[opendtv] Re: Bert should be happy!
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:18:52 -0400
At 1:21 PM -0500 9/18/12, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
The appearance was not an Apple original. The excuse made during the
trial was that the LG and others that predated it "were not marketed
in the US," as if that's an excuse.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Prada_(KE850)
The Prada was first shown by the Website Engadget on December 15th
2006. It was announced on January 18th 2007, and sales started in
May of 2007.
The iPhone was announced January 9, 2007 and started shipping June 29th 2007.
During the trial Samsung was allowed to show early prototypes of
similar designs, as was Apple. Clearly the "concept" was being
considered for years before the iPhone was introduced. The only
commercial product that came to light during the trial was a Sony
music player with a glass screen, but a navigation control that
looked more like the click wheel on the iPods that were eating Sony's
lunch.
Apple did not invent the graphical user interface either. Just about
everyone in Silicon Valley saw the Xerox Star running at PARC. What
mattered in the case of the GUI and now with the Smartphone is
commercialization of concepts - i.e. taking ideas and turning them
into useful products.
Apple WAS the pioneer on PCs using the GUI, and, as the Jobs
Biography points out, Apple took the early Xerox concepts and made
them workable, developing most of the GUI concepts we still use today.
Likewise, touch screen interfaces have been around for decades.
Microsoft has been working on tablets and touch screen devices for
years. What is important is that prior to the iPhone NO smartphone
used a touch interface - even the relatively successful Palm used a
stylus.
Even more important, with the huge network of suppliers Apple works
with, it is HIGHLY likely that LG, Samsung and others had seen
prototypes of the iPhone before it was announced. Samsung had a
similar design, but they did not market it, choosing instead to
follow Nokia and Blackberry, until Apple upset the whole market.
So while I agree that the physical form factor of the iPhone may have
been obvious, the overall design was years in the making and many of
the UI concepts were invented by Apple, for which utility patents
were obtained. The most relevant fact in the Samsung case is that
prior to the iPhone they did not market anything like it; two years
later all Samsung smartphones looked virtually identical to an iPhone.
Apple is not going after Microsoft and Nokia - the new Lumina
smartphone has a size and shape similar to an iPhone. Perhaps the
fact that Apple and Microsoft have cross licensing agreements for
their patents is a factor. More likely it is because the Metro
interface is not a blatant copy of the iPhone interface.
All nonsense. Once upon a time you would have said it too. That's
what being a cult member does to people.
Sorry Bert, but Apple must have a very large cult these days - more
than 400 MILLION credit cards on file. You really need to get over
this cult thing.
The simple fact is, Galaxy phones had 16:9 aspect ratio, and iPhones
did not. Now the iPhone 5 "rips off" the 16:9 aspect ratio from
Samsung.
I thought you were the one who said EVERYTHING would move to 16:9
screens after the launch of HDTV...
It's hard to rip off a standard. What IS a rip off is when a company
places IP into a standard, agreeing to FRAND licensing terms, then
tries to sue companies that use the standard successfully to get a
cut of their profits (beyond the FRAND license fees).
Regards
Craig
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