. Those are, as you say, debates. There does not seem much debate among Apple fans when each new product comes out - they just love it. In the case of Unity, I was a Ubuntu user and expected routine future updated versions without any particualr excitement, then was simply annoyed when Unity came along as I want a more traditional desktop. So I ditched Ubuntu and I am on Mepis right now. It was not an emotional thing, and there was no brand loyalty.
I know Steve Jobs was the God of Apple, and even as an outsider I cannot seem to keep his mugshot off my screen; but the name of the Ubuntu guy slips my mind just now, as does that of the Mepis leader.
So there is no comparison with Apple fanaticism. That is unique. Social historians of the 25th century will refer to it like we refer to the medieval fanaticism over holy relics.
However it is not comparable with "the debate" over loyalty arising over Unity or Gnome 3. Those are, as you say, debates. There does not seem much debate among Apple fans when each new product comes out - they just love it.
That's not true at all. Let me give you an example of where there was a pretty substantial debate. The shift from Final Cut Pro to Final Cut Pro X. There was a modernization of the workflow and interface. Another way of looking at this was the product moved from "Adobe Premiere for Mac" (when Premiere was primarily a windows solution) to "iMovie advanced". That is a shift from the professional market to the skilled amateur market. There was a ton of debate. And some of these people have in fact dropped out of using Final Cut Pro.
There is some quite a bit of debate about the shift in the pro line. With the Classic Macbook Pro being much more like the old Macbook with nicer graphics, faster processors... and the Macbook Pro retina being a Pro version of the Macbook air. Everyone is pretty clear that the direction of Apple is going towards laptops with no user upgradable parts in exchange for reduced weight, size and cost of manufacture. There is debate on whether that is a good thing or not.
There is also more friendly debate: Adobe Lightroom vs. Adobe Photoshop vs. Apple's Aperture.
I could give 100 examples. The Apple community has debates. What I think leads to the impression is that it is uniform is that Apple people are more or less unified about things that outsides believe the community should be agitated about. So for example there much internal agitation whether Apple should be running a closed garden, though there is debate about specific policies. Outsiders are upset no such much about exact policies, they generally don't know or understand them, but rather the idea that Apple is allowed that sort of overall authority with respect to the platform.
It was not an emotional thing, and there was no brand loyalty.
Was it really easier to switch to Mepis then set up a repository and "sudo apt-get install mate-desktop-environment"? You sure there wasn't a bit of emotion there, when you switched? But even if so, that isn't everyone. For many people there was brand loyalty to Ubuntu and Gnome and it was quite emotional. Just reads the threads here. There is real anger. I switch between LCDE, XFCE, Gnome2, Gnome 3, KDE easily. Though I use WindowsMaker the most. I'm indifferent.
It's a form of mental illness.
It was not an emotional thing, and there was no brand loyalty.
Was it really easier to switch to Mepis then set up a repository and "sudo apt-get install mate-desktop-environment"? You sure there wasn't a bit of emotion there, when you switched? But even if so, that isn't everyone. For many people there was brand loyalty to Ubuntu and Gnome and it was quite emotional. Just reads the threads here.
You seem to have a wide definition of "emotion". To me, an emotional decision is a proactive one taken with no rational basis. Thus most people stick with Windows because of inertia, not emotion, although others do love Windows emotionally; such as our IT department at work (or was it bribery?).
.. sudo apt get- ?...". Yes it was. I needed to update my laptop Ubuntu installation anyway (was v8.04) and from past experience I prefer a clean installation. I originally installed Ubuntu with Gnome when this laptop was new after failing to get the wireless to work with a different (KDE) distro, and had heard that it was easy with Ubuntu; it was, and I could not be bothered to fiddle with it any more. I have always prefered KDE though and meanwhile had installed Mepis on my desktop. I prefer a distro which defaults to my preferred desktop (like Mepis to KDE) because I think (not unreasonably) that it will get more TLC. So I have now installed Mepis on the laptop to give me uniformity between it and my desktop.
I take it you meant "Was it really easier to switch to Mepis THAN
The wireless link was easy to set up in Mepis BTW.
Was there much emotion in there?
To me, an emotional decision is a proactive one taken with no rational basis.
I'm not sure there are many decisions people ever make like that. That's a definition of emotion far too high. Certainly since you are talking about Apple fans, they have ration basis for their preferences. From better service plans, to simplicity of the shopping experience, to better quality software to... there are clear rational reasons. So if you set the bar for emotion that high, that is no reason at all. You no longer are even addressing the issue at hand, the supposed difference between Gnome2 loyalty and Apple loyalty.
Humans use emotion, morals, social expectations, reason, conceptual frameworks, culture together to arrive at decisions. All these places where you say "I prefer" and then explaining the process by which you achieved objectives are places where emotion is leaking in. There is no claim you were emotional in your means, it was the ends. And getting back to the topic, making a reasonable decision to trust a particular product line based on a company's long history of performance in dozens of areas are reasons. What you were trying to establish is that despite those reasons there is still something totally different about the process Apple fans go through. Which was the bulk of what I addressed above, that there were debates about the issues Apple people do care about.
Umm, it got a scratch in it because I put it in my pocket with a set of keys.
And no, they're not a huge scam. It works great for me.