Did Apple Steal iPhone’s Design From Phillips?

We’re trying very hard to limit the iPhone content at Mac360. It’s difficult. It really is. Really.

The latest? Media techno pundit Rob Enderle says the iPhone concept may have been stolen from Phillips and iTunes Store is doomed.

It’s one thing bash, but it’s something else again to prognosticate. Poor Robby, as his probably call him, does the former while attempting the latter.

Guess which one he’s doing today? Sigh. Like a moth drawn to a flame, we’re forced to set the record straight. Again.

This time I’ve figured out how Poor Robby does his dirty deeds. He must call around to all sorts of techno web sites and ask if they’d like to triple their visitors and hits.

Of course, they agree. Then Poor Robby writes a pure dumber-than-dumb article in which he pontificates past, present, and future, sprinkling all the needed buzz words to garner plenty of clicks on Google ads.

This infuriates Apple’s tens of millions of customers who demand accuracy while clicking again and again on the Enderle article. That triples the hits. Meanwhile, Poor Robby’s on to the next web site, the next article.

This time, Poor Robby pontificates, regurgitates, and elevates past, present, future, and himself in a single article for Ecoustics.

Robby says the specs of LG’s Prada phone are better than the iPhone, and the Prada name was legally acquired. Of course, you understand the insinuation there. Inflammatory journalism at its best. What would you expect from a techno pundit hack? A Pulitzer? ROTFLMFAO!!! Right.

I love Robby Quotes™. Low brow comedy without a shred of logic or reason.

Yes. If Apple quintples their target of 1-percent market share by the end of 2008, 95-percent, which is “most of us,” will have something else besides the iPhone. Apple will laugh all the way to the bank. Again.

Does Poor Robby mention the software of either phone? The fact that one is a cell phone, a wireless internet device, AND an iPod. And, the other phone, is well, not?

What about the death of iTunes Store at the hands of Ruckus? Poor Robby thinks it will happen. Somehow, 100-million iPod owners will switch to MP3 players with Microsoft’s DRM in the next two years. Down will fall iTunes Store.

Watch for the signs. It will be in the news. Maybe.

Finally, Poor Robby unearthed some 1968-looking photos of a Phillips prototype touch-screen phone circa 1998 and declared:

Sigh. Seriously. Does anyone believe that? Hasn’t the ”swiped the Mac UI from Xereox PARC” thing been debunked enough? You’ll love the photos of the Phillips phone that looks as much like an iPhone as Clara Peller looks like Angelina Jolie.

Somehow this kind of investigative reporting, pugilistic prognosticating, and written proctology must be designed to do one thing-- increase hits to the web sites that pay Poor Robby.

Credibility should mean something to a writer, particularly a techno pundit in 2007. Of course, credibility means something different to you and me.

You and I assume it to mean logical argument, supporting facts, reasonable analysis, etc. We would be wrong.

Instead, Poor Robby’s credibility remains with those web sites who need more hits, and contract with him to write a few articles of Unabridged Drivel in exchange for money. Resulting drivel is so outrageous that hits to the site increase, advertising revenue for the site goes up, everyone is happy.

Well, everyone except those who read and react to the aforementioned drivel.

Here’s my challenge to Poor Robby. Write something for Mac360. We’ll publish it on Mac360. When the hits to Mac360 climb through the roof as irrate netitizens storm our digital gates, we’ll give you all the advertising revenue for that day. All of it.

How about it, Robby? Are you up to the task, got a rock hard controversial subject for us, or do you need a another refill of Viagra before hitting the keyboard, if you know what I mean?

Friday, January 26th, 2007 is The Official Mac360 No More iPhone News Day.

Check out the daily list of our 9 Word mini-Reviews at NoodleMac, and Kate's daily in-depth Mac software reviews at PixoBebo.