Google's reaction to Apple's iPhone unveiling: 'We're going to have to start over' on Android
Shane Cole
The iPhone's 2007 introduction was not only a watershed moment for Apple, but also a turning point for Google's Android team, according to an excerpt from a new book on the subject.
A slide from the Apple v Samsung trial
"As a consumer I was blown away. I wanted one immediately. But as a Google engineer, I thought 'We're going to have to start over,'" former Apple engineering lead and early Android team member Chris DeSalvo is quoted as saying about Apple's handset. DeSalvo was interviewed by author Fred Vogelstein for his new book about the origins of the Android versus iPhone war, an excerpt from which was published in The Atlantic.
Another Apple alum, Android project co-founder Andy Rubin, is also said to have been taken aback by late Apple CEO Steve Jobs's presentation. "Holy crap, I guess we're not going to ship that phone," he reportedly told a colleague, taking about Google's BlackBerry-like "Sooner" device, which was to be the first flagship Android phone.
The Android team's response was to refocus development on a new touch-enabled device — Â which would later become HTC's T-Mobile G1 — Â and delay their planned public launch by a year. Several features from Sooner were held over, such as the phone's physical keyboard, but the software was completely reworked and redesigned for a touch interface. "Holy crap, I guess we're not going to ship that phone." — Andy Rubin
Vogelstein's narrative — Â that the Android team deliberately changed Android's direction to mimic that of Apple's iPhone — Â dovetails with Jobs's stance that Android is a "stolen product."
"I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong," Jobs told biographer Walter Isaacson. "I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this."
Though Apple has not sued Google directly, the companies have waged a proxy war over Android both in court and in the conference rooms of regulators around the world. The war's most famous battle, Apple's landmark lawsuit against Samsung, recently concluded with Apple winning judgements totaling nearly $1 billion as a result of Samsung's infringement.
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226 Comments
By start over I think they mean copy large portions of the better idea, then start to iterate furiously to avoid litigation.
Third-rate copyists.
[quote name="AppleInsider" url="/t/161257/googles-reaction-to-apples-iphone-unveiling-were-going-to-have-to-start-over-on-android#post_2448100"]The iPhone's 2007 introduction was not only a watershed moment for Apple, but also a turning point for Google's Android team, according to an excerpt from a new book on the subject. "As a consumer I was blown away. I wanted one immediately. But as a Google engineer, I thought 'We're going to have to start over,'" former Apple engineering lead and early Android team member Chris DeSalvo is quoted as saying about Apple's handset... Another Apple alum, Android project co-founder Andy Rubin, is also said to have been taken aback by late Apple CEO Steve Jobs's presentation. "Holy crap, I guess we're not going to ship that phone," he reportedly told a colleague, taking about Google's BlackBerry-like "Sooner" device, which was to be the first flagship Android phone. The Android team's response was to refocus development on a new touch-enabled device --?which would later become HTC's T-Mobile G1 --?and delay their planned public launch by a year. [/quote] In hindsight it was the only decision that made sense. Kudos to the Android team for recognizing it early on rather than trudging forward with what would have been a useless effort. Microsoft, Nokia, and Blackberry took way too long to come to the same realization that touch events were the way forward. Especially Blackberry who at the time had the leading market position on high-end handsets. Android of course [B]may[/B] have had a little headstart over the other laggards since they had already started work on a touchscreen smartphone alongside their "Sooner" trackball phone according to reports and press videos from the time. By the way, wasn't Mr. Jobs less concerned that Google shifted focus to a touch device but instead incensed over their eventual inclusion of multi-touch which happened well after the G1 was intro'd?
Pretty much confirms everything Jobs claimed - that Android was just a knockoff of iOS and the iPhone. What is interesting though, is that it seems to disprove the allegation that Eric Schmidt, who was on Apple's board at the time, was passing along iPhone information to Google ... at least prior to the public unveiling. Not sure how much the board knew about the iPhone before the unveiling, but it appears the Google engineers didn't know about it beforehand.
That is logical. Android developers knew the market changed from the product they where making to the apple iPhone. You have to adapt or fail. Google choice was simple adapt.but please do tail me what was stolen from the iPhone?