[citation][nom]cbfelterbush[/nom]What a laugh. Gene Roddenberry's Star Track. Tablets are all over that show, and its from the 80s and early 90s. Apple's Founder is on record saying that Apple takes ideas from all around them and steal truly innovative tech to use in their device. I will say that Apple was ONE of the first companies to sell a Popular touch screen device. Bu the basic shape and function have all been done well before Apple even entered the mobile segment in 2008. I think it is sick that a fledgling company like Apple that has a breakthrough device all the sudden feels like the originator of the tech in 2006, When a company like Samsung that has spent well into the 30s of Billions of dollars in R&D since the early 90s.I think it is safe to say that Apple in this reminds me of the old BASF commercial. WE don't make a lot of the things you buy, we make a lot of the things you buy better. Apple simply tool a large list of great ideas and tech and build a piece of hardware that just worked well enough to change the market. But it wasn't the only Phone that was out that was out that was like it. The LG Prada came out first and has an earlier development timeline. There were a lot of phones and devices being made that were square or rectangle with a full screen, it is the natural progression of technology.-CB[/citation]
But as history has shown, from Bell to Marconi to Edison, you don't have to be the inventor of something - it's all about having the patent, lots of large, wealthy and unscrupulous backers and a very vocal lobby to Government
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If you have enough money you can argue in court that black is white and win, hopefully going onwards to be killed at the next zebra crossing