Re:Xiaomi’s first laptop is a Macbook Air rival
by uola on Thursday July 28, 2016 @06:12PM
(#12183583)
At this point I can only conclude that you don't want to understand. I've already explained that there were a number of manufacturers who had a vision of a smart phone with a similar form factor to the iPhone. Steve Jobs was a fan of Sony, he wanted to run Mac OS on the VAIO line of laptops. As that didn't work out, he ultimately made his own slim aluminium laptop with chiclet keyboard. Richard Howarth who was involved in designing both the iPhone and the MacBook Air had previously worked at Sony. Before Apple adopted the Sony style their products were plastic and/or colorful.
Apple has always copied, just like they copied much of the current iPhone user interface from their competitors.
By that definition the Ford F-150 is a copy of the Porsche 911. I mean they both have four wheels and an engine and things like door handles and windows.
The Sony x505 has "chiclet" keys, but they didn't invent them. These things were on calculators decades prior, and infamously the IBM PC Jr.'s wireless keyboard.
What I'm talking about is the peculiar arrangement of the arrow keys and other subtle things that are very distinctly Apple. Given how quirky some keyboards can be, where seemingly every vendor has their own spin on how big the Caps Lock key should be or where backspace should be positioned, they're all using Apple's keyboard as a blueprint going forward, literally copying it.
Apple's fairly unique arrow key layout showed up in early versions of the iBook and other Apple machines in the 2000-2001 era, possibly earlier.