i really don't understand why any phone with a touchscreen is an iphone ripoff. the lg prada existed before the iphone. and even at that, hundreds of phones had touchscreens before either of those. all of a sudden they get bigger and everyone is ripping off apple.

-apple wasn't the first to make a cell phone
-apple wasn't the first to have a touchscreen on their cell phone
-apple wasn't the first to make a buttonless cell phone
-apple wasn't the first to put an mp3 player on their cell phone
-apple wasnt the first to put onboard storage on a phone

yet, all of the phones that do this are now iphone ripoffs.

FUD! i rock a macbook like any other multimedia designer, but this is just NONSENSE. can we dilute the kool-aid for a bit?

*wonders where my last comment went.*

is this some kind of iPhone rebranding like the HP iPod? ;)

I thought Apple had patents for the iPhone? If there are any similarities between this and the iPhone, couldn't Apple sue them for patent infrigement?

The photo app looks like a direct copy of the iPhone. Then again, for all I know there is a phone that was before iPhone that had a similar phot app. What about the price? I saw the price for this on another site listed at almost $800. Who knows if that is the real price, but people complained about the $600 iPhone, how will people respond to something that costs $200 more?

kja: Which patents are you talking about? the touch screen, which was on lots of phones before the iphone? the mp3 player, which was on lots of phones before the iphones and existed before the ipod (e.g. diamond rio)? the Tull web browser on a phone, which nokia had (and ironically based on the same khtml/webkit as iphone's safari browser) a full year before the iphone? The tilt sensors, which for example some korean game phones have had for years? The 4-8 gb storage, which nokia's N91 (for example) had two years ago?

The fact is that none of the cool things about the iphones are fundamentally new. What Apple has done is that they created an awesome design (hardware) and a beautiful UI, and they packaged a lot of the best stuff out there together in a great and easy to use bundle. That's something to applaud them for, and I for one hope that it will put the rest of the industry in a higher gear to do the same. But like KAI points out - the notion that everyone is ripping off the iPhone is ridiculous and simpy not fact based. Even Nokia has had touch screens before Apple, not to mention Palm Treos, basically all Windows Mobile phones, and so on. Again, what Apple did was make it all sexy. But I doubt that's patentable...

Don't dis Nokia.

The iPhone is like a cute little baby lamb that you are not allowed to take out of your house, slaughter it for delicious meat, or cut it open and use for warmth in the frozen Hoth wastelands.

Nokia is the white Rhino that cost you a fortune to import but can trample everything.

So Suck-it Apple fanboys

Well I hope apple licenses the iPhone OS, and maybe even architecture to Nokia.. then everyone wins (except nokia)

@kai: I feel you, but I don't think it's the touchscreen/button-less, or the mp3/storage that people are claiming was "bitten". The video, as mentioned in the story, was demoing the UI which seems VERY similar. Like the "cover flow -ish" photos, etc. Besides, don't forget that apple has patents on these technologies (NO NOT A PATENT FOR CELLPHONES IN GENERAL). Just check all their iphone based patents and you'll see exactly what was ripped off. I agree w/ you about the form factor. Not all PMP Touchscreen phones are iphone fakes. It's kinda like Vista, it has MANY similarities to OSX but I wouldn't call it a OSX fake.

No matter what anyone says, Nokia, Palm, Sony-Ericsson, ALL could likely have made the iPhone years ago.

In fact, they probably could have even gotten the *name* iPhone.

The relevant question is...why didn't they?

Forget patents, 'who did it first', sexy vs. functional, fanboyism: It is the answer to that question that tells you what you need to know about Apple.

i usually get annoyed too when every phone is compared to the iphone but come fucking on the interface is practically identical. the flipping through pictures... are you kidding? nokia could have at least TRIED to be more discreet with their copycatism.

Sure, phones had touch screens, on board memory, tilt hardware, mp3 players and everything else. The thing is, the iphone put it all together. Mac doesn't necessarily come up with the newest/best technology they utilize it in a platform which people can use! I'm personally working off of a MBP and i love it. The idea isn't always to come up with the newest, it's to figure out how to utilize someone else's technology in a way that people can value. That's where the real genus is. Find new ways to look at existing technology.

Apple has patented the GUI and the user interaction... the specific Apple implementation is what is being ripped off here.. sure others have done the same features.. Yes, but in much more clunking, difficult to use and difficult to learn to use ways.. if you significantly improve on an innovation this is an innovation and is patentable...

e.g. if someone invents a microwave but it's the size of a house and can heat up a grape in about an hour... then someone else produces a microwave but manages to shrink it down to something that fits on a counter top and you can cook a 10lb roast.. they can patent their design as it applies to the miniaturization...

this is what Apple has done with it's specific implementation... i.e. their GUI and user interaction, ease of use... it's a rip off

@kai: i agree with you =D

@kai:

SPOT.ON!

Maybe you are right, they weren' the first for any of these but they were the first for ALL of these! There is no room for jealosy here. Apple is tops and there is no reason NOT to give them their due!I am just so sick of people trying to rob Apple of the glory they so richly deserve. If everyone else made the effort to "THink Something Different" then we would all be better off in this world.

@kai:

@kai:
I feel sorry for you. You don't have to be a "kool-aid drinker" to see that this is a rip-off. Lt's get some perspective here. People call Apple on ripping off every single one of its most interesting ads in the last decade... even the first iPhone ad. Flpping through photos with your finger after turning the device and having it automatically switch from portrait to landscape? Don't be foolish. complain about LG Prada being called an iPhone clone. Don't complain about a non-phone iPhone clone being called an iPhone rip-off. You just come across out of touch. (Heh, heh... out of touch, get it?)

funny thing is that most nokia and ericsson phone are much sexier than the iPhoney.

guess ppl like a good lookin OS over a gorgeous piece of hardware.

@calgeiser: Funny thing is, calgeiser, I disagree. Strongly. Many SE devices look good to OK, while Nokia has perfected the plastic look.

The iPhone, however, is thin, sleek and elegant, and doesn't look cheap at all. So, yeah, I disagree with you.

You want everyone else to copy it and enter the area...

That way you get innovation and movement in the phones...

I like Jobs because he doesn't wait for someone else to do something and then release a similar product. He takes what's common and makes it drool worthy. That's why, even though Apple isn't a market leader, tech companies eventually end up following Apple's cue.
Example: When Apple got rid of Jobs PC makers gave us the crappy, boxy, plastic junk that non-Apple fans seem to love (and Apple, then, imitated). As soon as Jobs came back - every computer CEO is trying to come up with something that's Apple-like. Ditto with MP3 players.
So, cellphone fans rejoice! Now that Apple is in the mix you will get that cellphone you've always dreamed about. If not from Apple, from one of the other cellphone makers who will try to be Apple-like. You guys are so lucky! I'm sure Stevo will appreciate your thank-you letters.

@kahri: Cover flow wasnt an Apple idea either, lookup "Looking Glass Desktop", ooh look a pic from 3 years ago of cover flow. If you also look closely at other looking glass pictures you start to wonder if you are looking at OSX 10.5.

a nice video of the Looking Glass Desktop running on Linux (it can run on Windows too) can be found here

@LinuxGalore: Thanx but I've used Looking Glass and it's not the same. In fact I remember thinking about how good a concept it was, but it was basically a 3d finder window overlaid on the file. Not the same as "pushing" files on the file itself. Plus I remember it being very buggy when I used it, might've improved since i don't know. And BTW I never saw any similarities to OS 10.5

@KJA:
Yeah, like the Meizu M8 mini-one....!

Oh... no... wait. Meizu showed their iPhone back last September before Apple did in January 07.

You know... patents can be revoked... after all, If USPO cannot find a similar patent in a "patent search"... the USPO will give you a patent... but is someone later on FINDS a similar patent that was done before yours... then your's is revoked.

I have not seen Apple sue Meizu yet... Hummmm.

@kahri: yeah the docks looks nothing like the one in OSX10.5.....NOT!