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“Do they still exist?” Steve Jobs takes jabs at Real Networks in videotaped deposition from 2011

Image (1) steve_jobs_630x.jpg for post 14521

The ten-year-old lawsuit over whether Apple violated antitrust law by locking the iPod to its own iTunes software has finally gone to trial. In its first day before a jury, the case has yielded several new emails between Apple executives as well as a videotaped deposition of Steve Jobs, which was recorded in 2011 shortly before he died.

In the video, according to Reuters, Jobs was asked if he had heard of Real Networks, the company behind the RealPlayer software Apple had blocked from working with the iPod. Jobs took a quick jab at the music distribution rival and asked, “Do they still exist?”

As far as the question of why Real Player was blocked from functioning with the iPod, Jobs says he was worried that the music industry would view interoperability and the ability to copy music from one computer to another as a method of pirating media and react badly.

Emails between Apple’s executive team, including Jobs and marketing chief Phil Schiller, revealed how the company viewed the competition. In one email from 2004, Jobs suggested that Apple release a statement condemning Real Networks for attempting to make its software work with the iPod and label the group’s tactics as those of “hackers.” Schiller chimed in with his support of the idea.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44w-RYurbN4]

While the plaintiffs in the case argue that Apple violated antitrust law by locking its hardware to its software, the Cupertino company has responded by claiming that because the iPod was not the only portable music player on the market, they did not have a monopoly and were not obligated to provide compatibility with competing software. To do so, the company’s lawyers insist, would have damaged the user experience that Apple is known for.

Additional Apple executives, including Schiller and iTunes head Eddy Cue and are expected to testify as the trial continues. The plaintiffs are seeking $351,631,153 in damages.

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Comments

  1. TechSHIZZLE.com - 9 years ago

    The hope that they get some money here is the only way Real Networks is still afloat.

  2. theoddshipp - 9 years ago

    What damages did Real Networks suffer? Just because people purchased music from them and couldn’t put that music on Apple’s iPod how did that effect them, trying to put the music on an iPod is past the purchase has nothing to do with RN? RN could’ve let their music come in a normal format say non-DRM mp3 that would have worked perfectly with the iPod. RN screwed themselves by selling DRM loaded crap. They still had their profit from their sales, just because they had an outdated crappy model they shouldn’t bitch and moan that they failed.

    So anyone who ever purchased an 8trac cassette gets to sue Phillips for making their 8tracs obsolete and unplayable in the newly adopted format? Same thing to me. Apple created a device that would only play their formatted music or non-DRM music, why is it such a problem that RN gets to demand 1/3 of a billions bucks?

  3. truth42 - 9 years ago

    Horrible software. Seemed to install itself from nowhere and was very difficult to remove. It looked like Windows software installed on your Mac. I see they successfully sued Microsoft for anti-trust some years ago. Perhaps this is their business model – produce crappy malware that clutters up you hard drive and then whine to the courts about anti-trust. Now it’s Apple’s turn.

    I hope Real lose and then crawl back into the hole that they came from.

    • airmanchairman - 9 years ago

      Microsoft partnered with Real to develop a compelling alternative to Apple’s QuickTime, which had been ported to the PC platform and was a runaway success. As soon as M$ could reverse-engineer, “embrace and extend” them, Real Player was dumped for an in-house version, having handed M$ the edge over QuickTime with video streaming.

  4. Jared Stutts - 9 years ago

    Up until this article, I like Steve Jobs, went “wait they still exist?!”

  5. Virginia Taunton - 9 years ago

    Does Apple really use refurbished parts? I saw this and it made me wonder.

    http://ezrd.me/r/?rd=083K6Ofm

  6. mirage - 9 years ago

    2014 now…. and my question is the same, Real Networks still exist? man, i thought they went the WinAmp way….

  7. AeronPeryton - 9 years ago

    I said the same thing about Real Networks in 2007.

  8. varera (@real_varera) - 9 years ago

    The whole lawsuit is the definition of “frivolous”

  9. lkernan - 9 years ago

    Oh man, just thinking about that horrible Realplayer software makes my skin crawl…

  10. :) This means that I can sue LG or Samsung because their dvd player doesn’t play my vhs video tape?

  11. windlasher - 9 years ago

    IN WHAT WORLD, are you obligated to make your software/hardware compatible with everyone else’s crappy software? Real Networks was an Fing nightmare no matter how you look at it. Maybe they should have invented better software instead of trying to ride on top of someone else success.

  12. Upcoming lawsuits according to Real Networks:

    -Fitbit gets sued by Apple for not allowing HealthKit to talk to the Fitbit App.
    -M$ gets sued by Apple, Google and Linux because IE does not work on their OS’s
    -Apple gets sued by M$ because Pages only works on Macs and on iCloud… but not on Windows 8/10
    -Twit & Leo get sued by Twitter because Twit is just a shorter spelling of Twitter… leaves consumers confused.
    -Samsung TV Division sues Samsung Mobile because their Galaxy phones won’t stream to Samsung Smart TV’s but will stream to Chromecast providing a unfair competitive advantage for Google!

    • thejuanald - 9 years ago

      My Galaxy Note 3 streams just fine to my Samsung Smart TV. The rest are pretty good though.

    • A few more analogous lawsuits…

      – Google gets sued for not giving other ad networks access to Google Search pages.
      – Apple gets sued for not licensing iOS to other mobile device OEMs
      – Nintendo (back in the day) gets sued by other game console makers for not allowing them to play NES games.

      This case goes all the way back to 2005, when there was still a lot of competition in the market. In fact, “PlaysForSure” was used in a dozen or more stores, devices and services. Did anyone sue Microsoft for making “PlaysForSure” Windows only? Nope.

  13. ilakias - 9 years ago

    In which event was this picture of Steve Jobs taken ? I see it everywhere but don’t know where the original comes from!

    • 1sugomac - 9 years ago

      It is from one of the annual shareholder meetings. He is pointing to someone at the microphone during the Q&A portion of the meeting

      • Moises Agudo - 9 years ago

        It’s when he pointed out that Android was a stolen product and he would spend every last cent of APPLE to right this wrong. Thermonuclear comes to mind, anybody else,,,,

  14. 89p13 - 9 years ago

    My recollection of Real Networks was they “loaded” their downloadable software with all kinds of back-doors and trackers – all the crap that I would not let on my computer systems.

    I hope they get nothing – and they just fade into obscurity and are made into just a small footnote in the history of music.

  15. herb02135go - 9 years ago

    You gotta love it when Apple’s dirty laundry gets aired, and the truth about Steve Jobs is known.