If Android is a "stolen product," then so was the iPhone
> Jobs called Android a "stolen product," but theft can be a tricky concept when talking about innovation.<p>This article is heartily missing the point.<p>Android <i>is</i> basically a stolen product. It's a direct successor and competitor to the iPhone, and the direction of Android in it's current form has been and is extremely influenced by what Apple has been doing.<p>Sure, the iPhone is a bunch of "stolen" technologies and ideas, but Apple brought them together to make something great in a way that had never been done before. What Apple did took vision, discipline, and execution. <i>That</i> is what Apple brought to the table, and that is what innovation is.<p>Nobody was making products that resembled the iPhone before Apple, but now everyone is trying.<p>We don't need to get all emotional about this. This doesn't have anything to do with the quality of the products, it's just the history about how this stuff came about. You are still free to like Android or WebOS or iOS or whatever you want. It's fine. Just recognize innovation for what it is.