Company says it's unafraid of a lawsuit
It's hard to deny the similarities between the metal unibody Envy Spectre XT ultrathin from Hewlett-Packard Comp. (HPQ) and the Apple, Inc. (AAPL) MacBook Air.
The Spectre XT is the flagship model of HP's just-announced Envy ultrathin collection, whose roots trace back to acquired VoodooPC's Envy laptops, which first launched June 2008. The VoodooPC envy was one of the first non-Apple ultrathins to hit the market, coming just months after Apple's Jan. 2008 MacBook Air launch.
The Voodoo Envy didn't look much like the MacBook Air, but it's hard to deny that HP's line has trended towards Apple's with each release since. With the latest release the similarities were enough for HP's VP of industrial design Stacy Wolff to go on the defensive. He told Engadget, "[The Spectre XT's looks are] not due to Apple but due to the way technologies developed. It is not because those guys did it first. It's just that's where the form factor is leading it."
He points to his design's rubber imbued bottom, slightly different keyboard, and brushed metal (as opposed to the MacBook Air's shiny metal) body as key differentiators. He calls the ultrabook "Genuine HP".
Stacy Wolff, HP [Image Source: Engadget]
The defensive commentary is a bit odd, but with Apple suing numerous companies [1][2] over alleged design violations, perhaps it's a legal-minded measure. Mr. Wolff indicated the design received his lawyers' stamp of approval.
Source: Engadget
"Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine." -- Bill Gates
|
Most Popular ArticlesHigh School Student Creates Storage Device that Can Charge in 20 Seconds
May 20, 2013, 6:51 AM
Seawater Cooling Saves Data Center Big Bucks, Energy, Despite Jellyfish Issues
May 17, 2013, 3:23 PM
Newegg Legal Chief: "We don't Feed the Trolls"; Defeats Bell Lab Shell Comp.
May 17, 2013, 10:11 AM
Former Intel CEO Regrets Passing Up on iPhone Gravy Train
May 17, 2013, 11:46 AM
NASA Awards $125,000 Grant for 3D Printed Food on Long-Term Space Travels
May 21, 2013, 1:32 PM
|
