A Call to Action: It's Time Google Put Apple in Their Place

If you follow tech news in general like I do, you probably know that Apple is suing everybody who has any affiliation with Google's Android at all. HTC and Samsung cases have received the most attention in the Apple biased blog sphere because they are cases in which Apple has won, though one case in particular that received a lot of fanfare from Apple fans actually voided one of Apple's frivolous patents. Apple fans the world over were too busy kissing Jobs' butt to notice. Motorola recently sued Apple over mobile technologies and won. This was largely ignored by Apple fans but reported on by Android and Microsoft centered blogs. All that to say that I won't blame you for thinking that Google and their Android OEMs are just bunch of thieves. It's difficult to search the web without reading from the Apple biased media about how Apple is awesome and Google (and Microsoft, for that matter) is garbage.
I'm tired of it. From claiming that Android is nothing but iOS to claiming that they own patents on rectangles with rounded corners, this has gone on long enough.

Apple has recently discovered a new way for television manufacturers, long time users

of the shape "rectangle", to increase their revenue stream.

Recently, Apple filed a patent on facial recognition technology. Most assume this is for a facial recognition technology that may be implemented in the iPhone 5. No word yet on whether our terrible patent system will grant them the patent, but I would like to point to two very popular devices that already use this: Xbox Kinect and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Google's current flagship phone for Android 4.0. To be fair, facial recognition is not a Samsung feature, but an OS feature part of Ice Cream Sandwich (Google's desert name for Android 4.0). Apple is blatantly trying to use our broken, bloated patent system to steal technology developed by competing companies. Apple, who's the crook in this scenario? Google, why are you not taking steps to destroy them in court, in advertising campaigns, and in the news?

Facial recognition in Android 4.0 exists today.

A few days ago, Apple took Samsung to court over "slide to unlock", another Android feature (not Samsung). When you awaken your iOS device from sleep, you must slide your finger from left to right to unlock the device. This prevents pocket unlocks and such. This is also how you awaken an Android phone (tablets use a slightly different method, but the motion is the same). I'm not going to argue this much, though I will point out that patents can only be valid if they for things that have not existed before in some other capacity or are not obvious. I would think that slide to unlock is fairly obvious and probably existed before (I used to slide to unlock to wake up a touch computer we used at a restaurant I waited tables at). But, fine, it's not as blatant and stupid as trying to patent an existing technology.

Here's where Apple hypocrisy really shines. Look at the pictures below.

On the left is Android 1.0. It was released about 3 years ago in 2008. On the right is Android 2.3, released on December 6, 2010. What you're looking at exactly is the notification drawer pulled down. You access this from anywhere in the OS (minus full screen apps such as games) by swiping down from the top of the screen. Now look at this picture.

This is iOS5, released in 2011. That's a new to iOS5 feature is accessed by swiping down from the top if the screen. You can access his from anywhere in the OS (minus full screen apps such as games). Does it look familiar, right down to the color scheme?

Some will point out that it's more interactive than the original Android bar. In iOS5 you can swipe notifications out of the notification bar without having to clear all of them. In Android 2.3 and earlier, you must either acknowledge unwanted notifications or clear them all. That's fair.

Have you heard of Cyanogenmod? Cyanogenmod a is custom Android ROM that adds some flash and flair not found in stock Android and is often times used by more advanced Android users to greatly customize their Android device or to remove unwanted OEM customizations or bloatware. I'm not sure which version this was introduced in, but as early as Cyanogenmod 7, which entered into Release Candidate status on February 15, 2011, Cyanogenmod has included the ability swipe notifications out of the notification bar. iOS5's features weren't announced until June 6, 2011. Google incorporated the feature in the core OS in Android 4.0, which was launched after iOS5's release. None the less, this feature is a known and popular feature of an Android ROM that Apple blatantly ripped off from the Cyanogenmod team. Even if you ignore this, they still 'stole' (Steve Jobs' words, not mine) the notification bar.

Let me finish by saying that the fact that Apple refuses to go after Google, the author of the OS that Steve Jobs famously had this to say, “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.” and instead chooses to attack much smaller and less powerful OEMs tells me that Apple knows that these claims are completely bogus and they are terrified that they are once again reliving what happened to them in the PC market. A better OS, by a better, more innovative company, has emerged and is not only beating Apple but is crushing them. Apple has decided that, rather than compete on price and by innovating and offering a compelling product to consumers, Apple would rather take the pansy way out and manipulate patent laws to shut out competition.


Google, it's time. It's long past time. Do what Microsoft couldn't do. Drag Apple out into the streets, publicly expose them in court as the lying, hypocritical crooks that they are, and put them out of their misery. This parade of anti-competitive hypocrisy has been allowed to continue for far to long and it's time to end it.


Protect what is rightfully yours. Protect your OEM partners from Apple's bully tactics. Sue them when necessary and beat them into oblivion in the market.