14 DAY TRIAL // After Google co-founder Larry Page opined publicly about Steve Jobs’ spat with the search giant over the Android OS, in that it was “just for show,” biographer Walter Isaacson stepped up to clarify that Jobs’ anger was quite real - not an act to motivate his troops.
Speaking at the Royal Institute, Isaacson suggested that the situation was identical to that of Apple vs. Microsoft in the 80s, when Bill Gates ripped off the Mac’s GUI and licensed it to the likes of Dell, Compaq, and IBM. Ultimately, “Microsoft ended up being dominant,” he said.
Talking about iOS, the underlying software of Apple’s iPhone and iPad, Isaacson said “It’s almost copied verbatim by Android. And then they license it around promiscuously. And then Android starts surpassing Apple in market share, and this totally infuriated him. It wasn’t a matter of money. He said: ‘You can’t pay me off, I’m here to destroy you’.”
Isaacson also said that Tim Cook, Apple’s current CEO, “will settle that lawsuit.”