On copying
There’s been a little buzz going around about Nokia’s latest prototype phone and their statement:
“I don’t know what is copying and what is original but if there is something good in the world, we copy it with pride,” said Anssi Vanjoki, head of the Nokia multimedia division
Everyone’s making a little fun of it. But really? Is it a big deal? Is it even a regular deal?
Is it new that some technology looks or behaves like a previous one? That it takes features from a previous one? It’s how things move forward, everyone, we build on what works in the past. Should Apple now be the only one with a multi-touch phone? Everyone else has to go innovate on their own and this whole branch of invention should be left as the sole domain of Apple? Didn’t Jeff Han work on multi-touch before Apple? Did Apple copy Jeff?
I’m sure if there’s patent infringments that Apple will go after Nokia, but really, it isn’t going to be OSX and the only thing you see in that video is them scrolling through some pictures - and what other interface is there for a buttonless phone? And repositioning the stuff as the phone turns? My digital camera has been doing that for years longer than the iPhone has been around, should Apple be criticized for copying Canon? No, that’s how things work. People find the stuff that works, take it and improve on it. There isn’t even close to enough information in that video to say it’s a clone of the iPhone. What else, uploading to flickr? Does the iPhone do that? No. That was about 1/4 of the commercial. How many different ways can a phone that’s all screen look? It looks like the Meizu MiniOne, too.
Seriously, I guess it’s summer and that means not too much news so they gotta talk about something.
