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From Steve Jobs' Biography: "I'm going to destroy Android"

Thursday October 20, 2011 9:25 pm PDT by Arnold Kim
The Associated Press obtained an early copy of Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography and shared some highlights.

In particular, they share Steve Jobs' reaction to HTC's 2010 introduction of an Android phone that shared many features of the iPhone. Jobs told Isaacson that Google's actions amounted to "grand theft."
"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."
Jobs met with Google's Eric Schmidt later and told Schmidt he wasn't interested in settling for any amount of money. Instead Jobs told Schmidt, "I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that's all I want."

Jobs' attitude against Android helps explains the lawsuits that have come from Apple against both HTC and Samsung. Both legal actions have resulted in countersuits as well as attempts to ban sales of devices around the world.

[ 1418 comments ]


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guch20
95 months ago
Good. That's exactly the attitude Apple should continue to have about Android with Steve gone. It's a cheap knock-off of a beautiful product that took no imagination to copy.
Rating: 155 Votes
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Hakone
95 months ago
He's definitely passionate about protecting his company's ideas...
Rating: 123 Votes
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guch20
95 months ago

Wow, what a jerk. Jobs truly is evil.


Yeah, wanting to stop a cheap, utilitarian, "just-barely-good-enough", glitchy, buggy, virus-ridden copy of something your company spent years and millions of dollars on...what a total dick.

/sarcasm
Rating: 81 Votes
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rsshelas
95 months ago

He could have killed android if he allowed flash and made a new design instead of the iphone 4s. Not that it isn't a great phone, but it could have beat android in so many ways.


It could have? I think IOS is already beating the android
Rating: 77 Votes
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guch20
95 months ago

He could have killed android if he allowed flash and made a new design instead of the iphone 4s. Not that it isn't a great phone, but it could have beat android in so many ways.


Yeah, God knows if Apple took the same exact insides from the iPhone 4S, but put them in a new shell, Android would be all like "No!!!1! We're gonna stop copying now! Bummer dude!! Weaksauce forever!!!" :rolleyes:

And Flash? Really? Does anyone really miss Flash on their iPhone or iPad? I don't. First, my battery lasts longer without it. Second, my device isn't chugging to load that crap. Third, it's a virus portal that I don't have to worry about. And fourth, Flash barely works on a lot of mobile devices anyway.
Rating: 75 Votes
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Slurpy2k8
95 months ago

He could have killed android if he allowed flash and made a new design instead of the iphone 4s. Not that it isn't a great phone, but it could have beat android in so many ways.


I just lost some braincells reading this.
Rating: 73 Votes
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cshearer
95 months ago
Android is one of the most poorly executed "ideas" in the history of technology. Rubbish.
Rating: 68 Votes
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DJAKO
95 months ago
That quote is just so mesmerizing, I can't wait for this book to come out!
Rating: 58 Votes
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kjs862
95 months ago
His passion is so inspiring, really.
Rating: 52 Votes
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guch20
95 months ago

I would love to know exactly which ideas were "stolen".


Let's see...

Why don't we start with...

The whole damn OS???
Rating: 50 Votes

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