Google: Android predates the iPhone
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt
GOOGLE Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has countered Steve Jobs’ claim that Android ‘ripped off’ the iPhone.
Speaking in South Korea, Mr Schmidt said that “the Android effort started before the iPhone effort."
Mr Schmidt was responding to claims in Steve Jobs’ recently released biography. Jobs is quoted as saying “I will spend my last dying breath if I need to...to right this wrong. I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go to thermonuclear war on this."
Mr Schmidt told Reuters “I've decided not to comment on what's been written on a book after his death. Steve is a fantastic human being and someone who I miss very dearly. As a general comment, I think most people would agree that Google is a great innovator and I would also point out that the Android effort started before the iPhone effort,"
Speaking of Apple’s lawsuit against Google, Jobs told his biographer Walter Isaacson that “Our lawsuit is saying, 'Google you f***ing ripped off the iPhone, wholesale ripped us off. I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank.
Google’s Android software was originally founded by Andy Rubin in 2003, and the company was acquired by Google in 2005, when they also hired Rubin to lead the development.
Although Apple launched its first iPhone in 2007, however, the first Android products went on sale in 2008. Schmidt was on Apple’s board from 2006 to 2009, when he resigned as the companies became increasingly competitive.
- Matt Warman
© Telegraph.co.uk
