Did Android draw inspiration from the iPhone OS?

[eparker05]

This poll was made in response to an earlier thread that got a little heated.

In the poll I voted for "inspired by" because I see many similarities to the iPhone OS. Obviously the developers ignored iPhone features that are crap, like the iPhone home-screen, the inability to multi-task, and the walled garden model. But I see Android as the spiritual successor to the iPhone in the same way that iPhone was the successor to (and inspired by) the original palmOS.

 

[i VTAK]

Funny story here. A friend of mine was showing me the iPod Touch that he just got. One thing he showed to me was the clock app that had world time, stopwatch, alarm, and countdown timer. I noticed it looked just like the one on my Hero. The funny part is that he showed me a few things it could do, then I amazed him by showing him a bunch more things it could do, and I've never even touched one before. He had no idea it had a web browser and it was funny to watch his eyes get big when I showed him pinch zoom. I showed him a few more things then showed him my phone could do the same and make calls. He was excited to show me it at first then lost interest when I schooled him on his own new toy.

 

[Snow_Fox]

I marked mildly inspired by.

I remember reading that android models were around before iphone os...

With that said inspiration can be taken from anywhere, intentionally or unintentionally.

 

[saltorio]

They both have a touch interface, so one must've stolen from the other. Right?

Aren't most things "inspired by" others?

the iPhone UI was the next logical step in handheld computing, taking the familiar stylus interface of Palm and Windows CE (who were inspired by Windows and Mac OS... who were bother inspired by Xerox PARC) to the next level by getting rid of the stylus.

 

[grainysand]

Guys, guys:

LOOK AT THAT APP MENU OMG OMG IPHONES STOLE FROM SYMBIAN OMG!1!!! Or maybe not, since I'm not a raging moron.

Hint to the OP: school yourself on the history of mobile OSes. There were smartphones that existed before the iPhone. Hell, Symbian could multi-task before Apple even started thinking "hmm, okay, maybe we should rip off from here and rip a bit off from there and oooh, the sheep will call is amazingly innovative! Perfect!"

 

[gogol]

And why did you think like that?

Don't you think for a second that iPhone draws inspiration from other phone OS like Symbian or Windows Mobile which exist long before iPhone?

Think about that will you?

This poll was made in response to an earlier thread that got a little heated.

In the poll I voted for "inspired by" because I see many similarities to the iPhone OS. Obviously the developers ignored iPhone features that are crap, like the iPhone home-screen, the inability to multi-task, and the walled garden model. But I see Android as the spiritual successor to the iPhone in the same way that iPhone was the successor to (and inspired by) the original palmOS.

 

[IOWA]

The apple os design was stolen from winmo symbian android etc. Yes android.

The iphone physical design was stolen from the lg prada.

Who inspired whom?

 

[bluenova]

It's normal that companies making similar products are going to have similar features. It's no different than Windows, MacOS and Linux they all share similarities and all took ideas from each other.

One thing he showed to me was the clock app that had world time, stopwatch, alarm, and countdown timer. I noticed it looked just like the one on my Hero.

I just want to point out the clock was made by HTC and has nothing to do with Android or Google.

They both have a touch interface, so one must've stolen from the other. Right?

The touch interface has been around much longer than Android and iPhone. The first touch screen phone I had was a O2 XDA back in 2002.

 

[Fadelight]

It's normal that companies making similar products are going to have similar features. It's no different than Windows, MacOS and Linux they all share similarities and all took ideas from each other.

Are we talking about the original UIs for PCs? Apple ripped off Xerox... Windows ripped off Apple. So essentially, it is all Xerox.

Linux ripped off Unix, if memory serves me correctly. Yes, I realize that is a major oversimplification, but still...

 

[bluenova]

Are we talking about the original UIs for PCs? Apple ripped off Xerox... Windows ripped off Apple. So essentially, it is all Xerox.

Linux ripped off Unix, if memory serves me correctly. Yes, I realize that is a major oversimplification, but still...

No I'm not talking about original GUI's. I'm talking about current day Windows, MacOS, GNU/Linux which is hugely different than the original Xerox GUI. The current day systems all share common attributes because all 3 systems take attributes from each other.

GNU/Linux isn't a rip-off of Unix. The kernel is based on Unix but that has nothing to do with the GUI (Gnome, KDE, Fluxbox etc etc.)

 

[Pryomancer]

The interface of touchscreen OS's like Android and iPhoneOS will inevitably look similar even if developed in complete isolation from each other, because it's simply the best design for the job.

 

[moijk]

The apple os design was stolen from winmo symbian android etc. Yes android.

The iphone physical design was stolen from the lg prada.

Who inspired whom?

The Apple OS design isn't "stolen" from winmo, symbian or android.

Android was launched a full year after iPhone OS. So the inspiration from Android is rather slim since Android didn't bring much new to the table at the initial stage.

And experience from WinMo and Symbian was of course taken into account when the OS was developed, but the entire experience isn't that related beside the obvious phone and pda-related services.

But nothing was "stolen". In fact, they took the experience from what was and infused Apples experience with user interfaces to create what is known as the most userfriendly smartphone experience. But at the cost of the experience one is used to on computers with running applications in the background and taskswitching. The iPhone OS however is a preempetive multitasking operative system, just limits the taskswitching for both security, energy saving, cpu cycle saving reasons and to simplify the user experience.

Android and Windows Mobile 6 is closer to the more traditional desktop OS experience. Windows Mobile 7 however have gone in the same direction as iPhone OS.

But thats the sweet thing, you got alot of choices instead of what you got with computer OSes. And competition breed innovation, which means a win win for us consumers. Just look at what happened when Microsoft launched that endlessly delayed and not very impressive vista. Apple suddenly gained on its marked share and drove microsoft to launch an OS way before they usual schedule just to fix what vista did worse than XP. Now Windows 7 is the best choice for those who are crazy enough to run Windows, vista wasn't that.

 

[moijk]

No I'm not talking about original GUI's. I'm talking about current day Windows, MacOS, GNU/Linux which is hugely different than the original Xerox GUI. The current day systems all share common attributes because all 3 systems take attributes from each other.

GNU/Linux isn't a rip-off of Unix. The kernel is based on Unix but that has nothing to do with the GUI (Gnome, KDE, Fluxbox etc etc.)

Operating System Interface Design Between 1981-2009 | Webdesigner Depot

This is a nice OS-GUI-evolving comparison that includes OSes beside apple and windows as well.

 

[IOWA]

The Apple OS design isn't "stolen" from winmo, symbian or android.

Android was launched a full year after iPhone OS. So the inspiration from Android is rather slim since Android didn't bring much new to the table at the initial stage.

And experience from WinMo and Symbian was of course taken into account when the OS was developed, but the entire experience isn't that related beside the obvious phone and pda-related services.

But nothing was "stolen". In fact, they took the experience from what was and infused Apples experience with user interfaces to create what is known as the most userfriendly smartphone experience. But at the cost of the experience one is used to on computers with running applications in the background and taskswitching. The iPhone OS however is a preempetive multitasking operative system, just limits the taskswitching for both security, energy saving, cpu cycle saving reasons and to simplify the user experience.

Android and Windows Mobile 6 is closer to the more traditional desktop OS experience. Windows Mobile 7 however have gone in the same direction as iPhone OS.

But thats the sweet thing, you got alot of choices instead of what you got with computer OSes. And competition breed innovation, which means a win win for us consumers. Just look at what happened when Microsoft launched that endlessly delayed and not very impressive vista. Apple suddenly gained on its marked share and drove microsoft to launch an OS way before they usual schedule just to fix what vista did worse than XP. Now Windows 7 is the best choice for those who are crazy enough to run Windows, vista wasn't that.

Well I guess 97% of the WORLD is crazy for running windows. You know, because they need power, function, compatibility etc.

Despite any launch dates, steve jobs knew about android, as he was fequently briefed on it when google and apple were buddy buddy, and no doubt in my mind he stole the idea of making the mobile phone platform os, design, and other things from google android. He then rushed it out( which is why the original iphone was absolutely terrible, no 3g, no mms copy paste etc) just to beat googles implementation.

Oh, and both windows and apple ripped off xerox, windows did not rip off apple.the xerox gui was debuted to both bill gates and steve jobs at the same time. The reason windows became more popular is it was more functional, better marketing, and a better business plan..

 

[Kronite]

Guys, guys:

LOOK AT THAT APP MENU OMG OMG IPHONES STOLE FROM SYMBIAN OMG!1!!! Or maybe not, since I'm not a raging moron.

Hint to the OP: school yourself on the history of mobile OSes. There were smartphones that existed before the iPhone. Hell, Symbian could multi-task before Apple even started thinking "hmm, okay, maybe we should rip off from here and rip a bit off from there and oooh, the sheep will call is amazingly innovative! Perfect!"

nice. was looking for a reply that said just what I felt...and BOOM! There it is. Thanks

 

[lekky]

At the end of the day, what does it matter?