Apple has been ordered to pay up a whopping US$21 million (£13 million) to license its clock design for iOS 6, which it had originally used without permission.

In use since 1944 by the Swiss Federal Railway service, the minimalistic clock design has been honoured by the Museum of Modern Art, has been licensed to Swiss watch maker Modaine, and could technically be one of the most expensive timepieces ever - virtual or not.

On the plus side, iDevice owners can technically brag about owning a multimillion dollar watch of sorts. Take that Rolex wielders.

Clearly broken, stopped at 7:22 and nearly 9 seconds. Only useful twice a day.

Like Steve Jobs famously said (1996 PBS documentary):

"Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal"

and

"We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas."

And the famous exchange between Jobs and Gates re: Windows:

When Steve Jobs found out that Bill Gates was preparing to develop a graphical user interface he called Bill Gates down from Seattle...

Quote:

Their meeting was in Jobs's conference room, where Gates found himself surrounded by ten Apple employees who were eager to watch their boss assail him. Jobs didn't disappoint his troops. "You're ripping us off!" he shouted. "I trusted you, and now you're stealing from us!" Gates just sat there coolly, looking Steve in the eye, before hurling back, in his squeaky voice, what became a classic zinger. "Well, Steve, I think there's more than one way of looking at it. I think it's more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it. "

Meh another Apple BS story - that's not how it happened.

Apple's clock looks very similar to the Swiss Railways iconic design. Swiss railways called up Apple to license the design and Apple agreed. Swiss railways is licensing this design to many companies that make replica watches.

Some swiss newspaper claims that the license cost $21M - sounds pretty steep IMO- I'd take that with a grain of salt. I can't imagine many watchmakers paying that much, and I can't imagine the Swiss getting all greedy. But - who knows. Neither company has officially commented, it was an "undisclosed sum".

Yes, just another episode in the Cuppertino-based reality show, "When Skeumorphs Go Bad". The designer probably thought it was OK to steal the design, but someone probably should have checked first, especially given the number of lawyers Apple has on retainer.

"iCal looks like John Wayne's daily ledger for Indian-killing sprees, a heinous mash of leather-bound schlock and 21st-century date-keeping,"

http://gizmodo.com/5849940/ugh-god-why-apple-is-making-everything-look-like-an-ugly-wild-west

. . . wonders how many TV members had to look up the word "litigious" . . .

Apple's clock looks very similar to the Swiss Railways iconic design.

SIMILAR??? You win 3 interwebs.

Typical iSquirm... Love how their stuff always "looks similar", "is inspired by"... Innovative... Magical... All the keywords in the iCult^{(hallowed are the iOri)} handbook...

Clearly broken, stopped at 7:22 and nearly 9 seconds. Only useful twice a day.

Well the swiss rail clock is designed broken.............it stops for a couple of seconds at the top of each minute to give them the chance to say they left on time.

Apple's clock looks very similar to the Swiss Railways iconic design.

SIMILAR??? You win 3 interwebs.

Typical iSquirm... Love how their stuff always "looks similar", "is inspired by"... Innovative... Magical... All the keywords in the iCult^{(hallowed are the iOri)} handbook...

On the topic: I *thought* there were some subtle differences but looking it up now, it is actually a wholesale copy. Whoops!

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-10/15/apple-royalties-swiss-clock

Of course instead of fighting the case in court Apple just paid up...

The second part of your post - not sure that is English?! Haters on a quixotic quest to find the imaginary "fanboys" they feel themselves surrounded by?

The second part of your post - not sure that is English?! Haters on a quixotic quest to find the imaginary "fanboys" they feel themselves surrounded by?

Like a typical Apple sycophant you jumped to conclusions and rallied round them, leaping to their defence with your

original post. And got mocked for it.

"Hater"? Hardly. I'd happily consider an iPhone if a) it had MicroSD and I could get rid of that awful home screen.

"Imaginary fanboys"? Go back and read your original post again. You know, the one where you were 100% sure it

was a BS attack on Apple and leapt to their defence, then checked your facts. Maybe there are some 'subtle

differences' between your post and a fanboy's that I'm missing.

Trolls bore me to death

Trolls bore me to death

But you keep reading their posts, and cherish having the last word.

Why do I suspect you do not bore easily?