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Why Apple Is Suing Every Android Manufacturer In Sight
First time accepted submitter amiller2571 writes "The eyes of the technology world are focused on the epic patent struggle between Apple and Samsung — the latest iteration of Apple's frantic legal battle against everything Android. The iPhone maker has also brought suits against Android device manufacturers HTC and Motorola. Apple has faced criticism for its endless lawsuits designed to stunt competition from Google's Android, but a quick look at Android device shipments in the second quarter of 2012 reveals a key number that suggest Apple is right to worry." Spoiler alert: the number the article focuses on is 68 — as in, the 68 percent of the smart phone market in this year's second quarter that consisted of Android phones.
We need a repeat of SEA vs. PKZip, with Apple as SEA.
68% of the market is occupied by almost all the other smart phone companies put together. In other words, they're all tiny minorities. The iPhone rules.
Remember, Windows PC makers 'dominated' the market and Apple had only a 'small' share. Except, Apple had the largest single company share and the most growth and the greatest profits by far. How many units are sold by all X makers in aggregate isn't really all that important here.
Apple also has the iTunes store that makes money off the back end. The other makers don't have that. They're jealous but failed. Apple's making it.
(No, I don't have an iPhone, just observing.)
I'm a user of MS, Apple and Android based products. I'm getting tired of Apple's sue happy policy and I will take that into serious consideration during any future purchases.
Apple is making MS look less douchebaggish by comparison.
The important % is: "What % of the available profit in the smart phone ecosystem is Apple extracting?"
I would wager that Apple's percentage there is considerably higher.
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
Didn't we go through this already?....oh yeah:
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20120807133033596
The eyes of the technology world are focused on the epic patent struggle between Apple and Samsung
No, but nice try.
Because they're assholes. They've always been assholes since the '90s. They've just never had the financial clout to follow through until several years ago.
The numbers are from IDC, so they might not be very accurate. According to IDC, Samsung sold 2,391,000 tablets worldwide in Q2 2012, but according to Samsung's court documents in the Apple case, it sold 37,000 tablets relevant to the court case. It could be that almost all of their sales were international and/or not-relevant (such as Windows tablets), but it is hard to reconcile those numbers nonetheless. The most likely explanation is that IDC really sucks at estimating tablet sales. Maybe they are dramatically better at phones?
Source: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/08/10/apple-sold-5-7-million-tablets-in-the-u-s-last-quarter-court-documents-show-samsung-sold-37000/
This article is of the “Apple is doomed” variety. That does not match the fact that every new iOS product outsells all the previous years. There is no way to spin that as being bad for Apple.
Android is all propaganda. It's so tiresome. Most Android phones are generic feature phones with no data plan. Android went downmarket a few years ago. If a carrier has iPhone, it not only outsells all their Android, it outsells the BlackBerry and other phones combined. The fact that there is a worldwide feature phone market that ships a lot of burner phones that make almost no money does not predict the smartphone market.
Android is in the same place versus iPhone as Windows is versus the Mac. They had to go downmarket because at the high end it is all Apple. Now, iPad is crushing Windows at $400–$600, and when Apple ships their low-end/feature phone, Android is going to suffer also. Especially when the hardware makers have to pay Apple and Microsoft for the stuff Google just 1:1 copied.
Android is in trouble right now, not Apple. That is why the Android partners are switching to building their own hardware (like Apple) and Apple is not switching to OS licensing (like Android.)
I.e. Samsung alone shipped almost twice as many smartphones as Apple.
I am just obnoxious or trying to defend Apple here, but to say in comparison it is what is going to kill innovation. Apple is saying, right or wrong, design something different, follow the FRAND rules, and be innovative. Not everything has to be an iPad or iPhone. The Kindle Fire, for example, is not remotely an iPad, but is an extremely functional machine.
OTOH, MS is saying they own everything, and anyone who does anything owes them money. This is what they did with the naked PC fight. By focusing on Apple, and their effort to innovate, instead of MS and their effort to take a cut of anything that looks like technology, we are losing the war.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
I find this very interesting. If Apple had 68% of market sales, do you realize how much money they would be making compared to what they make now?! How much is Google making from this?
That said, I couldn't care less from either's point of view. As long as more 'screen's are being sold that don't allow ads all over the place I'm happy. Though I'm waiting for the day that they just give up on trying to layout ads in the middle of the apps, and just pause the app and make you click off a full-screen ad on the phone instead (like a full blown commercial)
I'm concerned that if Apple 'wins' too many of these patent lawsuits, we will all end up with expensive phones and few (if any) even reasonably cheap phones will be available. The costs of patents is pushing up the costs to the consumer too much in this case.
We need to make sure cell phones remain inexpensive for all consumers to afford.
A phone is an essential communications device. Land lines have begun to fade away. You can still buy land-line phones for under $20. An average smart phone is several hundred dollars to purchase outright (or will be factored into the monthly payment on contract). When a smartphone breaks, or gets stolen, the cost of replacement is now the average person's disposable income for a month or many months!
Cell phones aren't made to last. We need to keep the prices down or a lot of people will be left out. I'm hoping one dominant player doesn't take over the market for this very reason.
Off by 1
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
is drop the price of the iPhone by $150.
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
Apple's business model has always revolved around making you pay at least twice what your hardware should cost and 'encouraging' you to upgrade/replace that hardware more often than you really should need to.
Anyone who have looked at their sales figures.
Last time I checked, they were doing pretty well.
Apples wants to make great products that customers love.
That's what they are doing.
I.e. Samsung alone shipped almost twice as many smartphones as Apple.
Apple makes over 70% of industry profit. And Samsung is the only other phone maker making any significant profit at all in the smartphone. (HTC apparently makes a small operating profit) Pretty much every other phone maker including Research In Motion, Nokia, Motorola and Sony all posted losses. Because Samsung ships a lot more units (feature phones + smart phones) but still only has half the profit of Apple over the same period, that means that Samsung is competing with Apple primarily on price. Yes they are selling a lot of units but people (mostly) aren't buying them for the features - they are buying Samsung because of the price. It's unclear if Samsung will be able to continue its price leadership since there isn't all that much much to differentiate Samsung's Android phone from anyone else's.
Apples wants to make great products that customers love
They'd have more customer and more love if they added the ability to have a few more options.
The customers who like them the way they are would be fine. They don't go into settings -> advanced settings and change things that they don't understand anyway.
The inability to add 3rd party app stores, or to install 3rd party apps that "duplicate functionality but better" is that way because that is what "customers love".
I love it! Apple has turned into the New Microsoft. I wonder what all the Apple Fans are saying now after years and years of complaining about Microsoft suing everyone and anti-competetive behavior!! LOL at Apple.
Apples numerous lawsuits aren't " 'blah blah emotional decision' posts", they are real.
Reactions to those lawsuits ARE emotional reactions. That's a judgement, just a fact. We have every right to have an emotional reaction to things and in fact a huge portion of our purchasing decisions are driven by factors other than pure reason.
I roll my eyes every time I see one of these posts positing that Apple is somehow more evil than the rest of them. Every one of these companies Apple is suing would do the exact same thing if they were in Apple's shoes and many of them have. There are no good guys here. Every one of them is as guilty as the next.
Because they did buy Motorola Mobility. I'm sure that there are a number of useful patents in that portfolio that they could use to stamp Apple out of existence in the smartphone market.
And I can't wait for Google to build their own Android phone. You know they're going to do it. I say this because I'm tired of the tampering with Android by OEM's, carriers, etc. In this house we have a Samsung Indulge and LG Optimus - both Android phones but almost completely different. My Samsung is a little more open than the LG. And it drives me nuts.
And then there's the freeze out on Android versioning. Makes developing for Andorid an adventure to say the least.
Options are not always that simple to add. It can sometimes be a good idea to skip them if you can.
Yeah, mod me troll for stating the truth.
Flourescent (adj): smelling like ground wheat.
A herd of sheep can turn amazingly quickly.
Flourescent (adj): smelling like ground wheat.
The problem is that they could have 99% of the profit in the market, it doesn't matter if they keep on losing market share. Eventually, their profits will drop.
Or those loss making companies will go bankrupt or leave the market. With $100 billion in the bank and their current margins Apple can bankroll a pretty long fight. Apple only owns a relatively modest percentage of the PC market but they are easily the most profitable PC maker out there. They don't need much of the market share as long as they can continue to own the bits making all the profit. So far Apple has made all the right moves and their strategy looks good. Even Microsoft and Google cannot forever bankroll money losing ventures though Microsoft certainly has been willing to try.
That's not to say there is no risk to Apple. Apple depends heavily on just a few products. If they drop the ball on the next iPhone or the next iPad, their stock price will drop like a stone. The real risk to Apple is if someone comes out with software that they cannot compete with. Apple's products are differentiated primarily by their software. (yeah the design stuff matters too but much less) Google is a risk to them because Google has enough programming talent to potentially outperform Apple in some way. The devices themselves are important but actually somewhat secondary.
No, Apple wants prevent competition from entering into or existing in their space. That is what they are doing.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
-The app approval process needs to be less stringent so power users can get actual work done on the phone/tablet
A lot of people get work don on their phone/tablet.
-The iOS filesystem needs to be more accessible
Why?
-iTunes on a Mac/PC is still required to copy music and to update the device
As far as I know they are working on that.
However, the streaming/renting is probably the future.
They set themselves up for this. The iPhone was the most friendly, advanced phone out there a long time ago. Now that something roughly equal in quality and features is out there, their pissed off customers are switching to it. It was so overtly obvious that you were stuck in all-encompassing, mega-overlord obsessed with getting every last penny out of you they can. Without competition, they could do whatever the hell they wanted and did. 1 price, 1 store, and they can delete anything they want at any time. Android is a small bit better so that's what people use. Also their outrageous device prices were a tipping point.
And then there was AT&T as a carrier lol.
Especially when the competition is doing ugly tricks.
Apple's sue happy policy and I will take that into serious consideration during any future purchases.
If you are not buying based on lawsuits, you are out of luck regarding buying any smartphones or tablets.
Apple is not alone in suing lots of companies. Google (through Motorola) was trying to sue Apple over patents that were SUPPOSED to be able to be used by anyone implementing the 3G standard, at a standard cost - but Motorola was shaking down Apple for more. How is that fair or right?
Meanwhile Samsung is suing Apple.
The thing to attack is not the companies suing each other but the patent system that enables such behavior.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You can't complain about those suits without noting that Google is also suing both companies, through Motorola and other Android vendors.
Why turn a blind eye to one company if you are REALLY so indignant about lawsuits?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I suppose mere existence is a rather dirty trick from Apple's POV. The rest of us, however, see it like it is: an unfair attempt to squelch competition in the smartphone sector. Not that I think that it'll happen (the judge hasn't exactly acted impartially so far), but Apple deserves to get smacked down very hard for the bullshit they're pulling these days.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
A software platform vendor enableing a rich ecosystem of hardware vendors eating the lunch of Apple's combined OS+Hardware approach. Apple knows how it ended last time, and any possible chance it has to delay that process, no matter how desperate seeming, is worth it.
Microsoft is doing something new and innovative.
Samsung copied Apple, that's dirty.
That's why they are in court and not Microsoft.
Samsung didn't copy Apple. Anyone with half a brain can tell the difference between Apple's products and Samsung's products. Apple isn't defending themselves against some mythical infringement of their rights, they are the aggressor here. They deserve to go the way of SCO for what they are trying to do to the landscape.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
Well, you have high expectations on regular people. It's not that hard to confuse them if you're not careful.
That's why Apple is rightfully suing Samsung. They are not good guys just because they use Android.
The iPhone is only available on a few carriers, whereas Android phones are available on nearly all, if not all, carriers. Additionally there should be consideration for the fact that the iPhone is only recently available on carriers other then AT&T, and during its exclusive deal with AT&T, the Android market was exploding.
Could it be that Apple stunted their own growth initially with the exclusive deal with AT&T, rather than suffering market loss due to alleged patent infringement?
sig sig sputnik?
It makes me wonder, what if we lived in a world where Apple won and had its own way...
The only smartphone in existence would be the iPhone, and they would hold so many patents that nobody but Apple could make smart devices that are usable. With a 100% market monopoly, the vast majority of cellphone owners would have dumb phones because they couldnt afford an iPhone. The iPhone would be one of the most visible separators of the rich vs the poor.
Any person caught without an iPhone would be ostracised and teased as "that person who is so poor they cant even afford an iPhone, what a loser...etc etc".
Innovation would drop to essentially zero in the mobile market, as any attempt at competition vs Apple would result in Apple Legal utterly destroying the offending company.
In all, it would be the equivalent of the Smartphone Apocalypse, a veritable wasteland where only the well-to-do are allowed to enjoy the fruits of mobile technology, and the rest of us shamble along, dejected, left out and downtrodden.
What an awful world that would be.
Fuck you Apple, you narcissistic greedy bastards.
Seriously -
Cheung Kung University of Taiwan are suing Apple [Patent infringement]
The US Department of Justice are suing Apple [iBooks Price Fixing]
Antione Pontbriand are suing Apple [iBooks Price Fixing]
Noise Free Wireless are suing Apple [Patent]
Trans Video Electronics are suing Apple [Patent]
Scott, Koffman, SIlversmith and Monroe are suing Apple [In-app purchase baiting]
Apple is suing Motorola [Patent]
Motorola were suing Apple [Patent]
Apple is suing Samsung [Patent]
Samsung are suing Apple [Patent]
Samsung are suing Apple again [Patent]
Samsung were suing Apple yet again [Advertising]
Apple is suing Kodak [Patent]
Kodak is suing Apple [Patent, constructive litigation]
Kodak is suing Samsung [Patent]
Varia Holdings are suing Samsung [Patent]
Varia Holdings are suing RIM [Patent]
Samsung is suing the Australian Patent Commission [Patent]
Apple is suing HTC [Patent]
HTC are suing Apple [Patents bought from Google]
Symantec/STEC IP are suing Apple [Patent]
Nokia was suing Apple [Patent]
Nokia is suing Google [patent]
Nokia is suing HTC [Patent]
Nokia is suing RIM [Patent]
Nokia is suing Viewsonic [Patent]
IPCom is suing HTC [Patent]
Interdigital is suing Nokia [Patent]
British Telecom is suing Google [Patent]
ProView were suing Apple [Trademark]
EMG Technology is suing Google [Patent]
Microsoft are suing Motorola [Patent]
Motorola are suing Microsoft [Paten]
Oracle were suing Google [API Copyright]
PayPal is suing Google [Patent]
Mount Hamilton Partners is suing Google [Patent]
The Authors Guild are suing Google [Google Books transcriptions]
The state of Texas is suing Google [Antitrust]
CamUp is suing Google [Patent]
Intellectual Ventures is suing Motorola [Patent]
Tivo are suing Motorola [Patent]
Fujifilm are suing Motorola [Patent]
Viacom is STILL suing Google [YouTube Copyright]
MTEL is suing RIM [Patent]
Openwave is suing Apple [Patent]
Openwave is suing RIM [Patent]
WiLAN is suing RIM [Patent]
NXP Semiconductors are suing RIM [Patent]
Dolby Laboratories were suing RIM [Patent]
Evelyn Paswall is suing Apple [walking into a door]
At that point, complaining about any one company refusing to innovate is unreasonable and it simply shows a major problem with the entire system of patents, especially in their interaction with international companies.
Apple can engage in shenanigans around Android and patents for a while, but they really have nothing: right now, manufacturers may perhaps infringe on a few patents because Apple's patents are so vague and ill defined, but as part of the lawsuits, they have to put their cards on the table about which gimmicks they want to own. Once they do, it's easy enough to design around. And the damage that this b.s. is doing to Apple's reputation is immense: presumably, Apple is suing over their best innovations, and everybody now sees what they are: springy windows and black bezels.
"68% of the market is occupied by almost all the other smart phone companies put together. In other words, they're all tiny minorities. The iPhone rules."
Not really. it doesn't matter if the Android phones were made by 50000 different companies - they all use Android, and in spite of the whining about "fragmentation" its not that big a problem, its a huge market base, and the iphone is a tiny little runt.
"Remember, Windows PC makers 'dominated' the market and Apple had only a 'small' share. Except, Apple had the largest single company share and the most growth and the greatest profits by far. How many units are sold by all X makers in aggregate isn't really all that important here."
Except it is - because the PC market has made far more money in totalt -who cares what one greedy techphonbic company has done or earned - THAT is the datum which is irrelevant to everybody except their bosses.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
The adage is those "who could, innovate. Others litigate". May be Apple thinks differently and asks "why not both?" and it litigates innovatively ;-)
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I am really happy with my Skyworth GT-7205s. Please Apple, do not sue them :(
Samsung didn't copy Apple. Anyone with half a brain can tell the difference between Apple's products and Samsung's products.
Which, if true, is totally irrelevant. The question is whether everybody can distinguish between an iPad and a Galaxy Tab. Including people who don't know who makes which tablet. Including people who believe that "iPad" is a generic name, and that various companies could make iPads under various different names.
There is also the question whether people go just by looks and decide "this tablet looks almost like an iPad, so surely it must work almost as well as an iPad". Or whether people go just by looks and say "this looks almost like an iPad, so it is good enough for me".
Apple is not alone in suing lots of companies. Google (through Motorola) was trying to sue Apple over patents that were SUPPOSED to be able to be used by anyone implementing the 3G standard
I would be much more sypathetic if Apple hadn't initiated that lawsuit. And saying Google "sued" Apple is preposterous as Apple is according to public record the one that sued Motorola. And Google is not going to jump in the middle of Motorola's lawsuit and start forcing them to change legal strategy so it was Motorola's decision to go for the patent claim. Consider Posner dismissed the whole thing in part due to the 3G claim by Moto, it was a pretty successful gambit.
Meanwhile Samsung is suing Apple.
Only after Apple sued them.
The fact is if you try to bully everybody around don't be surprised when they stand up and fight back. Anything less would be fiduciary irresponsibility.
Throwing lots of android handsets at lawyers with apple logos.
oh... make it html5, so it runs on iOS bypassing their safegarden, ($99 for a dev kit, forget about it)
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
If You Can't Innovate, Litigate. Android is dominating the market by about 2 to 1 margin over apple. SO they are doing only thing they can to block them, lock them up in court is complete load of shit lawsuits.
Um look at how many chips inside ipad and iphone are made by Samsung. Gotta wonder when that will come back to bite apple suing the company that supplies a majority of their chips.
Reason why is cause they were rls'ing new version of mac os x next day and within a few months the iphone 5 would be out, most mac nuts won't buy the old phone when new one is close.
The Apple v MS settlement in 1994 included mutual cross license of all patents up to 1999. The two are probably still cooperating on some level.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
If I were an Apple shareholder, I would be furious at this point. If Apple can't win by making something even better, they need to get comfortable in their corner the way with did with PCs or give up entirely. The Android cannot be stopped... not like this. With every claim and every suit, the markers on the "mine sweeper" game we call the patent system are becoming clearly identified and working around or simply invalidating Apple's claims is getting easier.
In the end, they are wasting their money of all parties and keeping the courts system needlessly busy. It's a problem for everyone who pays taxes as this is ultimately an enormous abuse of the courts system.
It all has to go. Most of us are pretty sick of watching all this. It's just not any fun any longer.
Hipster douches and, you know, NASA: http://9to5mac.com/2012/08/06/nasa-used-more-than-a-few-macbook-pros-to-get-curiosity-to-mars/
The fact that they DON'T have this is why iOS runs better (and IS better in all ways) then Android.
That doesn't make the slightest bit of sense. The changes I'm suggesting wouldn't make the iOS experience one iota different for the vast majority of people.
Does the fact that my car's hood is unlocked and I can tinker with the engine make the car run any differently for the VAST majority of the people who don't tinker? Of course not.
Yet apple's hood is bolted shut.
Why do you think cell phone plans are so fucking expensive in the US?
Because the cell service providers are fucking greedy pigs-- which has been true since before the iPhone ever existed.
Here's the thing. Appearance designs are not copyrightable or patentable in ANY other industry.
Oh yeah? Form a soft drink company and sell your product in a bottle shaped like this, and see how long it takes a cease and desist letter to arrive.
Trade dress is applicable in more than just the computer industry.
It's called a countersuit. It's done to attempt to get the person or company which sued in the first place to reconsider and go to the bargaining table. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Apple does not want to see a repeat of the 1980's with Microsoft. They are suing because they believe that Google, Samsung, etc truly stole their ideas to make phones. The court will decide whether that's true or not. Apple makes tons more money than anyone else in mobile phones, so that's probably not the motivator.
It's a copy of the SGS2. They started the "na na nana na copycat copycat" war as a diversion.
The old "Apple makes more money than Android so I win" argument appears again!
Covered perfectly, here: iOS fan: Apple makes more money per device so I am smarter than you.
I always thought the reason was as simple as this: "I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this... Our lawsuit is saying, 'Google you f***ing ripped off the iPhone, wholesale ripped us off. I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product." -- Steve Jobs
Qu'on me donne six lignes écrites de la main du plus honnête homme, j'y trouverai de quoi le faire pendre.
And of course restarting the baseband. Airplane mode will also deregister the terminal from the base station and then make a location update, but will not restart the base band.
Apple needs to move on to it's next "it" device. That is what will keep customers loyal.
Apples success in the late decade with it's irevolution has been it's ability to bring market appeal to devices we all knew one way or another would take off. Other companies were always first if not trying for years to make something cool yet apple appears to make it work and be cool overnight.
Did it again with it's retro iMacs
Transforming it into Trendy Fashionable Laptop
MP3 players
Smart phones with apps
Tablets
While I don't trust estores with DRM because they can go belly up, the Apple store has been around long enough you can trust it to be around at least another decade. And whatever content you have you can be sure that it will work well across all your Apple devices. If they can hold onto %20 of each market with loyal fans and they keep innovating...
What could it do next time? Maybe a deluxe textbook ereader for schools? Multiple ereaders on your desk system? Self publish it's own line of textbooks with the best authors and take over high school and college textbooks? All with the catchy phrase "Going back to school.."
Maybe this will get Samsung (and everyone) to just use regular Android without their crap add-ons.
Google knew well enough to avoid getting into the trouble Samsung is in (and really, it's not that hard) so hopefully more companies will just ship 'plain' Android and relegate their add-ons to optional apps for people to download.
Then they should have come up with something original on their own.
Like Apple did?
Da Blog
MA also had an incredible profit margin compared to PC, but PC were commodity and widespread. The end result was apple near bankruptcy until it was saved by MS. I don't expect a bankruptcy again, but I am pretty sure shareholder will not want a repeat, and will no be satisfied that they make more profit when the market share is obviously shrinking, just like it did for MACs.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
They have an advanced settings tab. Its called the developer's SDK and lets you modify anything you want on your phone or up to 99 other phones you support.
So which is the number Apple supposedly is worried about: 68% or 34%?
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
How many times have we seen this story for all kinds of products on Slashdot?
Why would these numbers worry Apple? Shipping a product does not mean money in the bank, selling it does.
Apple are trying to hit the GSM Alliance members so they have some platform to bargain from when they counter due to Apple's complete abuse of the GSM patents. They were offered them under FRAND terms but Apple decided they weren't reasonable enough for them and so refused.
Nokia sued and won $650million and a cost per unit about 18 months ago.
Samsung are currently suing them over the GSM patents Samsung owns which Apple are abusing - so Apple fought back with their design patent infringments.
Ignoring the fact that Samsung alone is shipping more Android smartphones than Apple is shipping iPhones (Samsung makes up nealy half of the Android handset sales, and total Android handset sales are around four times Apple's), even if Apple sold more handset than any other manufacturer that still wouldn't necessarily be a great sign for them with large number of competitors selling phones that are based on the same platform (just as their biggest-single-hardware-vendor position in the desktop market still leaves them a footnote beside the Windows ecosystem.)
The health and attractiveness of the software and content ecosystem (App Store, iBooks, etc.) where much of the real money is depends more on the relative deployment of iOS vs. Android as platforms than on the relative strength of Apple vs. HTC vs. Samsung vs. (etc.) as handset manufacturers.
Well, clearly, Google (corporate parent of Motorola, and also selling Nexus-branded phones) has a full phone, OS (Android), application/content store (Google Play) stack.
Arguably, given the Microsoft to Nokia payments relating to Windows Phone, the Microsoft-Nokia partnership has the same full stack, as well.
Android is failing in the mobile space against Apple the same way that Windows failed against Mac OS.
I do have an iPhone. But that doesn't get in the way of my "observing".
I've been saying it for years: The mobile phone wars will play out just like the personal computer wars in the 80's. Ultimately the company with the business practices that are more conducive to building a healthy industry around it will win out (hint: not apple). This time it may even be better as we'll be abandoning a despotic closed system for a completely open one (instead for a slightly better despot like microsoft).
It's good to know apple is at last consistent with their exclusive, introverted, walled-garden approach to personal computing, but the free market will never accept it in the long run.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Yes, Samsung did in fact DIRECTLY copy Apple. It's not just the design of the exterior. It's the user interface, which Apple spent years and probably tens of millions researching before they released the first version of the device.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/102317767/Samsung-Relative-Evaluation-Report-on-S1-iPhone
Hello little man. I will destroy you!
You mean the Commodore 64, Creative Nomad, and Nokia N series?
Apple was never first. They just did what everyone else was doing sexier. (read: more advertising)
Support the EFF and Creative Commons. The war is coming, and they're supporting you...
Apple would love to get these injunctions, but really they have never behaved as though market share is their primary motivation. From the earliest days of the company they have opted for high-profit sales to a smaller niche audience. For iOS Apple could have easily (a) gone to multiple carriers much earlier than they did, and (b) produced cheaper models for the global market. But they didn't. Historically the high-margin strategy has worked for them.
What I think worries Apple now is that the high-margin strategy only works so long as there is a perceived quality premium. This time the competitor isn't MS-DOS. The best Android phones and tablets with Jellybean are genuinely good products, and in certain areas (LTE adoption, screen size, customizability) Apple is looking like a follower rather than leader. I think what they get from these injunctions isn't so much a market share boost, as it is a boost to their reputation as innovators.
And soon, every consumer will be tied to their iDevice. The world will forget how to create new, more powerful and robust devices, simply scriptkiddying together the same old apps. And finally, after many years, the app store servers will fail, forcing every human to no longer have communication with the rest of the world as the security on the iDevices will no longer be able to authenticate the users. It won't be Atlas who shrugs, it'll be Apple.
#include <disclaimer.h>
Apple, the would-be monopoly, throughout its existance, has sued every clonemaker out of existance. At least this time, it's up against companies with enough money to fight back.
mark "no, I don't do Macs"
I have an iphone 4, and as I often work in the basement for hours at a time, occasionally (hasn't happened in the last few weeks) have my phone give up on finding a signal. I have found that when my phone gives up, a simple cycling of the cell radio does not resume normal operation. It only works after a full reboot. Still, this flaw isn't that bad compared to all the problems I see my android using friends having - like always dead batteries...
I don't know what you're talking about. My {InsertPhoneModelHere} works perfectly. I never have signal problems like {InsertCrappyPhoneModelHere} do. It has the automatic ass wiping feature unlike Symbian or BlackBerry. My signal strength is the Chuck Norris of cell phone signal. In fact when I'm in a low signal area, my {InsertPhoneModelHere} will kick closest {InsertCrappyPhoneModelHere} in the ass and steal all it's signal bars for me. It can generate chocolate pudding at will.
Now then..... I own a smartphone. I've owned many, and someday someone will come out with one that might make me want to get naked and cover myself with oil. I don't know for sure, cause I haven't seen it yet. that being said quit trying to justify your overpriced piece of technology, and accept the fact that we all spent too much for the coolest thing out there. No matter which brand it is.
Oddly, in many places GS2 has less signal bars than my wife's 4s (as a percentage of overall bars). That said, maybe it's just how my phone displays signal. I can have zilch for bars and still have clear calls, and the data doesn't seem overly slow when the bars are less than 50% either.
I have had some signal cutouts recently, but I'm more attributing those to my "unofficial" 4.0.4 upgrade than an android/hardware issue (I'll know better when they actually release the bloody firmware for unlock phones in my region).
Google needs to improve their customer-service before they even consider expanding into another market. It's getting better but it's still pretty bad (ask those in Canada who purchased an N7)
Google/Motorola Mobility is asking the same rate of Apple that they ask of everyone else.
Yes, Samsung did in fact DIRECTLY copy Apple. It's not just the design of the exterior. It's the user interface, which Apple spent years and probably tens of millions researching before they released the first version of the device.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/102317767/Samsung-Relative-Evaluation-Report-on-S1-iPhone
Sorry, I looked though your link and all I see are screenshots showing how Apple and Samsung are DIFFERENT.
Well maybe if Macintosh would make a good product and not just a turd in a shiny white case their profits would go up, I've yet to see an apple product beat its android powered equivalent in functionality or usability. If I Mod my android OS I still get to keep my warranty, if i so much as hit a settings button wrong on the Iphone I get hit with copyright infringement and to top it all off my phone bricks. Nope, I prefer a device i can do more than one or two things on, after all, once i pay for it its mine to use as i see fit.