With Apple and Samsung returning to the courtrooms to fight the second round of the ongoing patent case an interesting bi-product has been the public release of several internal correspondences from major Apple staff.



The ‘Holy War’

First up is the Apple vs Google battle that is seemingly dominating everything with a microchip. Steve Jobs, Apple’s former CEO who tragically died in 2011 wasn't shy about his dislike for the internet giant, having famously promised ‘thermonuclear war’ on them. In Jobs’ biography he stated ‘“I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product.” For the leaked e-mails Jobs settled for the equally dramatic ‘Holy War’ (scheduled for 2011). It’s an interesting thing to note with Apple frequently denying paying any attention to their competitor’s actions and with Google standing as an awkward but interested (and hugely related) 3rd party in the latest court case. It was years removed from being the first time Jobs’ had threatened ‘war’ with Google, as in 2005 he’d let Sergey Brin of Google know that any poaching of staff between the companies would lead to that outcome. That behind-the-scenes agreement between major tech giants is currently the topic of another unrelated court case.

Samsung joined in for good measure, their own correspondence outlined their objective: “Beating Apple is #1 Priority (everything must be in context of beating Apple).”


The ‘Top 100’

That particular ‘Holy War’ was a prominent discussion point in a meeting of ‘The Top 100’, somewhere secret and far from the Cupertino company’s main campus. The Top 100, it is revealed, is a select bunch of Apple’s top employees that are invited to strategise the company’s plans for the years ahead.

Samsung's Next Big Thing commercial that left Schiller, remarking "these guys are feeling it!".


The ‘Next Big Thing’

Apple’s competition and its relevance to the company at large comes into clearer focus in an exchange of e-mails with its ad agency, TBWA/The Media Arts Lab.  With Samsung debuting its Next Big Thing campaign, created by agency 72andSunny, to a hugely positive public response Apple’s marketing department faced an unusually imposing threat to its image. Apple’s SVP of Marketing Phil Schiller was prompted into a sharp response to the agency’s suggestion that Apple’s internal structure was blocking progress on “nailing a compelling brief for the iPhone”. 

Apple's 1984 superbowl commerical, widely regarded as one of the best ads of all time.


The Here and now

However with Apple seeking a $2 billion dollar lawsuit and with the potential aftermath of massive blocks on developments integral to the Android OS this courtcase could leave a hugely different tech landscape. With Samsung making a handy Google stooge for Apple it seems that whether ‘Thermonuclear’, ‘Holy’ or just incredibly ‘Cold’ a true Apple vs Google clash may be on the horizon.


All that probably will end up meaning though is more and more court cases.