back to article Tablet maker threatens, then robs Apple

The publicity whores at China's Shenzhen Great Loong Brother tablet-PC maker are at it again. First, they raised a worldwild rumpus by floating the prospect of a lawsuit accusing Apple of stealing the design of their tubby P88 slate for the iPad. Now they've blatantly ripped off the look and feel of Mac OS X, pasted it onto …

COMMENTS

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  1. ElReg!comments!Pierre
    Happy

    I think it's called irony, not plagiarism

    That's the most humorous -and logical-thing to do if they really think that Cuppertino stole their design (which, to be fair, appears quite likely, as the main point of that article of yours ridiculing the claim was that the devices don't run the same OS -which is, as the claim was about design, pretty far from the point -"several thousand light years appart"-style far).

    I mean, whether or not Apple stole their design -my take on this is "yes" but...- there is no way that this company could get justice from an US court (what with Apple pockets being bottomless and merkin IP system only recognizing merkin intellectual "property" -even when it's a blatant rip-off, when there's a metric ton of proven prior art or when the idea is so blindingly obvious that any 3-yo kid in human history probably came up with a similar idea).

    So they choosed to flip the bird at Mighty Apple instead, probably making some cash in the process as I can totally see a lot of people parting cash for this, either for it's ironic value or not, especially in China. Mind you, I'm not even remotely Chinese and I would totally get one of those if they were available here, just fo' teh lulz. And chances are Shenzhen can get away with it, too. Which is the way it should be. Frankly that's hillarious, and it's only a skin (i.e. design) so it's appropriate retaliation, too.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      hey, i get it!

      You said 'merkin' because we're all dumb redneck hicks with drawls here! Touche, my friend - there's no coming back to incisive wit like yours.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Flame

        RE: hey, i get it!

        I'll bet he said "merkin" because it means "pubic wig"

      2. Greg J Preece

        Grow a sense of humour

        As title. If you really have to take the time out of your day to whinge because someone called you a 'Merkin, rather than the correct term ("Yank"), then you need a stronger backbone.

        1. The BigYin

          Bloody septics

          No sense of humour, any of them!

          :oP

      3. ElReg!comments!Pierre
        Happy

        I humbly apologise

        "You said 'merkin' because we're all dumb redneck hicks with drawls here! Touche, my friend - there's no coming back to incisive wit like yours."

        I humbly apologise to any US citizen who might have been hurt by my -apparently- derogatory use of the colloquialism "merkin". Except, of course for Mr David W. who vehemently demonstrated the validity of such derogatory terms.

        Best

        Pierre

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Boffin

      oh, and just in case you couldn't see it for yourself...

      ...I think if you check you'll find that shenzen and apple both based their tablet designs on the previously-existing iphone/ipod look. I may just be a dumb, arrogant merkin, but it seems like that's an important point.

      1. Zimmer
        Coat

        I C Wildebeest

        Looks like a Gnome panel and an AWN or Cairo dock.......(or peking duck...?)

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Paris Hilton

          Wrong name surely!!

          Why is it still called "Peking Duck"; surely by now they should have changed it to "Beijing Duck"!!!

          (I asked my Chinese (ex)GF this, and she didn't know either!!)

      2. ElReg!comments!Pierre

        Polically coorect answer: you're dumb

        My voluntarily provocative answer was nixed by El Reg's iron-fisted mod team (I don't complain: it's fair game).

        But the view you express are still the she sign of an incredibly dumd and mislead design sense. Apple's ans Shezen's tablets are identical as far as design goes, and bothe very different from the iPod touch or the iPhone. Just use your eyes. ( I would call you 'm?rk?n' just for the lulz but my post would probably be nixed again)

  2. jake Silver badge

    Seriously, El Reg ...

    Do you think this company thinks it is going to compete on a global scale?

    Or do you think it is going to advertise to non-English speaking people, pointing to the El Reg article as "proof" that Apple and MS approve of this supposed merger ... complete with pictures, for the folks who can't read/write/speak English?

    I know where my money is ...

    1. ElReg!comments!Pierre

      I too, know where my money is....

      ... or where it would be, if the P88 was available up here.

      As it's sadly not ( and the lesser iPad won't be for a while, either) I'll content myself with my EEE900 until someone comes up with a real tablet -preferably an ARM one (say, like the the TouchBook but with a delivery date that doesn't beg for a time machine).

      But then if I was somehow brainwashed into forgetting what `value for money` means, and if I needed a device that doesn`t do fuck all while costing more than my car, I might consider getting an iPad. Maybe.

  3. Jeremy Chappell
    FAIL

    Publicity

    OK, so he got his publicity - I still don't want one. Does anyone want one? (Didn't think so)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Well...

      If it has multitouch, and I can install any applications on it that I wish, and tether it to my 3G phone, and not pay the apple tax, then yes, I do want one.

  4. gumbald
    Go

    Loong

    Is that like Long, but longer?

  5. LPF

    @Jeremy Chappell

    I want one!

  6. The BigYin

    P88 FTW!

    It is more feature rich and less locked down that the Apple iFad at the hardware level (USB etc).

    It can run a full, multi-tasking OS.

    I know which one I would seriously consider, and it wouldn't be the iFad.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Down

      Well done.

      So you've established that the iPad isn't aimed at socially inept nerds (hey, if the cap fits). The thing is that most consumers couldn't give a rats arse about having "a full, multi-tasking OS", and that is who Apple are going for with practically all of their devices. You want to know why it'll never be the year of Linux? The consumer market doesn't care.

      1. The BigYin
        WTF?

        Linux? WTF?

        Who mentioned Linux? Your prejudices are showing through.

        But, if people don't want Linux they'd best get rid of all those Tivos then.

        And most other PVRs...

        And most set-top boxes...

        And PS3s...

        And..and...and...

        But I wasn't necessarily talking about Linux (other kernels are available...).

        I did not "care" if my washing machine had a pre-soak cycle when I was looking. Really, it was not part of my buying decision. I would "care" though if it could not clean my clothes. I did not know in advance that a pre-soak cycle might have been important (luckily the one I bought has one, but anyway...).

        So you are right, general consumers will not "care" in advance about multi-tasking, USB, tethering, video out etc. Right up until the point where it does not do something they expect and then they will "care" mightily.

        Oh, and thank you for the ad hominem. it;'s nice to see that the powers of reasoned debate on El Reg are still in the gutter. You do realise the irony in calling me a "socially inept nerd" whilst slinging said insult; don't you?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          ad hominem

          I said "hey, if the cap fits"...

      2. ElReg!comments!Pierre

        Well done

        So you've established that the iPad i aimed at people who don't need an`electronic social interface` device. Which, given the OS and Apple's vicehold on the thing, is the only possible use of the iPad*. What was your point, again?

        *sure, you could also -possibly- watch movies, if you felt like staring down at a small screen on your knees for 2 hrs.

  7. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

    Explain

    Tell me, too, why I shouldn't want one of these.

    (Besides that I already own a Fizzbook Spin, as I believe I've mentioned.)

  8. iMess
    Pint

    ..and so the Jobs Mob trickle in 2 by 2..

    Fair story but I don't think anything will be stolen from Apple. There's plently of other devices in developement which will prove the iFad age rapidly. Oh look, iPhone 4G is on it's way. Can we please talk about something else?

  9. Nicolas Charbonnier

    Video of this device

    I filmed it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6qtx9Bsjno

    They are just showing that you can install any X86 OS, including Windows XP/Vista/7, Linux Ubuntu/Chrome and even Hackintosh OSX sine it runs on Intel.

  10. Sam Liddicott

    Where can I buy this P88

    Stuff apple, I want a P88, where can I get one?

    Sam

  11. Big_Ted
    Go

    I'm sueing all of them............

    A few years ago I dropped a laptop and the screen fell off. Oooo I thought what a great idea a screen without all the stuff attached, all I need is wifi and touch screen.

    Now all these all look just like my detached laptop screen to me so can I please have all my money sent to ......................

  12. ElReg!comments!Pierre

    Also, when are we getting a review for the TouchBook?

    Tablet form-factor, real toch-driven OS, optionnal keyboard doubles battery life, ARM processor (at long last), we want to know what it's really worth!

    http://alwaysinnovating.com/touchbook/

    C'mon El Reg, fingers out of, erm, wherever they might have been all this time, this has been `available` for several month now. As far as tech is concernerned it's several orders of magnitude hotter than a dumb new x86 tablet PC -may it bear the bitten fruit brand- especially when the latter-mentionned device is only a glorified smartphone with no phone function.

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