Apple isn’t the first watchmaker to expand into custom metallurgy to produce hardened ceramic-blend 18-karat gold. Here’s a video from Hublot explaining their process.
Even as Jobs became ill, Apple’s lawyers kept filing patents in his name every few days, including one for a variation of the Mac’s scrolling toolbar on October 4, 2011, the day before he passed away.
And Jobs’s name is still getting added to new patents, some of which offer a window on his personal interests, like a 260-foot super yacht, Venus, that he commissioned and helped design.
グーグルの CEO Larry Page とアップルの CEO Tim Cook は、広範な範囲の知的財産権に関する事項について舞台裏で会合を持っており、それには両社間のモバイル特許紛争も含まれていると、この件に詳しい情報筋が語った。
(Reuters) – Google Inc Chief Executive Larry Page and Applehave been conducting behind-the-scenes talks about a range of intellectual property matters, including the mobile patent disputes between the companies, people familiar with the matter said.
The two executives had a phone conversation last week, the sources said. Discussions involving lower-level officials of the two companies are also ongoing.
Page and Cook are expected to talk again in the coming weeks, though no firm date has been set, the sources said on Thursday. One of the sources told Reuters that a meeting had been scheduled for this Friday, but had been delayed for reasons that were unclear.
The two companies are keeping lines of communication open at a high level against the backdrop of Apple’s legal victory in a patent infringement case against Samsung, which uses Google’s Android software.
One possible scenario under consideration could be a truce involving disputes over basic features and functions in Google’s Android mobile software, one source said. But it was unclear whether Page and Cook were discussing a broad settlement of the various disputes between the two companies, most of which involve the burgeoning mobile computing area, or are focused on a more limited set of issues.
The conversation between Page and Cook last week did not result in any formal agreement, but the two executives agreed to continue talking, according to one source.
The Loop: “Thermonuclear” by Jim Dalrymple: 27 August 2012
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いうほどでもなかった
サムスンに対するアップルの勝利は「核戦争も辞さない」というほどのものではなかったというコメントがウェブのあちこちで見られる。重要な点を忘れてはならない。Steve Jobs がいったのはサムスンではなく、グーグルのことだったのだから・・・
I’ve seen a number of comments around the Internet about how Apple didn’t exactly go “Thermonuclear” in its win against Samsung. There’s an important point to remember — Steve Jobs wasn’t talking about Samsung, he was talking about Google.
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「核戦争も辞さない」発言
Walter Isaacson の公認伝記本で Jobs はグーグルの Eric Schmidt と会ったことを回想している。
In Walter Isaacson’s book Jobs recalled a meeting he had with then Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
「この不正を正すためなら、もし必要なら自分が最後の息を引き取るまで、さらにアップルの 400 億ドルの貯金すべてをはたいても、この不正を正すのに使うつもりだ」と Jobs はいう。「Android は潰してやる。それは盗品なのだ。この件に関しては核戦争になってもやるつもりだ。」
“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,” Jobs said. “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”
“I don’t want your money. If you offer me $5 billion, I won’t want it. I’ve got plenty of money. I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that’s all I want.”
Because it was so blatant in its copying, Samsung was the most obvious target and allowed Apple to set precedent for its patents. That was the precursor to going thermonuclear.
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Android とは無関係か
グーグルは今回の評決について心配していないという。なぜなら「特許の大部分は Android OS のコア部分とは無関係だからだ。」しかしながら、Seth Weintraub が指摘するように、特許のいくつかは直接グーグルに関係している。例えばラバーバンド効果(rubber band effect)がそうだ。
Google says its not worried about the verdict because “most of these [patents] don’t relate to the core Android operating system.” However, as Seth Weintraub points out, some of the patents relate directly to Google, like the rubber band effect.
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怖れよ、グーグル
Steve Jobs のいった核戦争が近づきつつあることをグーグルは危惧すべきなのだ。
Google should be worried. Steve Jobs’ thermonuclear promise is coming.
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この投稿に対するコメントもなかなかオモシロい。
なお John Gruber も、つぎのようにコメントしている。
Daring Fireball: “Thermonuclear” by John Gruber: 27 August 2012
The company spent most of the past month telling the jury that the iPhone was a revolution five years in the making, and that Samsung had taken just three months to copy it, without bearing any of the costs or risks involved. The jury clearly agreed — and most importantly, the jury agreed that all of Apple’s patents are valid, even after Samsung spent hours trying to demonstrate prior art.
「アップルのすべてを盗むだろうと思った」という Phil Schiller の証言に対して抱いた「アップルメディアイベントでの大勝負のプレゼンテーションに比べれば、陪審員に語りかけるのは彼にとってたやすい技のように見えた」という印象は正しかった。Schiller はやすやすと陪審員の心をつかんだのだ。
“We didn’t want to give carte blanche to a company, by any name, to infringe someone else’s intellectual property,” Hogan told Reuters a day after the verdict.
Reached for comment, a Samsung representative told AllThingsD that this document isn’t nearly as damning as it might appear: “Samsung benchmarks many peer companies,” the rep said. “In fact, these are typical competitive analyses routinely undertaken by many companies in many industries – including Apple.”
“If Samsung truly believed that Google’s takeover of Motorola Mobility was going to be helpful to the entire Android eco-system at large, it would have waited until that deal was closed before concluding the license agreement with Microsoft,” said a Samsung official.
If Samsung truly believed that Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility was going to be helpful to the Android ecosystem at large, it would have waited until that deal is closed before concluding the license agreement with Microsoft. But Samsung probably knows it can’t rely on Google. It decided to address Android’s intellectual property issues on its own.
I wouldn’t be too harsh on the Korea Times reporter. Language barriers between Asian and Western languages are a huge challenge. I speak several European languages, including that I learned Russian, but all of that is child’s play compared to the differences between Asian and European languages. That’s why I didn’t blog or tweet to criticize him. I had emailed him my post, which I often do when I believe a reporter is working on a topic at the given time, but my email obviously didn’t suggest that I’m a Samsung official…
Considering that Mueller emailed Yoo-chul with his post, I agree that the attribution of these remarks to “a Samsung official” was probably an honest mistake, not plagiarism. Who would plagiarize from someone who emailed them with a “Hey, you might be interested in this piece I wrote” pointer. But given how much attention the remarks have gotten, the sourcing deserves to be corrected.
For what it’s worth, I think Mueller’s analysis is spot-on, and I find it interesting that Samsung hasn’t disavowed the quote. My guess is that this is exactly what Samsung officials really do think, and so they’re willing to let it stand.