Steve Jobs Hated Android So Much He Vowed to Destroy It

dgstorm

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Regardless of how influential or inspirational a person can be, sometimes it's easy to forget that a person is "only human" too. This article is not meant to speak ill of the dead, nor encourage it in the forums, but it is interesting information into the inner feelings of one of the most prolific technological innovators in the world.

According to a new biography on Steve Jobs from Walter Isaacson, apparently, Steve Jobs really hated Android. And, from Mr. Jobs' own words, it wasn't the kind of hate in which you feel a bit uncomfortable and want to leave the room. No, it was the kind if visceral loathing that makes a person seek out a weapon. Here's the quote straight from Steve Jobs' mouth,
“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… I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”
In fact, the biography also highlights a meeting between Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt, then CEO of Google. In the meeting, Mr. Schmidt was trying to hash out a deal to settle the Apple lawsuits, and this was Mr. Jobs' response,
"I don't want your money. If you offer me $5 billion, I won't want it. I've got plenty of money. I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that's all I want."
These strong reactions from Steve Jobs shouldn't really come as a surprise, as over the years he had become known for his emotional passion in his business dealings, especially when it came to Apple. And really, although it's easy to see this from multiple angles and perhaps chastise an uncompromising attitude, it's also admirable to see someone with this much passion in life. That is a rare thing indeed, especially in the business world.

Knowing this about him somehow reminds us that it's just as important not to put someone too high up on a pedestal as it is not to demonize them. After all, we are all only human.

Source: DroidMatters
 
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gflam

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Personally i really like jobs as a person don't like jis company but i do like him.

Anyway i think its kind of bs with him getting mad about people stealing his ideas when thats literally what he did. For instance the mouse he didn't invent it but is kften given credit for it since he made it better. The ipod is just abetter mp3 player he literally all throight out his life took something and made it better so to me its a bit hypocritical to say things like they stole this etc.

Regardless love the man hate the company

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Shadez

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No doubting the man had passion .. I just wonder what the outcome would have been if Apple had ever merged with Google.. what types of devices we would have seen..
 
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Shadez

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Personally i really like jobs as a person don't like jis company but i do like him.

Anyway i think its kind of bs with him getting mad about people stealing his ideas when thats literally what he did. For instance the mouse he didn't invent it but is kften given credit for it since he made it better. The ipod is just abetter mp3 player he literally all throight out his life took something and made it better so to me its a bit hypocritical to say things like they stole this etc.

Regardless love the man hate the company

Sent from my evo 3d at 1.8ghz

Your right. And they should have used, I think it's 3M's slogan, "We don't make the products you use, we make them better!"
 

youngti

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There is a great movie called "Pirates of Silicon Valley" which chronicles the time of Microsoft and Apple. It is very illuminating and I have talked with a few people who were directly involved with event during that time. They say this is a accurate depiction of the MS/Apple time. In one scene you see all the Apple reps (including jobs) visiting the Xerox sunk works and Xerox displaying a very apple like computer and interface.
 

DJxPanda

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Mr Jobs was and still is a person of inspiration. i also do agree that its rare to see that much passion and gusto in the business world. In all honesty, he is a model for all businessmen. He had set goals and values and stuck to them through all sorts of tribulations. And the thing is too, as in the excerts from his biography in the OP, he wasnt all about the money. Yes he made tons of it, but he was more about the idea and the product. Imagine if all companies were like this. We would more than likely see an overall increase in product quality. Theres something to be learned from Mr. Jobs, actually a lot of things.

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Shadez

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Well, it really isn't hard not to admire a man, who with 1 other person, built a computer in their friends garage and made it into what it is today. Him and Bill Gates saw where computers/technology were heading and followed that path. All the while IBM laughed at them both, and passed up several offers to buy windows for the price of a used car...
 

akhenax

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Well, it really isn't hard not to admire a man, who with 1 other person, built a computer in their friends garage and made it into what it is today. Him and Bill Gates saw where computers/technology were heading and followed that path. All the while IBM laughed at them both, and passed up several offers to buy windows for the price of a used car...

If IBM bought Windows, it would not be where it is today (think OS/2). Thank goodness for small miracles.
 

aaf709

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Your right. And they should have used, I think it's 3M's slogan, "We don't make the products you use, we make them better!"

Steve Jobs reminds me of Edison. He give the idea of a lonely inventor, despite the number of people who worked for him who did the developing. He did market research before starting. He advertised heavily, promoting both the item and his image. And Edison preferred DC over AC power (Apple over Android in Job's case), and tried to mess with Tesla who preferred AC power.
 

Chizzele

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Steve Jobs wanted Android/Google to stop using apple's ideas? What idea, developing an OS for a mobile device? If anything Nokia, Palm and Blackberry should ask him to stop using their ideas.

Competitive market is what makes America great.
 

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<rant start>
Well, to speak ill of the dead, I think Jobs, albeit a genius and an innovator, was also a hypocrite, and full of himself. Does this not sound very familiar to the same slanderish remarks he used to make toward Microsoft? In short, Jobs just hated competition, and even if he didn't, this was his way of aggravatingly responding to it which is immature and unprofessional for a veteran of the business. As is overly used, "great artists steal" and Apple is no different from the rest. If something isn't broken, don't fix it, and certainly don't reinvent it; instead, MAKE IT BETTER. That's all these companies are doing, and as profitable as Apple is, they don't seem to like that other people are making millions/billions of dollars off of the same ideas they made millions/billions of dollars off of, but that's just business folks. It's a shame that as smart as Steve Jobs was, he was never smart enough to understand that no matter how many companies you 'destroy' there will always be competition and people advancing someone else's ideas, and there's nothing wrong with that. When you have no competition, your product loses it's quality as innovation slows down to a screeching halt due to lack of motivation - well unfortunately for he and Apple, the advancement of technology slows down for no one, no matter how much you hate it.
<rant end>
 

kodiak799

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If IBM bought Windows, it would not be where it is today (think OS/2). Thank goodness for small miracles.

True. Not uncommon for companies to buy good businesses and destroy them through poor execution.
 

kodiak799

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<rant start>
Well, to speak ill of the dead, I think Jobs, albeit a genius and an innovator, was also a hypocrite, and full of himself.

Correct. Don't mistake this pettiness/hypocrisy for passion - which Jobs had plenty of (both, I guess one could).
 
M

MiDrOIdDOES

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If you ask me apple's just the big brother throwing a hissy fit because the little brother,android, is now bigger stronger and faster then he is.....lol

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