From Steve Jobs' Biography: "I'm going to destroy Android"

stevejobscovertiteled
The Associated Press obtained an early copy of Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography and shared some highlights.

In particular, they share Steve Jobs' reaction to HTC's 2010 introduction of an Android phone that shared many features of the iPhone. Jobs told Isaacson that Google's actions amounted to "grand theft."

"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 said. "I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this."

Jobs met with Google's Eric Schmidt later and told Schmidt he wasn't interested in settling for any amount of money. Instead Jobs told Schmidt, "I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that's all I want."

Jobs' attitude against Android helps explains the lawsuits that have come from Apple against both HTC and Samsung. Both legal actions have resulted in countersuits as well as attempts to ban sales of devices around the world.

Popular Stories

2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Changes Trade-In Values for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and More

Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website. Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50. We have outlined some examples below: Device New Value Old Value iPhone 15 Pro Max Up to $630 U ...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.3 Beta 3

Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features. Notification Summary Changes Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines. For...
2024 App Store Awards

Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 1 Redux

'iPhone 17 Air' Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Wednesday January 15, 2025 7:16 am PST by
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the "ultra-thin" device. Overall, the "iPhone 17 Air" is shaping up to be a mixed bag. Due to its thinness, the device is expected to have some limited specifications compared to the iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, only a single speaker, no SIM...
iPad Pro vs iPhone 17 Air Feature

Here's How Thin the iPhone 17 Air Might Be

Friday January 17, 2025 3:38 pm PST by
For the last several months, we've been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 "Air," or something along those lines. It's going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple's fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple Expected to Launch 20+ Products This Year: Here's the Full List

Friday January 17, 2025 5:30 am PST by
2025 promises to be quite a big year for Apple, with the company rumored to be planning more than 20 product announcements this year. Apple's rumored smart home hub will be its second all-new product to launch in as many years, following the Apple Vision Pro headset last year. And of course, we will get several new iPhone and Apple Watch models, like every year. Beyond that, Apple could...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Horizontal Single Feature

iPhone 17 Rumored to Feature Major Thermal Design Upgrade

Friday January 17, 2025 4:33 am PST by
The iPhone 17 lineup will feature a vapor chamber heatsink to improve thermal performance, according to a new report. The news comes from Chinese tech news site MyDrivers, which claims that the entire iPhone 17 lineup, consisting of the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max, will adopt the improved thermal heat spreader. Vapor chamber technology is already used...

Top Rated Comments

guch20 Avatar
173 months ago
Good. That's exactly the attitude Apple should continue to have about Android with Steve gone. It's a cheap knock-off of a beautiful product that took no imagination to copy.
Score: 155 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Hakone Avatar
173 months ago
He's definitely passionate about protecting his company's ideas...
Score: 123 Votes (Like | Disagree)
guch20 Avatar
173 months ago
Wow, what a jerk. Jobs truly is evil.

Yeah, wanting to stop a cheap, utilitarian, "just-barely-good-enough", glitchy, buggy, virus-ridden copy of something your company spent years and millions of dollars on...what a total dick.

/sarcasm
Score: 81 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rsshelas Avatar
173 months ago
He could have killed android if he allowed flash and made a new design instead of the iphone 4s. Not that it isn't a great phone, but it could have beat android in so many ways.

It could have? I think IOS is already beating the android
Score: 77 Votes (Like | Disagree)
guch20 Avatar
173 months ago
He could have killed android if he allowed flash and made a new design instead of the iphone 4s. Not that it isn't a great phone, but it could have beat android in so many ways.
Yeah, God knows if Apple took the same exact insides from the iPhone 4S, but put them in a new shell, Android would be all like "No!!!1! We're gonna stop copying now! Bummer dude!! Weaksauce forever!!!" :rolleyes:

And Flash? Really? Does anyone really miss Flash on their iPhone or iPad? I don't. First, my battery lasts longer without it. Second, my device isn't chugging to load that crap. Third, it's a virus portal that I don't have to worry about. And fourth, Flash barely works on a lot of mobile devices anyway.
Score: 75 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Slurpy2k8 Avatar
173 months ago
He could have killed android if he allowed flash and made a new design instead of the iphone 4s. Not that it isn't a great phone, but it could have beat android in so many ways.

I just lost some braincells reading this.
Score: 73 Votes (Like | Disagree)