Apple Winning the Patent Wars Is Great for Innovation

[MOnk]

Gizmodo has a bit of a reputation for having their lips firmly around Apple's shaft and this article doesn't disprove such. Having patents for square glass designs, pinch to zoom or 'arranging icons in a grid' isn't going to drive innovation, because more often than not familiarity is more appropriate then efficiency.

Dvorak is apparently a more efficient keyboard layout than qwerty but pretty much everyone still uses qwerty because it's familiar. Imagine now if one company had that patent and no-one else could use the layout?

Also apart from some of Samsung's design choices I really don't see all these hoards of Android iPhone clones like Gizmodo suggests. Android is a fundamentally different OS from iOS in almost every way.

[Cicero]

My main issue with Android, bad experience jaded me. I was an early adopter of Android back when everyone was still singing the iphone's praises. Got a HTC G1 (a.k.a the Dream) and while it was a decent phone the OS sucked. It was clunky, HTC stopped supporting updates and I ended up hating my phone for the majority of my contract length. But Feeling that there was room for improvement I got my wife the Samsung Galaxy Spica II that went much the same way. Shitty design, budget build quality and a battery life that when down the shitter quick fast. Both my parents had Android phones and my Dads GII was a decent enough phone but still, in hind sight, sub par. When I got to the UK I got an iphone and it was just better than any of the android phones Id had or used. Next year May when I can upgrade will check the market again but as it stands now I dont think I will go back to Android unless they (and samsung) can pull a massive rabbit out of the hat.

For sure, I really can't fault the iPhones that much. The absolute only gripe is how bedded down and locked in its ways it is - but thats Apple in general. Otherwise the interface is slick, the response is slick, the feel is amazing. I have the first Samsung Galaxy S, and while its not absolutely revolutionary it serves its purpose for me and I still love it.

[Grimspoon]

Owning both an iPhone and a Samsung S3, I personally agree that Samsung have imitated Apple to a large degree. I do however feel that Apple need to be put in their place. They are bullies. Jobs was a bully. He wanted to wage war on any other company that dare try copy them, which I guess is fair enough. My only issue with Apple is they drag out their product range for too long. They don't offer enough new devices over a shorter period of time.

I feel that if they cut this 3G / 3GS then 4 / 4s rubbish they would be a lot better off. They just selling the same thing with slightly different specs. The other big issue for me is they lock their phones down so tight that you can't do a damn thing to customize it, other than going the jail break route of course.

The Galaxy S3 for me is the iPhone killer. It offers way more than the iPhone can. However Apples quality is 2nd to none.