The Inside Story of How Android Ripped Off the Original iPhone::

It’s been known for some time that Google’s Android platform was largely inspired by (and some might say modeled after or copied from) Apple’s iPhone. Indeed, the original Android devices didn’t resemble today’s Android smartphones at all. In fact, Android was originally designed without any sort of touchscreen in mind, and the original “Google phone” concept resembled a Blackberry more than an iPhone. 

A fascinating except published in The Atlantic (via Daring Fireball) from Fred Vogelstein’s new book, Dogfight: How Apple and Google Went to War and Started a Revolution, casts some even more interesting light on just how badly Google crapped their pants when they first saw the iPhone.

The article points out what can only be a truly horrified response coming from Google Android engineer Chris DeSalvo (emphasis added):

“As a consumer I was blown away. I wanted [an iPhone] immediately. But as a Google engineer I thought ‘We’re going to have to start over’” Chris DeSalvo said. “What we had suddenly looked so… nineties. It’s just one of those things that are obvious when you see it.”

And another fascinating tidbit from that Atlantic article, with another frightened iPhone response from none other than Android team director Andy Rubin (once again, emphasis added):

On the day Jobs announced the iPhone, the director of the Android team, Andy Rubin, was six hundred miles away in Las Vegas, on his way to a meeting with one of the myriad handset makers and carriers that descend on the city for the Consumer Electronics Show. He reacted exactly as DeSalvo predicted. Rubin was so astonished by what Jobs was unveiling that, on his way to a meeting, he had his driver pull over so that he could finish watching the webcast.

“Holy crap,” he said to one of his colleagues in the car. “I guess we’re not going to ship that phone.”

Steve Jobs famously claimed that Android was a stolen product in comments published in his official biography by Walter Isaacson – and from the nuggets revealed in the new book, it seems he wasn’t far off at all.

“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. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”

Apple still has yet to sue Google directly regarding Android – but it certainly clear that Apple shook up the entire mobile industry in a bigger way than anyone could have imagined. Even Google immediately saw how significant the iPhone was. They scrapped their entire Android project and started from scratch!

Tim Cook Email to Apple Employees: Apple Has ‘Big Plans’ for 2014:

Sunday morning saw a lengthy email memo from Apple CEO Tim Cook to the company’s employees that reflected on 2013 and looked forward to the upcoming year of 2014.

9to5Mac:

In the letter, Tim Cook discusses people experiencing Apple products this holiday season, the Apple products launched throughout 2013, and corporate initiatives. “This holiday season, tens of millions of people around the world, from all walks of life, are experiencing Apple products for the first time. Those moments of surprise and delight are magical, and they’re all made possible by your hard work,” Cook says in the beginning of the email.

Cook noted Apple’s new manufacturing process for the “Made in the USA” Mac Pro, and called iOS 7 an “extraordinarily ambitious project.” Cook also mentioned the iPhone 5s, the free release of OS X Mavericks, the introduction of the iPad Air, and the Retina iPad mini.

Cook also shared details of such corporate initiatives as the “tens of millions of dollars” donated to initiatives such as Red Cross for those affected by the typhoon disaster in the Philippines. Cook also noted that Apple is still the largest contributor to the Product(RED) foundation.

Finally, Cook teased big news for 2014, saying: “We have a lot to look forward to in 2014, including some big plans that we think customers are going to love.”

The full email from Cook to employees read as follows:

Team,

This holiday season, tens of millions of people around the world, from all walks of life, are experiencing Apple products for the first time. Those moments of surprise and delight are magical, and they’re all made possible by your hard work. As many of us prepare to celebrate the holidays with our loved ones, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on what we’ve achieved together over the past year.

First and foremost, we introduced industry-leading products in each of our major categories in 2013, showing the breadth and depth of innovation at Apple. We extended our lead in the smartphone market with iPhone 5s; launched iOS 7, an extraordinarily ambitious project; released OS X Mavericks for free to our customers; introduced the iPad Air and the iPad mini with Retina display; and this week began shipping the Mac Pro from a manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas. We also marked our 50 billionth download on the App Store – a milestone no one could have predicted we would reach so quickly.

Together we’ve shown the world that innovation at Apple goes beyond our products to the way we do business and how we give back to our community. This year, Apple raised and donated tens of millions of dollars for important charities and relief efforts like Red Cross aid to typhoon victims in the Philippines, and we continue to be the largest contributor to (PRODUCT)RED, supporting the Global Fund in its fight against the spread of AIDS in Africa. Just a few weeks ago, Jony Ive led an unprecedented effort that brought money and awareness to eliminating the transmission of AIDS from mother to child.

And finally, Apple is standing up for what we believe is right. We know that equality and diversity make our company and our society stronger, so we’ve urged the U.S. Congress to support workplace protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. We are also laser focused on our contribution to several environmental initiatives and we will increase our efforts even more in this area in the future.

We have a lot to look forward to in 2014, including some big plans that we think customers are going to love. I am extremely proud to stand alongside you as we put innovation to work serving humankind’s deepest values and highest aspirations. I consider myself the luckiest person in the world for the opportunity to work at this amazing company with all of you.

Happy Holidays,

Tim

Apple Posts Slides and Videos From Their iOS 7 Tech Talk Conferences::

Apple has posted videos and slides from its iOS 7 Tech Talks conferences. The talks recently ended their tour in London, following a two-month, six-city tour.

AppleInsider:

As noted by reader Gregg, Apple uploaded a total of 16 videos and corresponding slides to its Developer website, along with accompanying slides used during the presentations.

The iOS 7 tech talks are designed to give developers a better understanding of the new core technologies available in Apple’s iOS 7 operating system.

The sessions, which are led by Apple employees, focus on a number of topics, including App Store distribution, Open GL, and integration of iOS 7 technologies.

Apple’s first iOS 7 Tech Talks took place in October in San Francisco. Other cities in the tour included New York, Tokyo, Shanghai, Berlin, and London.

China Mobile Announces it Will Begin Taking iPhone Preorders on December 12::

The Wall Street Journal reports China Mobile has announced it will begin taking preorders for the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c this Thursday, December 12th. Preorders will be taken via the company’s website, and at some of its locations in Shanghai.

MacRumors:

The move was revealed through a screenshot of a section on the company’s website that invited customers to pre-order the iPhone 5s and other smartphones with a “4G is here” slogan, with the information being followed up by a customer service representative.

“Customers can begin to preorder for our new 4G services from Dec. 12 through the company’s website and some dedicated branches in Shanghai. But we will only start providing commercial 4G services after Dec. 18,” the customer services operator said.

It was reported last week that Apple and China Mobile had finally reached a deal that would see the world’s largest wireless carrier offering the iPhone on its network. However, a China Mobile spokesperson later told Reuters that the two companies were still in negotiations. The two companies have been in talks for several years.

The deal has been widely expected ever since September, when the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, the first Apple handsets to support China Mobile’s TD-LTE standards, were released.

Apple Officially Reveals 74% of All iOS Devices Are Now Running iOS 7::

While iOS 7 faced a fair amount of criticism after it was revealed, mostly due to the new flatter design that abandons many of the design elements of previous versions, it has nevertheless been extremely popular among Apple’s customers. In fact, according to new dataposted earlier today by Apple themselves, iOS 7 is now officially running on 74% of all iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches!

That’s pretty damn impressive on its own – but it’s even more impressive compare to Android KitKat’s fairly pathetic adoption rate. KitKat stands at just 1.1 percent (according to Google’s own numbers, via AllThingsD). You read that right. 1.1%. Yuck. So much for KitKat eliminating Android fragmentation!

It’s also worth noting that 22% of Apple users are still using the previous iOS 6 release on their devices, although it’s unclear how much of that is due to folks owning older devices that don’t support iOS 7, and how much is due to users simply not wanting to update.

Apple Once Again Ranks as World’s Most Valuable Brand::

While it’s hardly news at this point, as Apple has been named the world’s most valuable brand many times over by a variety of different agencies, Apple has managed to nab the title once again, this time backed by research from Forbes, Thomson Reuters Fundamentals, and FactSet Research System.

From the report:

Apple has set the bar incredibly high over the past decade. The expectations have some fans grumbling about the lack of transformational products during recent launches. The company has largely upgraded existing product lines instead of releasing anything as revolutionary as its last huge category changer in 2010, the iPad. Speculation swirls about whether the Cupertino, Calif.-based company has peaked, with well-funded competitors like Samsung and Google also challenging Apple. Wall Street seems to think so — Apple’s stock plummeted 45% from its September 2012 high before partially recovering in the past six months.

But Forbes’ study of the top brands illustrates that the Apple name is as strong as ever. Apple is the most valuable brand in the world for a third straight time at $104.3 billion, up 20% over last year. It is worth nearly twice as much as any other brand on the planet by our count.

According to the study, Apple’s brand is valued at an impressive $104.3B, nearly double that of Microsoft, which came in second place with a value of $56.7B. Rounding out the top 5 are, in order, Coca-Cola, IBM, and Google, with McDonalds falling at number 6. What makes the matter even more impressive is that Apple has achieved this despite the fact that many don’t believe Apple has released a truly “revolutionary” product since the original iPad.

Congrats Apple! For more information, check out the original report over at Forbes. Details regarding the methodology of the study are also available.

Apple’s New ‘Life on iPad’ Page Highlights Innovative Ways People Use Their iPads

Apple has posted a new page on its website showing off the various and unexpected ways iPad users make use of their devices.

The Verge:

The Life on iPad minisite used the similarly named video from the most recent iPad event as its starting point, and then expounds upon it, showing the iPad family used in situations far beyond the typical use cases of reading a book or browsing the web. 

The six stories on the site include Riviera Racing Team driver/owner Mark Post, the Siemens Energy-Wind Service team, speed skater Bridie Farrell, Palmaz Vineyards, Broadway director/choreographer Jeff Whiting, and Dr. Itaru Endo, director of digestive surgery and liver transplantation for Yokohoma City University.

The stories cover how each person or group uses the iPad to enhance their business and personal lives, and the lives of others.

The videos are a fascinating look at the inventive ways iPad users make use of the device and the apps available for it.