I love Apple products. The innovation, prowess and design ethos behind each and every molecule of the hardware & software is seamlessly integrated and wonderful. The Apple legal department are an absolute shambles and a disgrace to the culture Apple has built around itself.
Once Apple were awarded the patent for “swipe to unlock” (something that no one could argue Android devices do, as their unlock features are much more robust and cool) they went after Motorola Mobility (owned by Google) claiming that a tap is a swipe in microns of sections.
This might have been the dumbest moment in Apple’s history. Even dumber than sacking Steve Jobs way back when. This post by GigaOm explains everything perfectly.
Why bother going after this? Steve Jobs hated the fact that Android was a direct rip off of what the iPhone was all about. Google and early ‘droid partners only tried to make new iPhones and this is why Apple went after Samsung. However trying to get creative license over things like tapping is too extreme to seriously consider. The fact that Apple’s budgets have shifted in favour of litigation instead of R&D points to a shift in culture. The hackers are losing control and relinquishing it to the lawyers.
With that in mind, for the love of god Tim Cook, go back to what it means to be Apple and don’t bring us who use OSX & iOS through another bout of “the 90s”.
(thought process inspired by a TIL thread on Reddit)
