You spend seven or eight years working on something, and then it s copied. I have to be honest, the first thing I can think, all those weekends that I could have at home with my family but didn t. I think it s theft, and it s lazy.
— Jony Ive, Apple s design chief, on why he doesn t think imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. His comments were in response to a question by Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter at Vanity Fair s New Establishment Summit in San Francisco about how he felt about copycat designs of Apple products by China s Xiaomi and other companies.
Apple, of course, has complained for years (and sued, besides) about other companies copying its products. Most recently, it clashed with Samsung over that company s line of Android-based Galaxy smartphones and tablets. And Apple complained about Microsoft s Windows user interface. But it s common knowledge: Some of Apple s ideas are considered to be borrowed from elsewhere as well. Quartz points out that the Mac s graphic user interface and mouse were adopted from Xerox PARC, and the design of some Apple products draw inspiration from those of Braun, of consumer-products and appliances fame.
Photo: Jony Ive at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008. (Maria J. Avila/Mercury News archives)
