I’m writing up the latest quarterly numbers — sales of $46 billion! — and realizing (again) that in 10 or 20 years, when we look back on this decade, Apple, perhaps more than anything else, will be what we think of when we think of this era. Here is a $100-billion-plus company that just grew at a 73-percent rate. That’s just not supposed to happen. Sales in this recent quarter were greater than in all of fiscal 2009. And there is nothing in sight to stop this freight train. Superlatives fall short. This is beyond dominating an industry. This is about defining an age. Apple, we are not…
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As I reported in this week’s Newsweek, Apple’s “thermonuclear war” on Android smartphone makers has been fizzling out lately. Most of Apple’s legal claims have been tossed out, and the two minor victories Apple has scored were so trivial that opponents could work around the claim by making minor changes to their products. But a person close to the situation tells me there’s a rumor going around among the lawyers that Apple spent $100 million just on its first set of claims against HTC. Who knows if it’s true, but if so, Apple didn’t get a lot for its money. Apple brought the case against HTC with the International Trade Commission in February, 2010. Apple wanted the ITC to block HTC from importing products into the United States. Apple’s case against HTC started out with 84 claims based on 10 patents. But by the time the case got to a judge only four patents were involved. The final ruling was that one patent was totally invalid because of prior art, and should never have been issued to Apple. On two other patents, the ruling was that HTC was not infringing on the patents, and, worse yet, that Apple itself was not using those patents in its own product, which…
Learn MoreWas anyone else horrified by that amazing article in the New York Times explaining why Apple builds products in China instead of the United States? How do we justify buying products from factories where people are treated in ways that we would never allow ourselves or our countrymen to be treated? As one former Apple executive says, “What U.S. plant can find 3,000 people overnight and convince them to live in dorms?” Yeah. We can’t do that. What’s more stunning is that some people seem to see this as a failing on our part. My longer reaction to that article just went up on the Daily Beast this…
Learn MoreSo far Apple’s legal “thermonuclear war” against Android phone makers isn’t going so well, as I point out in this week’s Newsweek. “Nearly two years after the first salvos were fired, Apple’s war on Android has accomplished almost nothing. And it’s starting to look as if Apple’s patent portfolio isn’t nearly as lethal as Jobs seemed to…
Learn MoreHT to Andrew Sullivan.
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PanderDaily is funded by the very VCs whose startups it aims to cover. What could possibly go wrong?
Here’s my new business plan: I will get Google, Samsung, HTC and Motorola to fund my Android blog. I know it seems like a glaring conflict of interest, but is it really? I mean, really? Okay, it really is a conflict of interest. It really, really is. It’s disgusting, actually. But you know what? It sure beats trying to make money by selling ads. These days the cool kids in the Valley hackery have moved beyond mere “journalism” and instead are all about finding ways to “monetize influence.” That seems to be the strategy for Sarah Lacy’s new blog, PandoDaily, a publication funded by the very same VCs whose startups she aims to “cover.” From now on, if you’re a startup company, you won’t need to go hire PR people to go pitch those nasty hacks — because your investors will just get you covered by that sexy blog that they also happen to own. And if some other nasty publication starts writing critical things about you, well, your VCs have a pal in their pocket who can bash away on your behalf. This all makes perfect sense. Seriously, if anyone reading this knows Andy Rubin, call me up. Half million each is nothing for Google, Samsung, HTC and…
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