Alright, raise your hand if you were surprised when Apple sued Motorola for their XOOM tablet. No one? You know why no one is surprised? This is becoming a common Apple product. Apple doesn’t seem content with suing Samsung, their (more than likely) biggest tablet competitor. Now that they’ve won that battle, they’ve moved onto Motorola for their XOOM. It’s like I called Apple’s success against Samsung being used as a precedent in other cases. Oh wait, I did. We just reported that Apple has filed a complaint against Motorola in Europe for its XOOM tablet. You know what this means? Apple is officially a patent troll.
Alright, I want to first post pictures of the two devices. First, a quick look at the front and their respective home screens.
Here’s a look at the backs of the devices.
The iPad [2] is supposed to look like a typical Apple-frilly product, while the XOOM is clearly supposed to look more rugged. Impossible to distinguish they’re so similar, right? The only thing that I find similar in the devices’ look is that they are rectangular with curved edges, and they both have a large rectangular screen. But that’s just how tablets tend to look. Yes, the iPad may have been the first to bring this design to the masses, but just because you made a previous idea popular does not mean you should control that idea. And if you run into an idiot that claims Apple was the first to make an all touch screen, personal computing tablet, just show them the HP TC1100.
Apple was clearly the first to design a rectangular device
Apple is quite literally saying that they own the rights to any portable device that is large, rectangular, and has a touch screen. You want a visual representation of Apple’s B.S. patent? Here you go. Apple is trying to patent the rectangle. Euclid might find offense with that. Seriously, look at that patent illustration. It is a rectangle. Apple is so afraid of Android kicking its keester in the tablet world as well as the phone world, that it is trying to be the only tablet allowed in the market. You know what that sounds like to me? A patent trolling, monopolistic company. Hell, IBM should sue Apple for patent trolling since they hold the patent for that (satire piece to come later). Maybe Apple would enjoy some of its own stupid shenanigans? I’m sorry, but I can’t even think of a reason to defend Apple on this anymore. I’ve made it clear that I think they have a legitimate complaint when they sued Samsung about the look of their devices, but dragging Motorola and HTC in this has gone too far. Of course, this is interesting since Motorola probably has enough patents to crush their patent trolling adversaries, but Apple seems to like riding this high horse thinking they’re king of the mobile domain.
I’m no longer hoping that all of this just stops and goes away. Bullies won’t stop just because they’re told to. I hope the Android makers join together to crush Apple. I hope that judges eventually realize that Apple is trying to destroy their competition in court because they can’t keep up with them in the market. And I can’t wait until Apple once again fades into irrelevance and the media stops assuming Apple has patented innovation. Apple supporters love calling Google evil. If allowing other manufacturers to put their ideas into consumers hands is evil while trying to prevent anyone else from having ideas is good, consider me part of the dark side. I don’t want any part of that crap.