Comment by hajile

Comment by hajile 6 months ago

I also owned a touchpad. You are misremembering if you think they look the same.

Here's a side-by-side image

https://i.insider.com/4e0cb173ccd1d561390e0000?width=900&for...

Here's a close-up detail of an ipad on top of a touchpad.

As I stated, you can clearly see sharp, flat edges on the ipad where it meets the back of the device while the Touchpad has a much more continuous rounded edge. In the side-by-side shots, you can also see how the Touchpad corners are much more rounded.

Here's some individual shots

Touchpad with side view

https://i0.wp.com/www.seriousinsights.net/wp-content/uploads...

https://images.anandtech.com/reviews/tablets/HP/TouchPad/_DS...

ipad with side view

https://images.anandtech.com/reviews/gadgets/iPad/introducti...

timschmidt 6 months ago

I'm sure whatever differences you see seem important to you.

None of them prevented a $15 iPad case from working flawlessly with my TouchPad for a half dozen years.

Tapping into Apple's ecosystem in such a way is exactly the sort of action Apple dislikes, for obvious reasons.

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hajile 6 months ago

Those differences are precisely why suing wouldn't be possible. Apple barely won against Samsung and they were claiming not only the hardware design (where almost every element was ripped off), but also that Samsung copied Apple software design too.
In my opinion, Touchpad's different edges, corners, and radically different software meant HP wasn't likely to get sued.

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- timschmidt 6 months ago
  
  That's funny because I see it exactly the opposite. Apple won against Samsung despite Samsung's phone seeming no more similar to Apple's than the Touchpad was to an iPad. Industry watchers at the time were flabbergasted that anyone would sue over a curved edge, and that Apple who had defended itself in lawsuits over similarly trite details in the past would do so. Wins tend to embolden.
  It's well documented that mobile is a minefield of lawsuits seemingly aimed not so much at winning as at establishing cross-licensing agreements to mitigate the massive patent warchests of established players. A practice Apple has proven to be adept at. Just entering the mobile space carries a near 100% chance of getting sued by everyone else already occupying it.
  You can be of the opinion that something isn't worthy of a lawsuit. Doesn't mean one won't happen. In my humble experience, any pretense can be sufficient. And this one has seemed likely to me since 2011.
  
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