Let's play "what if...."

[mammador]

Jobs and co. are only doing it to weaken Google's morale. I doubt Google is that bothered in honesty, I can't see it affecting their market share.

 

[Pliablemoose]

In looking over Oracle's case, it appears Google was well aware of what they were doing...

WTF???

 

[gotsmack]

Were Google to take over MeeGo and it caught on with the handset manufacturers, wouldn't it be in the exact same position Android is in now? It seems like the problem with Android is that it doesn't have a company with a huge patent portfolio behind it.

A RIMM takeover might work, although I think there would be an enormous clash of corporate cultures were that to happen.

I dunno about MeeGo putting them in the same position. Intel and Nokia are no strangers to lawsuits. I'm going to assume that when they developed MeeGo they were focusing on these issues.

RIMM is currently a corporate culture mess, from what I've read on BGR. It seems like a buy out would suit them well. RIMM can be split up into Network and Mobile like some have been calling for. Network can be folded into Google Cloud services and Mobile can be sent to the Android development team.

Google seems to be pretty good at getting rid of the dead weight, so I only see a benefit of a RIMM buyout.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I personally don't think Apple and MS have the power to take Android down with lawsuits. The parts of stock Android that infringe can be re-written by the open-source community to get around the patents. In fact that is why I don't think Google has been sued- either stock Android does not infringe or they are scared that if they put out in court exactly what it does infringe the Android dev community will fix the problem in a week.

I DO feel however that Android device makers ARE infringing with their custom OSes. Every one sold- Samsung, HTC, even B&N- have very custom interfaces that probably infringe on some patent or another.

And that is where these device makers are caught between a rock and a hard place. Like akugami said, Apple and MS basically set the standard for modern OS interfaces so the only way these device makers can be "familiar" enough is to rip them off. Otherwise the customers have problems using the devices and they fail in the market.

Take for example pinch-to-zoom, which I bet Apple has patented. Everyone now expects that action to zoom. Nerds (to get around infringement) might be happy to shake-to-zoom, but if the device makers expect regular people to buy in they need pinch-to-zoom.

In the end the device makers need to decide how much they need of MS's and Apple's interface design choices for comfort, and pay for the ones they need. If they don't want to pay then TODAY they need to set a new open (as in consortium owned or whatever) standard that does not infringe and market the crap out of it so that people will still buy their devices. Its a cost-benefit analysis.

The only lawsuit that scares me is Oracle's, but I personally believe it does not have much merit mostly based on hope. We will see with that one.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Double post.

 

[tommo123]

personally, if android was to fold i'd stick with my SGS2 for as long as possible and at that point see if webos (if it exists) is worth a look.

i have never owned an apple device and never will. i despise the company

 

[tommo123]

personally, if android was to fold i'd stick with my SGS2 for as long as possible and at that point see if webos (if it exists) is worth a look.

i have never owned an apple device and never will. i despise the company

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

^ lol at the hate for Apple.

I don't care if Android folded. Sure I'd miss modding, but I don't think I'd be a useless smartphone user if I had to switch to an iPhone 4. I have an iPod Touch 4G after all...

 

[Pliablemoose]

Google will never buy a manufacturer.

 

[tommo123]

^ lol at the hate for Apple.

I don't care if Android folded. Sure I'd miss modding, but I don't think I'd be a useless smartphone user if I had to switch to an iPhone 4. I have an iPod Touch 4G after all...

it's called voting with your wallet.

 

[Pliablemoose]

it's called voting with your wallet.

Looks like that's working pretty well for you...

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/07/15/apple-q3-2011-earnings-preview/?section=magazines_fortune

I don't see a massive consumer revolt, all I see is nerd rage over the issue, from people that would never buy an Apple product in the first place...


What are you going to do if Oracle wins it's case?

 

[tommo123]

stick with my phone?

me voting with my wallet isn't going to make a diff, it isn't about them it's about me. my knowing that they don't have, have never had and won't have any of my money

 

[Pliablemoose]

But if Android phone manufacturers pay Apple a licensing fee, they'll get your money.

 

[WelshBloke]

People need to get some perspective on this issue

 

[xSauronx]

ill never use a smartphone again is what will happen

yep. no desire to try and us apple products. i use windows and google, so having an android phone is great for me.

 

[Pliablemoose]

People need to get some perspective on this issue

That article was written before the Apple/ITC ruling.

Apple has 0 motivation to work out a licensing deal with HTC, and everything to gain by asking for an import ban.

Don't get me wrong, I love HTC devices, but this stuff is fascinating.

 

[Mopetar]

That's where you're wrong though. HTC recently purchased patents from S3 which Apple was found to be infringing upon earlier this month. That makes it very likely that some kind of cross-licensing arrangement will be made.

 

[basslover1]

Ok. You wanted a feature Apple does not provide. Power Windows on cars used to be a priced feature. It doesn't change how the car handles or the fuel economy of the car. The lack of this feature doesn't make the car more prone to damage or wear and tear. The lack of Power Windows may make said car not the ideal product for you but it's not like the car was not sufficient for the vast majority of users. And in the case of the iPhone, it features pretty much everything a common user (not tech oriented or highly advanced) would want from a smartphone.

Yea but if you want to compare the lack of power windows to copy/paste, then a more accurate analogy is Apple wouldn't even let you open the windows, period.

 

[BenSkywalker]

Apple has 0 motivation to work out a licensing deal with HTC, and everything to gain by asking for an import ban.

HTC may be hoping that Apple thinks that, Jobs' ego has almost crippled the company before, so it happening again wouldn't be shocking. With Apple burning the Samsung bridge it will be amusing to see what happens when HTC has the A6, which clearly infringes on patents HTC now owns, deemed illegal for Apple to continue producing. Depending on how HTC wants to play their hand they can either point that out ahead, clearing the way for them to do whatever they like with their IP, or wait until Apple has moved production over to TSMC and then cripple Apple's iOS platform. Apple would be stuck trying to reengineer their parts to run on TI, Qualcomm or nVidia parts at that point and they would lose at least a quarter and a half or more of devices sold.

Unlike the vague and generalized patents Apple waves around, the ones HTC owns are very explicit and are clearly spelled out. PowerVR has licensing rights, they do not have the rights to license the technology to someone else however.

 

[akugami]

Yea but if you want to compare the lack of power windows to copy/paste, then a more accurate analogy is Apple wouldn't even let you open the windows, period.

Bad comparison. Copy/cut/paste is a wonderful feature but I don't use it often on my phone and I doubt most users will on a day to day basis. That's not to say it isn't a important feature, moreso for tablets than for phones. It's just not a fundamental feature.

Copy/paste is not on the same scale as Apple not letting someone open the car windows.The lack of copy & paste is more like power windows vs manual windows. You can still open your car windows with or without power windows. It's just more convenient and easier to do with power windows. Likewise with copy & paste, you can still move the information you wanted to a new place, but it's a more cumbersome and time consuming process without the copy & paste feature.

I still don't see how one can come to the conclusion that Apple is screwing over customers with the features it has implemented or not implemented. I'm sure everyone will agree that iOS can be better and that it was woefully inadequate from the point of developers at the time of the original iOS's release. But it's gotten much better and competition has a lot to do with iOS's maturation. IMHO, iOS is a great consumer smartphone OS. It does everything a mobile OS fundamentally needs to do.

Are they slow to implement some features? Yes. To a degree, I think it's because they weren't ready with some features. I also think that some of the features/abilities they are not implementing (no full blown multitasking for example) is a difference in design philosophy. One forgets that Apple had to create and implement many of the features we take for granted on smartphones from scratch. Yes, the majority of the features on iOS is not new. But Apple had to implement them in a way that made sense for a touch interface. Even MS was late with features like copy & paste for WP7 and they had the benefit of seeing how Android and iOS implemented those features. Either way, you'll be hard pressed to find a feature missing from iOS that would impact the vast majority of users (iOS and Android). A small set maybe, but not the overwhelming majority of users.

 

[BenSkywalker]

I still don't see how one can come to the conclusion that Apple is screwing over customers with the features it has implemented or not implemented.

I have to imagine you laughing as you are typing that, I can't see anyone saying that with a straight face, honestly.

How about a screen larger then 3.5"?
How about the ability to create a desktop that doesn't look like Windows 3.1 out of the box?
How about widgets?
How about a notification bar?

These are absolutely trivial items, core basic features any decent smart phone should have in late 2009. These are all also features that I see *every single* Android user using on their devices(I'm sure somewhere in the world there are some that don't, but I don't see them). Cut & Paste is honestly something that most users don't use all that frequently, the very basic smartphone OS elements that iOS lacks are things that are extremely popular for typical users.

Either way, you'll be hard pressed to find a feature missing from iOS that would impact the vast majority of users (iOS and Android). A small set maybe, but not the overwhelming majority of users.

Take away notification bar, widgets, desktop customization and force all Android devices to use a 3.5" screen and you are stuck with a truly lousy device, iOS bad.

 

[shortylickens]

yep. no desire to try and us apple products. i use windows and google, so having an android phone is great for me.

You should try it for a week at least once in your life. Whether you like it or not is irrelevant. You need to be able to honestly say you know all about it and still never wanted it.

 

[Pliablemoose]

It appears Jobs is on a holy war, Apple is beefing up it's in house counsel, this could be epic.

I'm beginning to suspect Google knew Android is hosed and thats why they didn't pursue the Nortel patents...

 

[Kanalua]

No matter how the lawsuits shake out...some IP attorneys are going to make a lot of money from then legal penis sword fight.

 

[theeedude]

Do you guys really think FTC and European competition authorities are going to let Apple crush Android without instituting compulsory licensing on essential IP?