我所知道的Apple苹果公司

我一直不是很喜欢苹果公司的产品。不错，苹果公司确实制造出一些很不错的产品，但我不喜欢苹果公司厚颜无耻地把很多别人创新的东西都挂在自己的名下（有点像韩国），也不喜欢苹果的时尚路线去忽悠粉丝们一次又一次的当冤大头。
最近IT界有很多苹果的新闻：
1 苹果的4G IPhone原型机被一年轻工程师Gray Powell遗失在酒吧（据说在庆祝27岁生日，加上美味的德国啤酒，有情可原)，Brian J. Hogan拾到后曾试图归还Apple，可客服以为是玩笑而未加理会。后Gizmodo一编辑Jason Chen以5000元购得并加以研究后post到网上。Apple竟有能力令加州警方发出收查令查封Jason的计算机。细节见Gizmodo网站。
2 去年十月，Nokia起诉Apple和UMTS无线通信标准及无线LAN方面的IP(Intellecture Property)。很容易理解，Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG, Sony/Ericsson, HTC, RIM等在手机通讯方面已拼杀多年，各种协议专利无计其数。苹果上来就摘桃子又不给种树钱，而且iPhone做得很有创意，抢了不少市场份额，花了很多钱在R&D的Nokia自然会忿忿然。Nokia VP Ilkka Rahnasto说了如下的话：
"The basic principle in the mobile industry is that those companies who contribute in technology development to establish standards create intellectual property, which others then need to compensate for,"
作为回应，六星期后，苹果公司诉诺基亚13项侵权。苹果的VP Bruce Sewell如是说：
"Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours," 
Apple的list:
No. 5,634,074 : Serial I/O device identifies itself to a computer through a serial interface during power on reset then it is being configured by the computer
No. 6,343,263 B1 : Real-time signal processing system for serially transmitted data
No. 5,915,131 : Method and apparatus for handling I/O requests utilizing separate programming interfaces to access separate I/O services
No. 5,555,369: Method of creating packages for a pointer-based computer system
No. 6,239,795 B1: Pattern and color abstraction in a graphical user interface
No. 5,315,703: Object-oriented notification framework system
No. 6,189,034 B1: Method and apparatus for dynamic launching of a teleconferencing application upon receipt of a call
No. 7,469,381, B2: List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display
No. RE 39, 486 E: Extensible, replaceable network component system
No. 5,455,854: Object-oriented telephony system
No. 7,383,453 B2: Conserving power by reducing voltage supplied to an instruction-processing portion of a processor
No. 5,848,105: GMSK signal processors for improved communications capacity and quality 
No. 5, 379,431: Boot framework architecture for dynamic staged initial program load 
如果你是个电子工程师，你一定很容易看懂Apple玩的把戏。 去年底Nokia再次将Apple告上Delaware地区法院关于user interface, camera, antenna and power management technologies方面的七项专利侵权。
3 类似的诉讼还发生在Apple与HTC之间，不过这次是Apple今年三月先诉的HTC20项侵权,后HTC五月反击。其背景是Apple与Google的较量, 据NPD统计，以HTC为代表制造的采用Google Andriod OS的SmartPhone在今年头三个月的市场份额已超过iPhone。
Apple的fan常称LG, HTC 甚至Nokia位copycat。那么到底有什么Apple独创的东东被抄袭了？
Touch screen？N多年前很多PDA就在用了。SonyEricsson P800在2002年就用了。
Accelerometer? Nokia 5500 sport 2006年初就有了。
MultiTouch 和 UI 界面？ 有很多争论关于LG Prada(KE850)和iPhone。Picture from Engadget。

iPhone的颜色更鲜艳？True is:　KE850 announced on Dec 12, 2006(先于iPhone一个月，iPhone announced on Jan 9, 2007), 虽然official release date是Jan 15, 2007。同款手机在大概一年前就已出现在韩国日本。check thisMAD4 link，
Mr. Woo-Young Kwak, head of LG Mobile Handset R&D Center said to the press:

We consider that Apple copied the Prada phone after the design was unveiled when it was presented in the iF Design Award and won the prize in September 2006.

连wikipedia都认为LG Prada/KE850是第一个是采用支持多点触摸的电容式触摸屏。也有人认为是Synaptics 的Onyx概念手机才是原型。总之，Apple不是首创。



４还有一件事就是：iPhone不支持flash，Apple's new draft of its Iphone developer programme license means that Apple will remove existing content and applications created with Flash CS5 from the Itunes store and ban all future programs from being sold there.

历史上，Apple就是一爱打官司的好斗者。A short history of Apple's aggressive legal tactics 

我不反对保护知识产权，但把所有些许创新都以产权名义保护起来而不许他人借鉴就会封杀科技进步。 1988年Apple曾经诉微软和惠普盗用它的图形用户界面(GUI), 当时的法庭因无法律依据而不予受理，更有意识的是半路杀出个程咬金Xerox来，Xerox诉Apple盗用它的图形界面设计。这次Apple什么也没捞到，Apple上诉最高法院亦被驳回。可以想象，如果当年Xerox或Apple若胜诉了，就不会有现在的Windows, Gnome, KDE甚至MAC。

有时读读comment口水仗很有意思。看看这里Apple v.s HTC和这里 Apple v.s Nokia。我曾在某网页上看到有人讽刺Apple是不是发明了“* 0 #”的拨号盘的设计。