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In a report outlining the well-examined "frenemies" relationship between Apple and Samsung, Reuters notes that Apple CEO Tim Cook was opposed to suing Samsung for allegedly copying iOS, iPhone and iPad patents in the creation of its own line of tablets and smartphones. Cook's thoughts illustrate the differences between him and predecessor Steve Jobs, who said he was willing to wage "thermonuclear war" on companies that "stole" from Apple.
Tim Cook, Jobs' successor as Apple chief executive, was opposed to suing Samsung in the first place, according to people with knowledge of the matter, largely because of that company's critical role as a supplier of components for the iPhone and the iPad. Apple bought some $8 billion worth of parts from Samsung last year, analysts estimate. [...]
Cook, worried about the critical supplier relationship, was opposed to suing Samsung. But Jobs had run out of patience, suspecting that Samsung was counting on the supplier relationship to shield it from retribution.
Cook's operational expertise no doubt influenced his perspective in worrying about impacts on the supply chain side of the equation, but he was overruled by Jobs. Since the dispute with Samsung broke out into the legal arena, Apple has been working to reduce its reliance on Samsung, but the two remain closely linked.
During Apple's Q2 2012 conference call, Cook said he has always "hated litigation", noting that he would prefer to settle rather than battle it out in the courts, although he emphasized that Apple does not want to become the "developer for the world". Apple has settled with other companies that it has had patent issues with, including HTC, but last November Samsung publicly said that it was not interested in settling with Apple.
Top Rated Comments
You can choose another manufacturer. You can't get back stolen designs. EVER
I am much more apt to listen to a CEO than a forum surfer. As I have said in the past, Samsung is the best supplier of flash, nand, chips, and screens on the planet. From productions standpoint they would be shooting themselves in the foot to sever the ties with samsung. The higher failure rate of the alternatives was and still are unacceptable. They need samsung until they can find a manufactuerer that can meet the needs they have. We have already seen the issues with the new screen manufacturer (tracking diagonal swiping correctly) and I am sure they would like to avoid that.
In essence cutting ties with samsung, for now, would result in lower quality products. That is not to say that in the future it will be the same issue. Until the day comes though apple needs to play nice.
Tim Cook is a supply chain guy, he knows his stuff and wouldn't have raised these concerns if there was no reason.
Oh, God. Not this again.
If Steve Jobs thought Schmidt was using his position to strengthen his own platform, then his "thermonuclear war" would've included suing the everliving hell out of the guy.
Instead, he went after Samsung.
And it's not like Jobs ever kept his feelings a secret. If he actually truly believed Schmidt stole directly from him, he would've been lambasting the guy every chance he got. Instead, he had nothing but nice things to say about him up until the day he died.
So please, lets all put this "Schmidt directly stole from Apple" fantasy to rest. Because that's exactly what it is. A fantasy. It has absolutely zero basis in reality.
And lets not get into the MS stole the GUI from Apple business. In fact, lets put this whole Apple Victimhood thing as deep in the dirt as we possibly can. It's really annoying, and only spoken from a position of ignorance.
Britain were at the top of their game in the 1950's and 1960's. Then other manufactures from other countries began copying our designs and concepts.
We did nothing and well the rest is history, we have no car industry today.