The Day After iPhone Was Introduced By Steve Jobs, Google Scrapped Android To Copy Apple.

[onehandle]

In 2005, on Google’s sprawling, college-like campus, the most secret and ambitious of many, many teams was Google’s own smartphone effort—the Android project. Tucked in a first-floor corner of Google’s Building 44, surrounded by Google ad reps, its four dozen engineers thought that they were on track to deliver a revolutionary device that would change the mobile phone industry forever.

By January 2007, they’d all worked sixty-to-eighty-hour weeks for fifteen months—some for more than two years—writing and testing code, negotiating soft­ware licenses, and flying all over the world to find the right parts, suppliers, and manufacturers. They had been working with proto­types for six months and had planned a launch by the end of the year . . . until Jobs took the stage to unveil the iPhone.

Chris DeSalvo’s reaction to the iPhone was immediate and visceral. “As a consumer I was blown away. I wanted one immediately. But as a Google engineer, I thought ‘We’re going to have to start over.’”

For most of Silicon Valley—including most of Google—the iPhone’s unveiling on January 9, 2007 was something to celebrate. Jobs had once again done the impossible. Four years before he’d talked an intransigent music industry into letting him put their catalog on iTunes for ninety-nine cents a song. Now he had convinced a wireless car­rier to let him build a revolutionary smartphone. But for the Google Android team, the iPhone was a kick in the stomach.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/12/the-day-google-had-to-start-over-on-android/282479

The Samsung lawsuits were just a warm up.

[Aerows]

1. Oh boy

another day in the crusade against Samsung.

Good luck prying my Galaxy Note II away from me. I love the thing.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. I cannot wait to unload my SIII

yup, froze again just the other day.

I will be getting an Iphone as soon as possible.

[VanillaRhapsody]

28. thats funny I have had one for almost 2 yrs without a blip...

Love mine...wouldn't even trade for an Iphone on a bet!

Besides...made in South Korea...not in slave factories in China!

[MurrayDelph]

34. So if I exchange my S3 for an iPhone

how do I swap in a spare battery?

[nadinbrzezinski]

38. Well, battery life for a new iPhone is 16 hours

(And we carry charging cables in the jeep). Battery life for the SIII is eight hours when not intensely used. Lower when intensely used. Again, we carry cables and do use the jeep to charge often.

I gave had more trouble with it than I hoped. So yes, I will change it over for an IPhone. I was open to Android, it just did not work well.

As usual your mileage will vary.

[MannyGoldstein]

40. My SIII died a few days after the warranty expired

Samsung fixed it anyway, which was nice of them.

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. I think mine is having the issues reported in China.

http://bgr.com/2013/10/24/samsung-galaxy-s-note-problems/

[MannyGoldstein]

44. Interesting! Mine started having problems after I added an SD card

First reported SD card errors, then froze for good a couple of days later, wouldn't reboot. SD card was fine, it's back in the repaired unit.

[nadinbrzezinski]

47. I was hoping the latest OS update would fix it

It froze the other day in the worst of places then it came back

Given where I take these electronics I need it to be 1000% reliable. It's a safety thing.

[cui bono]

51. Damn, send it to me!

Although I'm in love with my HTC Rezound so... I have it totally customized.

You should go to some forums and learn how to root and install a custom ROM. You'll never want an iPhone again.

[nadinbrzezinski]

54. Actually given some of the apps

That I use on the Mac platform...

But that is not the issue. I have been having freezing problems. Like I told Manny, they are similar to the ones reported in China. I was happy to install the OS upgrade since it solved some of the issues, but not all. In my case, I cannot have a phone that freezes in the most inconvenient and isolated of places, like it did just the other day.

[Aerows]

83. That's not the Galaxy Note II, though

the Note line is bigger, which is a problem for some, but for me, it rocks. I adore mine and the only thing I would like more than my Note II is a Note III. I like the S-Pen feature and the big screen.

[Vashta Nerada]

62. I have a Galaxy Note III.

Best phone I've ever owned (even better than the Note 2!).

[Aerows]

82. Maybe Santa

will be good to me this year

[Blue_Tires]

2. Do you work for Apple? I'm trying to get in...

[Pretzel_Warrior]

56. I've never worked for Apple and I think they rock

why must everyone who has diamatrically opposed views accuse the other person of being a shill for "X"

[Blue_Tires]

78. I'm just looking for a new job and thought one DUer could look out for another...

[HappyMe]

3. This reminds me -

dump apple into my key word trash can.

[FSogol]

12. Seriously. Cults scare me.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

58. spoken like a Microsoft zombie. How's your Zune holding up?

[LanternWaste]

81. Coke versus Pepsi. Six of one, half a dozen of the other...

Coke versus Pepsi. Six of one, half a dozen of the other...




Viva la Cola Wars! Re-branded and updated for the 21st Century I-Think-I'm-Thinking Consumer. Madison Avenue's brilliance in selling not merely a bill of goods, but exceptional bragging rights for the coupon (available free for download from your favorite app store).




(Insert rationalization here)

[FredisDead]

4. Apple copied Nokia

[onehandle]

5. Nice cheap plastic shell. Apple invented the UI that made Android possible.

Microsoft at least had the class to invent a unique UI.

Stolen by Eric Schmidt as an Apple board member and leaked to the Android team, long before the iPhone announcement. It still took them a lifetime to get it on the market, in tech launch time.

After that, Steve Jobs kept the iPad a secret from him. Apple launched it and because Google did not have inside information, iPad took them Completely by surprise.

Jobs and the board threw Schmidt's thieving ass out of Apple.

Cheap plastic shell. Yeah, that's the same thing.

There will be a reckoning.

And welcome to my stalker/sockpuppet ignore list.

[MattBaggins]

25. Reckoning? Do you really believe your crap?

[cui bono]

52. Oh please.

Apple files for patents on things Android phones already do so they can file a lawsuit against them, like they did with HTC. Or for something being rectangular with rounded corners, like they did with Samsung. Apple is a whiny baby company and I lost all respect for them with their juvenile antics. They have a flare for style and marketing but that's about it at this point.

[defacto7]

55. Ha.. flair for style...

That they took from Braun's 1990's stereo models. Apple died in the 1980s. There's not the vaguest resemblance now to it's old work ethic and state of the art innovation. It's all marketing.

[FredisDead]

61. Apple did copy the LG phone

Kevin Rose Is an Idiot

[joshcryer]

68. Android dominates tablet market as the iPad stumbles in Q3

It’s not exactly news that Android has taken over the bulk of the smart device market, but in Q3 2013, Android appears to have claimed yet another title from Apple: The most revenue from tablet sales in a quarter. Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty calculated that Android tablets were generating more revenue than iPads based on IDC’s numbers from October, which showed very little year-over-year growth for iPads and a major loss in Apple’s worldwide tablet market share.

“For the first time, Android devices accounted for a greater share of the market in revenue terms than iOS,” wrote Huberty in a note to her clients. “Android revenue share reached 46.2% in 3Q13, for the first time exceeding iPad share of 45.6%. Android’s unit share grew to 66.7% from 58.5% a year ago, largely driven by Samsung and Lenovo, while iPad share declined to 29.7% from 40.2%.”

http://bgr.com/2013/11/15/android-tablet-market-share-q3-2013/

The reckoning, if there is one, will be whether or not Apple is first to go to VR and AR and popularize it or whether Google will succeed with Glass or whether Occulus will come out with its own thing and put them both out of business.

The tablet / touch model will be short lived in technological time.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

57. BAHAHHAHAHA! Okay....keep dreaming. iPhone was the first of its kind

and I don't think Nokia has a patent on having different colors available.

[tkmorris]

7. Scrapped Android you say?

Odd, I could swear my S4 was running Android. I wouldn't trade this phone for anything in Apple's lineup even if they tossed in an extra couple hundred bucks. I like the flexibility of non-Apple products too much.

[jmowreader]

9. They call it the same thing but it's not what they were originally designing

[joshcryer]

65. The article says, "Dream had been in the early stages of development"

They shifted priorities they didn't scrap Android or "start over."

The original API supported touch screens and gesturing and different panes.

Oh, and the original Android API had multitasking...

[VanillaRhapsody]

30. I have the S3 and I agree...not even if...

[Cali_Democrat]

10. And now the droids are better

I say this as someone who currently uses an iphone.

[onehandle]

11. Which is better? The sluggish touch reactions. The 1700 different OS versions?

Or is it the personal data being funneled directly to Chinese hackers and Russian mobsters?

[MattBaggins]

17. Typical... Choice? fuck choice. You should do what Apple tells you to do

[davidpdx]

69. I just got my first android phone

I've had a slide phone for six years and really wanted to upgrade to a newer one. It's not Samsung, but LG. I'm happy with it. It isn't the newest model because I don't need anything terribly fancy. Wanted a phone I could put Skype on and use it.

Overall Samsung's products are fine, but I tend to like LG better. We have a TV, refrigerator, washer, a humidifier, and two cell phones that are all LG. The only thing that is Samsung that I own is a DVD player. All our computers are American though.

I should also mention that I happen to live in South Korea.

[1000words]

14. Apple's business practices aside, the man had vision.

Most everyone else was/is just reacting.

[Arcanetrance]

15. Actually Samsung doesn't run vanilla Android

Last edited Thu Dec 19, 2013, 11:01 PM - Edit history (1)

Phones that run vanilla Android are very different than iPhone or Samsung phones. If you want to compare Android clean to the iPhone especially at the beginning this would be a better comparison

This is the HTC Dream otherwise known as the G1 which is the very first phone to run the Android os
<a href=".html" target="_blank"><img src="" border="0" alt=" photo google-g1-phone 1.jpg"/></a>

Your objection seems to be with Samsung. Who use the Android operating system as the base while incorporating their own skin on top.

[MattBaggins]

16. As I always say. I don't dislike Apple. i loath their users.

[onehandle]

18. Yeah, those Obama daughters suck.

Deserving of your loath.

[legcramp]

36. And Limbaugh too

One of the biggest Apple fanbois around.

And I always judge a product by it's user base.

[blogslut]

19. Released in 2005

[onehandle]

20. Actually Palm originated in the 1990s by former Apple engineers that developed the Apple Newton.

And other than a grid of icons, has little to do with iOS or Google's knockoff of iOS.

[font size="5"]NEXT![/font]

[blogslut]

22. You were defending the iPhone's UI, not iOS

You do know what UI means, don't you?

[onehandle]

24. You and others seem to think that UI means a bunch of icons.

Fail.

[blogslut]

26. So, you don't know what it means

Okay.

[onehandle]

29. No, you don't know what it means. I work on UI every day.

Okay.
Bye.

[blogslut]

31. LOL

You're funny. Have a super-sparkly day!

[Logical]

76. Lol, ok! nt

[BuddhaGirl]

23. Do you work for Apple?

It was asked upthread but you have not answered yet.

Do you?

[MannyGoldstein]

42. The Newton was a mess.

And so were the big bunch of "pocket" computers that came after it.

Palm got it right. The founder was very, very clever in his process for creating the industrial design, as you may already know. If not, you might find it interesting to read about.

[nadinbrzezinski]

48. I was in love with the CE device I used for years

Not shitting you, drafted many a first and second and third draft on it. It ran...on two double As for weeks.

It goes without saying, I had far better eye sight back then.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

59. yeah. where's my stylus??

Palm was fine for its day. It was far ahead of HP's stupid mini organizer which I used only because I worked for them.....

But times move on. Apple successfully introduced a progression of technology that worked exceedingly well. iPod, iPod touch, iPhone and finally....the first truly mass market accepted tablet the iPad.

Hate on them all you want, but Steve Jobs did a tremendous job building the Apple ecosystem before he died.

[joshcryer]

66. There's no way Google "knocked off iOS" in 5 months.

It's inconceivable.

Regardless, the trajectory of technology has been fairly obvious, and as VR and AR tech takes over, as I've predicted to you before, it'll be cute to see people being apologists for common sense data input methods.

Apple got lucky in that they were the first to do it.

They got cocky and allowed Google to dominate them completely, oh, and Google gets away with it because they can always say "Android doesn't come with that standard, Samsung added it on, it's not our fault."

[a kennedy]

21. and this is so wrong.......I just bought a "smart Tracfone'

http://www.tracfone-orders.com/bpdirect/tracfone/Start.do?action=view&zip=54601&locale=en&siteType=TR&market=COGSM4&gotoPhonelist=true&AID=

and I'm not that smart.

[JCMach1]

27. My old Samsung Blackjack with Windows was far better than that first iPhone and faster...

true 3G and built-in WiFi

loved the wheel which rotated my menu system and would flip through files and icons with ease...

[onehandle]

33. 3G, WiFi, and a wheel!

Cool 2006 story, bro.

FYI RIM sued the fuck out of Samsung over that design and got hundreds of millions of dollars out of court.

Samsung couldn't come up with an original thought if their lives depended on it.

[JCMach1]

80. the point of the OP was 'how good' the original iPhone was... it wasn't compared to Samsung, BB

and even HTC at that time...

Sorry, but that's the reality...

[tridim]

32. Nana nana nana nana leader... leader... Leader...

I love the leader!

[Spider Jerusalem]

35. Like Apple copied Xerox?

So Google refocused development on a phone with a touchscreen that was already in prototype. Which is less "Google copied Apple" than "Apple got to market first with an idea that was already out there".

[cherokeeprogressive]

37. Someone gives a fuck?

I'll take my SIII any day, and in two weeks, my upgrade to SIV is here! Woo Hoo!

[Godhumor]

39. all these threads simply make me more and more happy to not own Apple products

I will gladly stick with the Moto X.

[MannyGoldstein]

41. UI-wise, Apple basically added phone functionality to a Palm Pilot

Palm had some great insights into making a computer pocketable. Apple snagged their paradigm, added the phone part, and did a phenomenal job in creating beautiful and engaging graphics. Same thing they did when they turned Xerox's concepts into the Mac.

But it's OK. Everyone steals appropriates from everyone else.

I love my Android phone. I love iPhones, too. They're all amazing, and they all build on the work of others.

[joshcryer]

67. The concepts are not particularly innovative.

It's more that technological development has become smaller and smaller and faster and faster to a point where we're kind of shocked with where it has landed. In 2002 Palms were clunky devices, nice screens, extremely expensive, crappy 640 pixel cameras.

The problem is corporations deciding that interfaces like damn swiping or some bit of visual flair like the edges of an icon are patentable. It is preposterous, ridiculous, downright insulting to anyone with rational sense.

Fact is Touch Pads have existed in scifi for decades, we all know how Star Trek popularized them. The Tricorder is our cell phone (all in one device capable of sending and receiving data and taking pictures and whatnot). The tablets used on Star Trek are our tablets. It's not a huge deal for some company to come out and make such systems. It really isn't.

The sad fact is that Apple and Microsoft have been paten trolling over smartphones since their inception: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone_wars

The worst part is that the judicial system is allowing it to continue and the juries in these cases are hardly equipped to actually determine whether a given patent is legitimate. We need jury nullification for software patents.

[NoOneMan]

45. When intelligent life (re)emerges on earth, future archaeologists of whatever species...

are going to get a kick out of these stupid fucking useless toys we spent so much energy and resources into producing while the climate went to shit

[LTR]

46. Why I like Android

1. Easy to gain root access.

2. Rooted phones can be endlessly tweaked, overclocked, and allow the ability to stop autostarting of apps and revoking certain permissions, such as ad servers.

3.I don't have to sync every damned thing with iTunes on my PC. Drag n' drop rules!

4. Easy to backup and sideload apps, or install apps outside of Play Store.

5. Android is open source.

6. Easy to change themes, icons, etc.

7.With Android, I can avoid paying the $300 hype surcharge.

8. Snob appeal not included

[Logical]

50. Apple are control freaks. Way over the top. nt

[Logical]

49. LOL, do you get paid to post this stuff? nt

[LeftyMom]

53. How much of this shit do you have to post to get a free iThing?

Just curious how the math shakes out.

[FredisDead]

60. The Braun Products That Inspired Apple’s Iconic Designs

http://www.cultofmac.com/188753/the-braun-products-that-inspired-apples-iconic-designs-gallery/

[Vashta Nerada]

63. Seems like this article is a desperation attempt to keep Apple relevant.

Apple is going down. Nothing they create is "revolutionary" anymore. The iPhone 5S was just a slight upgrade from the iPhone 5.

I love Android. I love that I can root the phone whenever I want and that all the software is open sourced. Screw Apple and their nannying ways.

[onehandle]

70. Are you from 1995? nt

[Logical]

75. LOL, have you seen the reviews of the new iPhone?? You....

Are the one apple loves, release ANYTHING, and you praise it and stand in line.

[Vashta Nerada]

79. Haha.

At least my Galaxy Note 3 is 2013's technology. The Apple iPhone 5S is 2011 technology.

Dual-core processors? Seriously? Pfft. BTW, HP came up with the fingerprint unlocking technology back in the 1990s.

[joshcryer]

64. Android beta was 5 months after iPhone and supported touch screen.

The first Android phones had keypads because Blackberry's were very popular and texting was ramping up.

But they had touch screens and swiping and gesturing on the HTC Dream. They also had multi-touch ability in the original API (though early Androids didn't support it).

The only thing that Android didn't launch with was a virtual keyboard, an oversight, of course, since that's a simple app but the first phone had a built in keyboard and many Android phones after that did.

The idea that the HTC Dream and entire Android OS was reworked in 5 months is absolutely preposterous. And guess what? The article already makes it clear that the Dream project was made the focus after the iPhone released.

It's not a company copying from another company but accepting a better technology that they were both developing simultaneously.

But it's nice to see the revisionism anyhow.

[onehandle]

72. You're right. There is no way Google could have done that in five months.

Eric Schmidt was leaking info to the Android team for months before.

The thief.

[joshcryer]

73. Even 10 months. It's not possible. Even 2 years, it's not possible.

The Android team was always small, this is a really huge conspiracy. You're talking thousands of developers here, imo.

I think you're just blinded by the fact that this technology was a given.

Opera predated gestures by, oh, I dunno, a fucking decade (and one reason I use the Opera browser despite it being behind). Yet Opera isn't suing everyone and their uncle for incorporating gestures in their browsers, phones, or tablets.

I swear I predicted half the innovations we've seen a decade ago, but if I were to post my online posts about it it would reveal my anonymous tech-persona. Marvin Minsky, Ray Kurzweil, and many others, predicted this evolution. It's not innovative. It's not interesting. It's not ground breaking. It's damn obvious to anyone who paid attention.

I am against patents and copyright. The only thieves are those who patent troll and exploit the DMCA to hurt the consumers who share stuff with one another. YouTube's recent Content ID bullshit is truly showing its insanity.

(My criticism of YouTube is a direct criticism of Google and I think Google and Apple are short lived corporate entities, technology is moving too fast for either company to adapt, mark my words. Bookmark this. 10 years. Tops. They're fucked.)

[JustAnotherGen]

77. +1

I launched 57 wireless devices for a major telecom between 2006 and 2007 before moving to the global services org chart and then over to Finance. I was the 'last touch' (literally approved UI, inbox materials, IUG's, worked with adv/pr, engineering, network, etc. etc.) prior to launch. I also got to hold a LOT of devices that our company killed (worst thing is getting 3/4 of a way through a launch and realizing the frigging device is a lemon) over the years. The smartest thing we did was let a competitor take the hit on the iPhone while we went global and focused on a cutting edge network.

And at the end of the day - if folks don't realize that the device vendors (yep not 'innovators' - people who shill shit to our company - vendors) all meet up in the EXACT SAME lobby and shoot the shit - they are out of their minds.

There is but one company that going back even more than 20 years (my current exec director opened up their warehouse facilities in the US when they came) ago that always lets others take the heat and keep their eye on the long term prize.

And they don't talk to anyone in the lobby - I've seen it. I've seen (remember RIM???) say hello and them clam up and glare. It's only a matter of time before at least in wireless handsets - Apple goes the way of RIM. Sooner or later something shinier and flashier comes along and the consumer loses interest in a device brand . . . just like with RIM and LG.

Ahem - If I were a betting woman I'd say you were Boy Genius - my arch nemesis back in 2006/2007!

[davidpdx]

71. I don't particularly care for Apple as a company even if they are American

Their use of Chinese labor has and still is a problem. Jobs was a complete control freak. The only time I've used an Apple product was the computers we had at our high school in the late 80's and an employer I worked for in the late 90's, neither by choice.

I'm not a big fan of Samsung either. Here in Korea they are what is called a Chaebol or conglomerate. They have quite a bit of influence with the Korean government, especially the conservatives.

I just bought a LG phone and am happy with it.

[DesMoinesDem]

74. AAPL to $1000!

[Marr]

84. Do people really argue about which corporate behemoth deserves to suck more blood?

People will choose sides on anything, I swear. I don't want Apple to be a monopoly. I don't care if they're competing with Android or Windows or the Cylons-- they're not a sports team and they're not your friend.