“Before and after versions of Google’s internal ‘software functional requirements’ documents released in the Apple vs Samsung trial this week show that prior to Apple’s 2007 iPhone debut, Google’s vision for Android was a simple button phone running Sun’s Java,” Daniel Eran Dilger reports for AppleInsider.
“It’s well known that Google’s original plan for Android shifted gears dramatically once Apple unveiled its own iPhone in early 2007. However, the documents exposed in court show how great that shift was and how little Google originally planned to disrupt the status quo in mobile phones,” Dilger reports. “Google acquired an existing Android project in 2005, which was essentially an offshoot of Danger, the Java platform powering TMobile’s SideKick slider phone. Both Danger and Android were founded by former Apple employee Andy Rubin.”
“When Jobs introduced the iPhone on stage six months later, he noted that Apple had been working on the product for two and half years, or about six months prior to Google’s acquisition of the Android team (which already had a Java based product on the drawing board),” Dilger reports. “Reacting to Jobs’ demonstration, former Apple engineering lead and early Android team member Chris DeSalvo stated, ‘As a consumer I was blown away. I wanted one immediately. But as a Google engineer, I thought ‘We’re going to have to start over.””
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Here’s what Google’s Android looked like before and after Apple’s iPhone:
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Gk” for the heads up.]
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