Google Warned Samsung not to Copy Apple

[Technarchy]

Do two "wrongs" make a right? I'm not sure how much of a defence this is?

http://9to5google.com/2012/07/26/samsung-says-apple-stole-iphone-design-from-sony/

Image

All kinds of reaching to connect the dots...

1-So Apple reads an interview about a Sony product that sounds like an iPod

2- Apple throws together a mockup of a phone with iPod concepts

3 - Apple somehow copied Sony who was 6 years late to the game at that point

4 - WTF??

Exactly what product was Apple privy to that they copied?

 

[kdarling]

All kinds of reaching to connect the dots...

2- Apple throws together a mockup of a phone with iPod concepts

I think that you missed the major point.

The claim is that Apple made an exact mockup of the Sony device to show their own designers what the iPhone should look more like.

(You seem stuck on the idea that the iPhone was solely an iPod derivative. I think you're partly right, but that probably meant being larger and originally having a clickwheel type control on the bottom, not the final and far more simplistic single button.)

Of interest is that the missing redacted parts are now available:

Right after this article was circulated internally, Apple industrial designer Shin Nishibori was directed to prepare a “Sony-like” design for an Apple phone and then had CAD drawings and a three-dimensional model prepared.

Confirming the origin of the design, these internal Apple CAD drawings prepared at Mr. Nishibori‘s direction even had the “Sony” name prominently emblazoned on the phone design, as the below images from Apple‘s internal documents show:

(see image in previous post)

Soon afterward, on March 8, 2006, Apple designer Richard Howarth reported that, in contrast to another internal design that was then under consideration, Mr. Nishibori‘s “Sony-style” design enabled “a much smaller-looking product with a much nicer shape to have next to your ear and in your pocket” and had greater “size and shape/comfort benefits.”

As Mr. Nishibori has confirmed in deposition testimony, this “Sony-style” design he prepared changed the course of the project that yielded the final iPhone design.

 

[Mac.World]

All kinds of reaching to connect the dots...

1-So Apple reads an interview about a Sony product that sounds like an iPod

2- Apple throws together a mockup of a phone with iPod concepts

3 - Apple somehow copied Sony who was 6 years late to the game at that point

4 - WTF??

Exactly what product was Apple privy to that they copied?

Funny, if this had been an internal Samsung document referencing an Apple product for CAD mock-ups, you'd be yelling at the top of your lungs that this is documented proof that Samsung copied Apple. But because it is Apple accused of copying Sony, well, we'll just ignore it. By the way, Sony wasn't late to the game, Apple was. Sony Ericsson was making phones and creating patents, when Apple barely had a click wheel functioning on an iPod.

 

[Technarchy]

The claim is that Apple made an exact mockup of the Sony device to show their own designers what the iPhone should look more like.

That's not what it says.

In fact, no where does it say Apple was privy to any Sony device. The CAD drawing is Apple's, and not based on anything Apple saw that belonged to Sony.

So highlight for me the product or prototype Apple is supposed to have copied.

 

[Sensamic]

To me Apple is innocent as long as Technarchy says so.

I believe him above all other things.

 

[kdarling]

In fact, no where does it say Apple was privy to any Sony device. The CAD drawing is Apple's, and not based on anything Apple saw that belonged to Sony.

Ah, thanks. I see what you're thinking.

So the obvious question is, if that picture came from Apple's CAD drawing of their own design, why does it say "Sony" on it?

Or... is this another case of tech bloggers like All Things D putting up a fake photo to get more clicks?

 

[Technarchy]

Ah, thanks. I see what you're thinking.

So the obvious question is, if that picture came from Apple's CAD drawing of their own design, why does it say "Sony" on it?

Or... is this another case of tech bloggers like All Things D putting up a fake photo to get more clicks?

It could be a fabrication for illustration purposes.

It's also possible Apple gives prototyping bizarre names or whatever to throw off corporate espionage and leaks.

Or Maybe it was a play on the Nishibori's Japanese name.

Who knows?

 

[kdarling]

It could be a fabrication for illustration purposes.

Yeah, I'm suspicious now. Should've checked before, but I've been working all day. Gonna go look around.

Btw, I saw you mention 8" floppies in a SCIF. Heh. When I was in, all we had was lots of wooden card catalogs with thousands of little notecards packed in them. Real pain to look up stuff!

Cheers!

 

[balamw]

So the obvious question is, if that picture came from Apple's CAD drawing of their own design, why does it say "Sony" on it?

MOD NOTE/PET PEEVE: Please provide links if quoting an outside source.

This seems to be a source for the unredacted material http://allthingsd.com/20120726/apples-iphone-has-sony-style-says-samsung/

This was apparently the Sony device referenced in the article.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/28/sonys-nw-a1200-8gb-walkman-straight-outta-japan/

The original link is quite clear that that is an Apple CAD model.

Confirming the origin of the design, these internal Apple CAD drawings prepared at Mr. Nishibori‘s direction even had the “Sony” name prominently emblazoned on the phone design, as the below images from Apple‘s internal documents show:

The angled controls and their colors remind me somewhat of the old Sony Walkman I had in the 80s. http://www.walkmancentral.com/products/wm-f10

EDIT: I've got a mangled 8" floppy from a PDP-11 in a box somewhere around here.

B