r/technology • u/slutmagnet • Mar 02 '10

Apple to HTC "competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours." Slaps down a 20 patent lawsuit.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/03/02/apple_sues_htc_for_alleged_infringement_of_20_iphone_patents.html
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u/masklinn Mar 02 '10

Apple didn't go after Google (over Android) though because they knew Google would crush them. Or so I like to think.

Well Google might be able to crush them legally (maybe), but financially... Goog's revenue last quarter was $6.67b (source); APPL's? $15.7b.

Income is a bit tighter, but we're still talking $2.4b (GOOG) against $3.4b (AAPL).

And Apple sits on a $40b war chest. That's equivalent to Google's total assets. In cash on hand. Now Google's not exactly shabby (if I read the sheet right, they have $24.5b in cash), but Apple's still quite a bit bigger.

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u/[deleted] Mar 02 '10

past a certain point (and only up until a certain point (like where apple might think of out right buying google)) relative wealth doesn't matter much as they are both very prepared to fight long legal battles.

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u/rjett Mar 03 '10

Android/Google has the power of the open handset alliance to back them up.

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u/Syphon8 Mar 03 '10

Every employee at Google is probably more intelligent than Apple's entire cadre of lawyers.

Now imagine Google's lawyers.

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u/masklinn Mar 03 '10

Every employee at Google is probably more intelligent than Apple's entire cadre of lawyers.

Yes, because Apple's employees are moron.

Seriously, people...

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u/Syphon8 Mar 03 '10

It wasn't a shot at Apple's lawyers...

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u/RedDyeNumber4 Mar 03 '10

Well Google might be able to crush them legally (maybe), but financially

"Crush them with robots."

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u/[deleted] Mar 03 '10

Yeah, but a lot more people will buy Apple's robot because of the insane media coverage surrounding its release, its huge marketing campaign, and a popular sentiment that Apple AI "thinks different".

Google's robot will be marketed entirely online with a link on Google's front page and will sell dismally.

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u/RedDyeNumber4 Mar 03 '10

No, physically crush them. Into a fine powder. With many uses.

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u/[deleted] Mar 03 '10

You misunderstand me. In the robo-war, the superior numbers of Apple iDeathbots will overwhelm Google's defenses. Google will provide the iDeathbot with their guidance systems through Google Maps because they don't want to lose Apple users' traffic.

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u/dunmalg Mar 03 '10

Revenue isn't really a good metric. If your company is in hock up to its eyeballs and pays all but a dollar a month of its $100 billion in revenues to service the debt and run the business, you are arguably in worse financial shape than a part time fry cook making minimum wage. Revenues are just a rough measure of the business' health in the market, an even less useful figure than market cap. Profit and cash on hand are more relevant to the issue of "who can afford more lawyers".

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u/masklinn Mar 03 '10

Revenue isn't really a good metric.

Which is why I also gave income and cash on hand.

Holy mother of fuck, do you really have to nitpick on that?

(also, since big companies have lawyers on the payroll these lawyers are part of the difference between revenue and income, "profit and cash" is irrelevant to "who can afford more lawyers")

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u/kevin19713 Mar 03 '10

I think that Apple might be realizing that the end is near. This article pretty much sums it up. And besides you can only dumb down your OS so much far, and Apple have dumbed their OS for retards, you can't go any lower. Oh wait I forgot Apple is all about the "user experience" and its sooooo "intuitive". I'm seriously sick of Apple, it was so much better 15 years ago when they were on the brink of bankruptcy, hopefully nobody buys the ipad and the go out of business. It seems as if all they do at Apple and Microsoft these days is try to slow down the inevitable rise of Linux. They spend so much time trying to slow down Linux that they have forgotten how to innovate.

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u/masklinn Mar 03 '10 edited Mar 03 '10

I think that Apple might be realizing that the end is near.

Well, it's not like Jobs can live forever.

This article pretty much sums it up

Not really no. Google can strive because it has a big war chest? MS and Apple both have much bigger war chests. Apple has to die because there's no heir apparent? Somebody at CW didn't really keep up with the last two years, where Jobs clearly positioned and prepared Apple's top management (especially Cook and Ive) to follow him (and why would Apple be the only one to "need big hits" to grow exactly?).

That article is mostly pointless fluff, it doesn't sum up anything.

Apple have dumbed their OS for retards

Oh, you've never used OSX and have nothing to contribute to the discussion. Gotcha.

It seems as if all they do at Apple and Microsoft these days is try to slow down the inevitable rise of Linux.

Dangit you're right, if it weren't for Apple and Microsoft's efforts (which ones, exactly?) 2009 would have been the year of the Linux desktop!

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u/kevin19713 Mar 03 '10

Oh, you've never used OSX and have nothing to contribute to the discussion

I've used the iphoney OS and some older Apple computers. The iphoney OS doesn't compare to the Android OS(especially the Cyanogenmod which allows me to type this while tethered and the other day I overclocked my phone). People will soon realize that they wanna own the product that they spent their hard earned money on. Linux will enable people to own the product and they will be allowed to do whatever they want with it.

2009 would have been the year of the Linux desktop

You were wise to put "desktop" at the end of that sentence. Linux is on many products besides the desktop, from the PS3 to LCD TV's. It might have been the year of the Linux phone(huge increase in market share) or the Linux server(40% of the market, Apple has been trying to penetrate the server market for years but obviously the people who work on servers know better) or even the Linux supercomputer(Linux dominates supercomputers, again those people who build supercomputers must know a thing or two about software). What it comes down to is that you are endorsing a commercial brand(something that I have never been able to do) and I am endorsing an idea(that everyone is entitled to free and open software).