Apple and Xerox

Early personal computers had just keyboards and a monochrome text-only interface. In 1972, the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) invented the Xerox Alto minicomputer, with a graphical interface, a mouse, and more. Early Apple computers had those same features. So was Steve Jobs just a Xerox copier? It’s more nuanced than that.  Phil Edwards explains.

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Who Invented the iPhone?

Steve Jobs invented the iPhone in 2007, right?

Well … it’s complicated. Eric Arthur Johnson invented the touchscreen in the 1960s.  Stanley Whittingham invented the lithium battery in the 1970s. And a whole bunch of people gave us the Internet.

But surely Steve Jobs saw all this stuff and went “Eureka!”

Nope.

“When Apple engineer Andy Grignon first added internet functionality to an iPod in 2004, Steve Jobs was far from enthusiastic: ‘This is bullshit. I don’t want this. I know it works, I got it, great, thanks, but this is a shitty experience.’”

— “Who Invented the iPhone?” Matthew Hayes, Scientific American

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Image (“Portrait of a Young Girl With an iPhone, after Agnolo Bronzino”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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We Worship the iPhone and Steve Jobs

“We worship the iPhone: Steve Jobs is our savior!” Brett T. Robinson, Salon

“Jobs touts iPhone 5s FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE!!!!” Jasper Hamill, The Register

”Faith and Works at Apple,” Edward Mendelson, New York Review of Books blog

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Image (“Dashboard Savior”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Steve Jobs: Simply Divine

“For Apple fans still recovering from Steve Jobs’ untimely death last year, there is some hope yet. According to Phra Thepyanmahamuni, the abbot of the Wat Phra Dhammakaya in Thailand, Jobs was reincarnated into a divinity “of middle rank – half a Witthayathorn, half yak.”

“Jobs has long been compared to a religious leader himself, and Apple has been variously described as magical and religious. In 2011 the BBC went so far as to claim that Apple products evoked religious experiences in their fans.”

“Steve Jobs Reincarnated as Divine Half-Yak,” Andrew Aghapour, Religion Dispatches

“Steve Jobs Part 1 : where is he now?” DMCTV

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Image (“Dashboard Savior”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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iSteve

A Steve Jobs action figure! Only $99, from InIcons. Isn’t that the coolest Steve Jobs memorial ever?

Not to the folks at Apple:

“Apple says it owns rights to Jobs’s likeness, and its letter reportedly states that it’s a criminal offense for any toy to feature Apple’s trademarks, logo, or products, as well as the appearance or name of its late co-founder.”

— “Report: Apple Goes After Latest Steve Jobs Action Figure,” Leslie Horn, PC Magazine

— “Apple ‘threatens legal action’ over Steve Jobs action doll,” Amy Willis, The Telegraph

The result of the legal threat: those InIcon action figures are fetching $135 on eBay.

In 2010, Apple stopped sales of an earlier “SJ Action Figure” that was more of an affectionate caricature. Shame, really. It was smaller, and would have looked great on the dashboard of your Prius.