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Steve Jobs: “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product”
The upcoming authorized bio of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson will uncover much about the man. The book goes on sale on Monday but somehow the Associated Press purchased one ahead of time. They took the time and wrote some initial thoughts, which are quite revealing of how Jobs operated and his quest for perfection and simplicity. However, there was a side of Jobs that was downright nasty. According to the book the relationship with once Apple Board member Eric Schmidt, who was also CEO of Google, was immediately tarnished when Android was officially launched in 2010. Apparently Jobs “was livid” and accused Google “grand theft” for how the OS operated.
Jobs stated “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”. I would say that’s a bit more than being “livid”.
Majority of the manufacturers are helping with the growth of Android, Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony Ericsson and Motorola have all committed to releasing more devices with the Android OS. A recent Gartner study predicts that Google’s Android OS will capture 48.8% of the smartphone market share by 2015, Apple will have 17.2%.
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109 comments for “Steve Jobs: “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product””
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Wow.
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I can’t believe this statement, I simply can’t. In one breath Jobs not only proves he has a vendetta against Google, he makes notice that he’s willing to destroy his company and take the shareholders with him to accomplish his task. I never thought the man could be so petty.
Of Jobs I can only say this; he would have made one hell of a good politician. He was the master of pushing the boundaries between fact and fiction. He would accuse others of “stealing” the ideas of Apple, and in the same meeting announce an “Apple innovation” that others have had for years. He was the master of misdirection. Heck, he could have given Houdini a run for his money!
Sadly the most entertaining leader in the technical community has passed on. I’ll miss his rants about Google and the other companies. I’ll miss his announcements on “Apple innovations”. I’m sure he’s looking down on his company, and whispering into his lawyers ears from on high. May he rest in peace.
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Well… Look who’s destroyed now
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I really hope you’re talking about iOS/iphone when you say destroyed.
If you’re referring to a dead man, you’ve got some growing up to do.
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@Harris, Why shouldn’t DD talk about the dead any different then he’d talk to the living. To speak any differently is just playing a plastic part for the sake of others, if you think that’s right its you who needs growing up. Steve Jobs was a horrible person, and while you can respect him accomplishments, don’t expect everyone to like him just because he’s dead.
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Jealous!
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Luckily he’s 6 feet under so his shareholders don’t have to worry about the “missing” $40B happening
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apple stole so many features from android and their last iOS5 lol shame on apple!
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lol umad
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u mad bro?
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You can’t stop the signal.
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Firefly reference FTW…
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uh Xerox?
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greedy mofo…
and apple’s xerox plunder isn’t stolen tech ?
come on be honest apple eaters
apple is not about invention but great execution … that’s all
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had the right to the tech…
yeah right…
that’s exactly what I mean…
they generally execute they usually don’t invent but they drape themselves in the flag of the hyper creative non agressive people…
more like a passive agressive b***h
with a good lesbian friend as lawyer
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lol your missing the point here, Apple is know for seeing things that others don’t.
Steve him self said “a good artist copies a great artist steals” <—PLEASE GOOGLE THE REAL MEANING OF THIS BEFORE GOING AROUND SAYING THEY STEAL.
They take whats already there and make it better.
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Xerox PARC wasn’t stolen; Apple got permission to use it. Remember, too, it was just theoretical research and wasn’t going to lead to the Xerox Macintosh or any shipping product.
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yes of course you want to win
but the thing with Apple is that they want to win thru LAWYERS wich is a slanted view of business don’t you think ?
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You used google lately?
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Why does this remind me of LegacyofJobs and Vlad lol
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Windows Phone 7 looks pretty good right now lol
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Seriously? Apple took a free, open source operating system and made their computer customers pay for a closed source version. Apple took pc hardware and packaged it in their own enclosures and charge nearly twice as much as a pc with the same specs.
Jobs was a smart man, his company has more money than the entire US. Maybe he should look in a mirrore before accusing something being stolen.
Suck my dick apple, I will never own any of your mediocre, hyped up pieces of junk.$
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Unix is not a free operating system.
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@f-hole
Darwin (which Mac OS X runs on) is based on BSD, which IS open source via a BSD license.
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“when Android was officially launched in 2010″
Am I missing something here? Didn’t the G1 come out in 2008?
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Not to mention the Android project way before the release of the first iPhone and purchased by Google in 2005.
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James,
Nexus One was released in Jan 2010 as the “official” google phone and it was miles ahead of other Android on the market. Other than the original Droid, all existing Android phones can’t hold its own to the iphone. Droid, then Nexus One, changed the game.
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it sure did, i bought one lol
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LOL
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Kudos to the other Alex for mentioning Xerox. i have some older, discounted Apple products, but the GUI isn’t invented by Apple. Plus, the Palm, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile all existed before iOS. Android is neither perfect nor seamless, but the same applies to any OS. There are pros in cons when using any operating system.
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Kinda sounds like the Third Reich…
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Tales from thr crypt.
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Zombie Jobs will rise and get you Google!
Perhaps that tirade explains the bizarre attempts to patent shapes and send the entire mobile industry into legal armageddon. Maybe now that we’re past his “last dying breath” cooler heads will prevail. But I guess it is more likely that since the patent war has begun it is impossible to stop. Not even Oppenheimer could put the thermonuclear genie back in the bottle.
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And google said:
-Its on
Then immediately started working on ICS
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Android is way better than OS now, the only advantage for apple is the apps that much more than android market but will soon in equavenlent next summer, I have all apple stuff except iPhone, because android does good now,better soon. hope iPhone 5 will change my mind
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Wow, what a hypocritical comment. Apple has stole so much from android including siri. If apple were smart they wouldn’t have even called it Siri, it means a*s in Japanese. Smooth steave. I respect you as a person and in no way did you deserve to die, but if this is true comments like this make me disrespect you as a bissness man. The best phone goes to the most innovative to accuse someone of copying when they came out before you and you still sit on a massive pile of money is wrong.
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This explains the law suits. Denying people products that they want is not going to gain my sympathy. Make a deal for licensing fees and let the people get the products that they want. That’s what MS did.
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@losers you’re a f*****g i***t, just shows how most apple fanboys are. “You must be poor if you don’t like apple” honestly how f*****g retarded are you? Do you think all androids and pc’s are cheap? My f*****g Galaxy s2 costs as much as your iphone and its twice the phone the iphone will ever be. Have you seen any high end samsung or sony pc’s? A beast vaio z costs around 4 grand. Next you attack any non apple product, at least try to use a valid argument.
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dead martyr alert!
I just saw a preview of his upcoming Biography that says he didn’t listen to physicians and decided to try “alternative” veggie stuff for his pancreatic cancer…….
I guess he thought he was smarter than them or that his superpower mind would save him just by thinking hard…
pretentious greedy individualist to say the least…
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Dude, you just read the proof. A quote from the cult leader himself. When a CEO of a company puts corporate objectives over customers people bash him as being ‘evil’. Jobs went one step further: he put a personal grudge ahead of both the company and customers. He practically admitted to having a vendetta and stated his willingness to misappropriate shareholders money to wage a personal war. Bankrupt two companies and put thousands out of work to settle a score. And for a made-up BS reason. Seems a little wacko to me, no?
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Didn’t Apple steal the UI for the iPhone from HTC UI for Windows Mobile?
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Actually the First android Phone was launch in October 2008 (With T-Mobile if I remember) I don’t know where they get that 2010 Android Launch?
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Steve was vexed… and boys you forget this was what android was at first…
http://pocketnow.com/android/remember-this-early-android-demo-video
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“Jobs stated “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”. I would say that’s a bit more than being “livid”. ”
That’s a greedy scumbag and a half.
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Apple is hated all over. People who know what they’re doing with technology use Androids. If you’re dumb or useless with technology then chances are you’re using an iPhone and not researching information. Which is how I see all Apple people – uninformed and waiting to be told.
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Can’t wait to buy that book!
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Go figure he hates the competition so much, he even buys from Samsung the company he keeps suing.
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I love books like this that reveal things about people who we only see from what they chose to portray to the public.
Warriors respect their foe and relish combat. Gentlemen understand that the playing field is not always even but persevere and compete.
I think the quote says something about Steve. I have no respect for that.
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There are certain things I admire about Steve Jobs (like his presentation skills), but this is pathetic.
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lol, I was gonna say. Google started this back in 2005.
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Well if we want to be precise, Google didn’t, but Android (which was its own startup back then) did. Google then came along and bought them.
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LMAO oh man the DUDE LOST his MIND
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Sorry steve but you created it and Google perfected it.
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The most succesful people in business are often like steve. At least the ones I know. They are intense, competitive, don’t care that much about there subordinates. In other words they think they bring life to everything. And when they see someone emulating them its hard for them because they think they bring every thing to life.
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Too little too late Steve! Long live Android!
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So how’s that workin’ out for ya, Steve?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW0DUg63lqU&feature=youtube_gdata_player this should explain huh apple ?
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You post just makes you seem illiterate, go look up the meaning of that quote
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Which makes you illiterate or you just don’t have enough comprehension skills because Steve used it out of context.
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Well, I cant say im surprised. However i suspect that such a task was easier said than it was done.
I respect Jobs, he was a good CEO (take the personal issues and tech theft (all too common in this industry) out of it) and without all this competition, we wouldnt have the great devices we have now.
Thanks to Steve Jobs for being a character and not some boring corporate hack, thanks to Google for making everything more accessible than ever before and thanks to RIM…
Well, we’ll come back to that when BBX phones are released. Im not too pleased with my 9900 right now.
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So, because Android also uses capacitive touch as its main source of input means that it’s “stolen”? Come on, Steve, even you know that you’ve probably stolen more from them than they did from you. Cloud storage came first for Android, a better notifications system, over the air updates, they were all Android features until iOS came along one day claiming that Android was ripped off of their OS. You’ve done just as much “borrowing” as the other platforms have.
Besides, if you look back into the past, Android has been in development since 2003. 2003, Apple, just because it was released 5 months after iOS (iPhone OS at the time) was revealed doesn’t mean that it was stolen, it was maybe even in development months before iOS.
Here’s a prime example of how Apple’s used other’s ideas before. Remember the original mouse? It was a much easier way to communicate using a GUI, and Apple likes to take the claim for it. The truth is, Xerox actually brought it out with what I believe was called the Xerox Star Information System. However, Apple’s always claimed that it was THEIR idea. Another good example, Apple claimed that they invented multitouch. Quite contrary, it’s been around since the ’80s, touchscreens dating back even further. Apple just brought multitouch to the mainstream market, by NO means did they invent it!
Steve, you’re a good salesman and a good businessman, but making false claims like that and claiming that others stole from your OS is pure PS, may you rest in peace but I just lost a LOT of respect from you.
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He claims it was stolen because before the iPhone this is what your Androids looked like —>http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2011/09/androidlive.JPG .
And apple doesn’t claim the came up with anything, they simply claim the revolutionized it, and they did. They took the already there smartphone and made it better. Before the iPhone were there any mainstream smartphones? NO
Apple took everything that was there and put together, after that everyone said oh look thats a great idea let us do it too.
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Rio I have come to see that you’re an Apple fan boy and honestly fan boys are the worst type of human being (that goes for a fan boy of anything). Grow up man, you get nothing from defending apple or android. You’re annoying though and i wonder if you’re trolling or you’re really butt hurt because android is a ‘stolen product’? Seriously do you realize that your source basically helps the comment above yours? It went from keypad to capacitive touch screen and all of a sudden it is a stolen product. If iPhone did inspire android woopitydoo because that is all it ever did. It isn’t stolen it is business and hardly any of ours since we are the consumers and benefit any how. You might even enjoy android if you take apple’s p***s out of your a*s or you can just enjoy the iPhone. I was just implying you’re a fan boy since i need to spell it out for your illiteracy or your lack of comprehension skills.
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No doubt that Android was influence by the iPhone. Still, Android made improvements over the iPhone that many people like over the iPhone. If Apple wanted to seek payment as an indication of its contribution to the many Android devices, I’m sure Google and the manufacturers would want to come to a reasonable agreement. If this happens, there will be more peace in the tech industry and people who happen to like Android devices will be happy, too.
Jobs clearly felt he was wronged by Google. In not wanting to come to an agreement like what MS did, he also is trying to deny people who like Android devices from getting them with his various law suits. In effect the fallout of Jobs’ “thermonuclear war” is that it makes a lot of customers unhappy. If Jobs banned me from getting the Android phone and tablet that I liked the most, I certainly would not be happy if I end up having to get a second rate (according to my needs) device instead.
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All of you guys sound sooo sad. It’s just a phone Mr. Jobs has pasted and you guys just talk $h!t like this has any outcome on your lives. Sooo ashamed to own a android. It’s a OS for snug uptight losers.
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Steve Jobs said before to die to Samsung that they wouldn t have been able to do it without there technology. (Samsung wanted to stop producing all there chips.) Lol.
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@ RIo – “…great artist steals” – well that’s Pablo Picasso .
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f u SJ, Android is great!!!
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Lmfao YES STEVE
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how can a product that the dev started 3 YEARS before they started developping iOS is stealing? they basicly got out the same year, the only thing that took Android that long is the “we let manufacturer do what they want with it” nature of the open source Android!
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I give him that on the Oracle Java part, Google basically cut’n'pasted that into Android but other than that, what was stolen from an open source Linux OS? Apple has been doing a little more stealing than anyone else in the technology world and the iOS5 additions prove it.
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Steve Jobs. what a goofball. He has admitted in the past that he himself has stolen most of his ideas. Also android is doing so much better because it doesn’t rip people off and is not as controlling!
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funny, this all coming from a guy who once said:
“good artists copy, great artists steal”
But then again I’m sure this was just another ploy for Apple to gain more favor of its sheeple.
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@Rlo – SJ also said, in the same video, that Apple was shameless about stealing ideas. Is there an encrypted meaning to what he said?
There is nothing wrong with taking someone else’ idea and making it better. Just don’t go around saying you invented it or b***h about others doing the same thing.
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@Sigh,
Thats the thing, Apple hasn’t said they invented anything they just said the did it first, they revolutionized it, they thought of using what was already there first.
Also the whole Xerox thing, yeah Xerox has the tech but did they use it? NO.
So apple bought it and found an amazing way to use it that Xerox didn’t think off.
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@Rlo
SJ also said, in the same video, that Apple was shameless about stealing ideas. Is there an encrypted meaning to what he said?
There’s nothing wrong with taking someone else’ idea and making it better. Just don’t go around saying you invented it or b**ch about others doing the same thing.
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I really like apple’s new status bar . . . hmm wait a minute!?!
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Seriously did any of you guys see what Android looked like before the iPhone came out? It looked like a blackberry or Palm OS before touch screens.
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@John H Um what the s**t are you smoking? First iPhone came out in 2007, first Android to go public was in 2008 which was the HTC G1 that looked nothing like Blackberry nor Palm.
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Or are you talking about the OS? With the tab dock and a drawer?
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Of course I’m talking about the OS. They were building an OS that was like a Blackberry/Palm or Windows mobile phone and then the iPhone was released and they decided to copy Apple. Look at what the first Android was supposed to look like.
http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/video-google-android-ui-in-the-wild
http://www.letsgomobile.org/en/2974/google-android/
Now you see why SJ was so pissed off?
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My unsolicited $0.02: Just got my iPhone. Came from Android. I can honestly say the differences are intangible rather than anything measured on a specs sheet, but slanted heavily toward iOS. Seriously, it feels more ‘baked’. While I do believe that Android copied more than Apple, if Apple did copy, they didn’t just copy… they made it better. That’s something that overall, I feel Android doesn’t do well–innovate. They like to toss features in, but it’s a little like adding a spoiler to your dad’s Chevy Impala hoping to make it look cool. Apple’s products feel and operate more like a Porche. And that analogy follows through to expense. They cost more, and are harder to maintain. But in all honesty, I can see where that extra cost goes. There’s two reasons why people buy expensive hardware: To look high brow and laud success, and because they actually appreciate the workmanship and design. I think a big part of the iOS/Android discussion where people getting upset is concerned is focused more on the former point. At the latter side though, I have zero regrets. I like the phone and the OS because it really IS better, copy or not.
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Utter bullcrap, it’s so well ‘baked’ you have to jailbreak to use it properly.
Samsung GS2 blows iPhone 4S out of the water. By your reckoning Samsung GS2 = McLaren MP4-12C
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What rubbish. This entire argument that you need to jailbreak it to use it is asinine. Much has been made of the ‘walled garden’ and how Apple users are somehow i****s for going there. The thing is, if you don’t jailbreak it, it DOES work properly–better than properly, exceptionally. Part of Android’s problem is that anyone can do anything and that buggers the system much of the time. I give up being able to do everything *exactly* as I want on an iPhone, but in exchange, I get a very reliable, slick, attractive system. That’s a choice I make every day with more things than operating systems, and everyone else does too. Sure, someone might WANT to beat the tar out of someone for whatever reason, but there’s laws to prevent that, and society’s better off for it. Similarly, the ecosystem that Apple designed is also better off if devs follow guidelines.
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I don’t know about the iPhone 4s or 4 for that matter. I came from the 3gs which was a while ago and i have to say Android for me has been better ever since the switch. Now you’re comparing ios 5 to gingerbread or maybe even froyo what ever you had. It may seem more ‘baked’ because apple had 1-2 years to ‘bake’ it (depending on which version you switched from). I guess the better comparison would be ICS which seems to me to be a game changer. I give the nod to android as it is now but you know to each their own i’m not going to -1 you because you did what i just did and that is state an opinion. If you are a fanboy at least it wasn’t as obvious as Rio lol.
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Theremonuclear war between two tech companies…. Kind of reminds me of this… http://eveshungry.blogspot.com/
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Android will never be destroyed.
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The irony. I wonder what the people at Xerox Parc were feeling when Jobs stole most of the ideas he saw there and made the Mac?
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People in glass houses shouldn’t throw rocks. Much of Apple’s tech was/is “borrowed”.
If Steve hadn’t taken that Xerox tour in Palo Alto, the Mac wouldn’t even exist. What a hypocrite…
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So how did that go for you Steve?
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Apple IOS copied android and android copied Apple IOS…
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Hey Harris comments like DD’s( look who’s destroyed now), are what make this place worth living in. Without guys like him, do you think we ever would have had George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Louis c.k. , Jim jeffries? Im not comparing ,but lines need to be crossed sometimes, you don’t have to be such a pussy about it!
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Hey Harris, comments like DD’s make this place worth living in. Ever heard of guys like Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Louis c.k., Jim jeffries?? They like(d) to cross lines as well, and I suppose Matt Stone and Trey Parker have some serious growing up to do….all the way to the bank! Lines need to be crossed sometimes, you don’t have to be such a pussy about it.
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We exploit employees unlike apple does.
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….
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It’s always the “intellectually impulsive” kind who get anywhere substantial in life.
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@Len
I’m sure you knew Steve Jobs personally, right? That’s exactly how you’re justified in calling him or anyone else a ‘horrible person’? Just wanted to make sure you knew what you were talking about before belittling someone for having respect for the dead. Harris knows not to talk poorly about someone who cannot reply back in their defense. And who cares if you don’t agree with Jobs or anything he stood for. Most of us don’t! All you have done is prove that DD and yourself still require maturing.
And learn to spell. ‘Him accomplishments’? You put down others before proof-reading? That is pathetic.
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