This discussion is timely given Google’s current PR effort to convince the public and the media that Google and Apple are likely to negotiate a patent “truce” and make Google’s Android’s patent liabilities go away. Thus it makes sense to drill down to learn more about the real likelihood of Apple being party to any patent-litigation “truce” or grand Apple-Android patent-licensing settlement.
Many are familiar with Apple’s Steve Jobs’ strong views about Google-Android’s infringement of Apple. In Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs famously said “…I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.” However, few are familiar with the story of what actually made Steve Jobs this angry. Moreover, few are familiar with the length and closeness of the Apple-Google relationship that explains the depth of the betrayal Steve Jobs felt about Google’s theft.