Apple, the kids at the controls

The firm gives the impression of being led by rebellious kids and clearly lost its capacity for innovation

The lawsuit against Apple Samsung shows how the firm seems to have lost all common sense, which annoys especially judges. She was sentenced by a court in Britain to put an insert on its website in which it recognizes that the Samsung tablet is not a copy of the iPad. And this is the beginning of an incredible saga.

The judgment was upheld on appeal on 18 October 2012. In fact, the Court of Appeal allowed the firm to put the record on a separate page and not the home page.

Apple then posted on its site the notice below:

We can read the text above on the UK Apple site and it must remain here until December 14. But the firm being equal to itself - still dishonest - the text is followed by a list of arguments to demonstrate that the Samsung tablets is a copy of the iPad!

Apple's lawyer who believes this announcement is consistent with the judgment made this hypocritical statement:

"It's not designed to make us grovel. The only purpose must be to dispel commercial uncertainty."

Samsung complained that this notice adds more confusion by implying that judgment was inconsistent with the verdicts in other countries, while this is not really the case. Apple actually has carefully selected its references and finally the UK ruling applies to the whole of the EU and other jugdments are overuled.

But this behavior of a rebellious and insolent kid was not liked by the Court of Appeal which has asked Apple to revise the text within 48 hours and put the new order on the home page. Always immature, Apple has protested that it needed two weeks to make a new page!

Apple then did what was asked in time by placing the notice in the bottom of the page, with a link to the judgment, but it is not finished. This time the firm changed the layout of the home page so that the notice is invisible unless you scroll the page! We also see in the source code that instructions automatically resize the page depending on the size of the window but without including the notice in the visible content without scrolling!

It did not take two weeks to redo the layout apparently.

On November 8, the JavaScript code has been removed.

On November 9, the final judgment was published. The judge decided to increase the compensation owed ​​by Apple to Samsung because manipulations in the first statement it released that added misleading sentences and produced the effect opposite to the injunction. In paragraph 32, the judge added:

I hope that the lack of integrity involved in this incident is entirely atypical of Apple.

What's going on there at Apple? Steve Jobs's heirs seem to behave like kids for whom everything is permitted. It is particularly surprising that a company that spends its time to use the courts to attack its competitors do as little when there is a judgment against it.

This actually reflects the evolution of the firm. A recently executive fired by Tim Cook, the CEO, stated that the company had no real leader. Would had Steve Jobs choosen the wrong person to succeed him?

In fact, people like Steve Jobs who think invested with the mission to change the world and see themselves as visionaries hate more than anything in the world to have a competitor, someone like them with a vision. Steve Jobs was surrounded by designers, engineers, accountants, all very effective in their party, but in a very different domain from his. Tim Cook has been noted for its ability to optimize inventory. When he had to choose a successor (and it is he who choosen, the board of amdministration has only followed his advice), it is a stock manager who took his place.

And since his death, Apple has never really a new product. The iPhone 5 and iPad Mini are lower than competing products and iOS that has not evolved over the last 5 years has also become inferior to Android.

Here's what Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple with Steve Jobs said about the Apple Watch, the only new product since Jobs:

I worry a little bit about – I mean I love my Apple Watch, but – it’s taken us into a jewelry market where you’re going to buy a watch between $500 or $1100 based on how important you think you are as a person. The only difference is the band in all those watches. Twenty watches from $500 to $1100. The band’s the only difference? Well this isn’t the company that Apple was originally, or the company that really changed the world a lot.

It seems that Apple spends only it time to manage the legacy of Jobs and as we know the weapon of heirs are trials.