Comments on: Sony Walkman "inspired" iPhone mockup

By: scatterfingers

scatterfingers — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 13:14:00 +0000

If you’re going to cover the trial, cover the trial. Don’t cherry-pick your evidence. This is a court case and they’re throwing everything at the wall to make it stick.

By: Matthew Petty

Matthew Petty — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 19:17:00 +0000

Where does this teapot fit in?

By: Matthew Daly

Matthew Daly — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 18:39:00 +0000

I had a purple 20GB one, and it was brilliant. Way better sound quality than my current iPod, and it had a feature similar to Genius years before Apple implemented that. The only issue with it was that the software that came with it was crap

By: Its Mee

Its Mee — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 15:42:00 +0000

mmm… walrusburger

By: glatt1

glatt1 — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 13:28:00 +0000

Steve Jobs has passed away. The dude who designed the iPod has left Apple and is making thermostats now. Apple has no new products to offer. It is simply tweaking its old products to make slight improvements to them. It has no future as a company that invents things., so its business model has changed from inventing new technology to suing the competition out of existence. It’s a sad time.

By: zieroh

zieroh — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 09:11:00 +0000

Sadly, you appear to have bought the meme that Samsung has planted in the popular press. This case is about much more than a rectangle with rounded corners. To diminish the subject to such a ridiculous degree is to concede that you don’t actually know what the case is about.

Which is exactly what Samsung wants.

By: garyg2

garyg2 — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 09:07:00 +0000

Me too. Excellent player for it’s time though the screen was pretty much unreadable in any kind of daylight (reflective silver cover, looked cool but maybe not a great choice for legibility purposes).

By: Cowicide

Cowicide — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 07:13:00 +0000

How is this damaging to Apple’s case at all? You should probably read the article to the end.

By: yunostfu

yunostfu — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 05:31:00 +0000

Everyone rips off Apple! Apple is #1! They will always be!

- Sent from my new iPad with a Smart Case tethered to my iPhone that’s near my iMac which is also next to my MacBook Pro that’s sitting next to my MacBook Air that’s hooked up to my Apple TV via AirPort Express using my Apple Magic Mouse and Apple Wireless Keyboard.

By: seyo

seyo — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 03:28:00 +0000

“occasionally someone invents something that merits protection”

yes, agreed. however, claiming to have invented rounded corners on a rectangular object is fucking ridiculous.

By: timquinn

timquinn — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 00:51:00 +0000

The purpose of the law, one would assume, is to parse the subtle distinction between influence and rip off. Sure, a lot of design is borrowed, but occasionally someone invents something that merits protection. We ask the judge or jury to help us with this. This is how we build a society that functions despite people who would like to jump to conclusions and stand their ground despite evidence to the contrary.

By: timquinn

timquinn — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 00:46:00 +0000

what about this thing with two holes, hm?

By: Peter Recore

Peter Recore — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 22:45:00 +0000

This is not nearly as damaging to Apple’s case as some of Samsung’s own phones, IMHO, which were actually on the market before the IPhone. In at least one of its lawsuits, Apple’s position basically switched from “Look at this phone Samsung made, it is a clear copy of the IPhone” to “uh, never mind, we’re removing it from the lawsuit, it looks nothing like our phone” when Samsung pointed out that their phone had come out first.

By: star35

star35 — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 21:59:00 +0000

I had one of these and I loved it. IRL it doesn’t resemble an ipod in any way. It was very small!

By: seyo

seyo — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 21:31:00 +0000

I know we’re all supposed to say how much it looks like the iphone which came later, but to me it also looks a lot like the 2003 ipod with its touch wheel and concentric selection button inside, and with its depressed divot circular button. sony just moved them around a little so that they aren’t symmetrically arranged like on the ipod. product design never happens in a vacuum. it’s an evolutionary process, in which all products in the ecosystem are informed by those that came before them, and will inform those that come after. so in short, sony, apple, samsung, and everyone else are all learning from and evolving with, repeating and rehashing each other’s work. they always have and always will.

By: Draque Thompson

Draque Thompson — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 21:14:00 +0000

All objects are either a ripoff of a sphere or a torus.

By: hadlockk

hadlockk — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 20:07:00 +0000

Looks like a Rio PMP300

By: Paul Chernoff

Paul Chernoff — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 19:44:00 +0000

Documentation and testimony shows that this Sony devise was inspired by the iPod. So it was Sony copying Apple, not the other way. Samsung copied the Blackberry before the iPhone was released, and then started copying the iPhone. Not was inspired by it, but really just copied it.

By: emacsomancer0101

emacsomancer0101 — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 19:43:00 +0000

Rectangular devices with some number of buttons and a screen. Obviously everybody ripped off everybody.

By: iheijoushin

iheijoushin — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 19:42:00 +0000

It looks more inspired by an iPod and far less like an iPhone.

By: BurntHombre

BurntHombre — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 19:36:00 +0000

And the Sony Walkman design was apparently inspired by the keyfob for my Ford Taurus.

By: otterhead

otterhead — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 19:33:00 +0000

This looks like an iPod in the same way that a walrus looks like a hamburger.

By: jerwin

jerwin — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 19:21:00 +0000

Perhaps Apple wanted to understand how the iPad would look next to a hypothetical device using Sony’s then-current design language, which might explain the why the “proposed design” incorporated the SONY logo.

The current Apple Remote looks like part of the NW-A1200. Stylish, though in my case it was quickly discarded for my universal remote.

By: Monopolize Ideas

Monopolize Ideas — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 19:19:00 +0000

Design should be ripped off, there should be no legal Savior for design. I can see only attribution as a method of being polite.

I am not angry that Apple “ripped off” Sony. Nor am I angry that supposed Samsung rips off Apple. These are physical objects with physical limitations. What I am angry about is that somehow Sony, Apple, Samsung own some platonic idea of a design.

Ripping off produces better products, banning “ripping off” just ensures monopoly, a lack of competition and a pat on the back to first to market and the lazy.

By: chaopoiesis

chaopoiesis — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 19:08:00 +0000

Dead ringer for Eric Raymond's moustache.

By: CSMcDonald

CSMcDonald — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 19:03:00 +0000

Yeah, looks like an iPod with a bigger screen and extra buttons.