14 DAY TRIAL // Excerpts from Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs bio are coming out, and one of the most interesting ones reveals that Apple’s co-founder loathed Android for stealing from iOS.
According to Isaacson, who interviewed Jobs on several occasions for his biography, the Apple CEO went on an expletive-laced rant about Google’s actions and how they could well be regarded as “grand theft.”
“I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong,” Jobs said. “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”
Steve Jobs passed away earlier this month due to complications with a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
The author recounted Jobs also considered Google Docs a rip-off and, in a subsequent meeting with Schmidt at a Palo Alto, Calif., cafe, Jobs told Google CEO Eric Schmidt that he wasn’t interested in settling their lawsuit.
According to the bio’s author, Jobs told Schmidt, “I don’t want your money. If you offer me $5 billion, I won’t want it. I’ve got plenty of money. I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that’s all I want.”
Schmidt had previously served on Apple's board of directors. The Google CEO left the board in 2009 as competition between the two companies had increased.
Isaacson said their meeting ended up with neither side backing off.
When Jobs and Schmidt were spotted at that cafe in Palo Alto, the press believed the two CEOs were having a friendly chat. Although their meeting was undoubtedly business-related, few imagined their conversation was this tense.
After being spotted by the paparazzi, the two technology buffs reportedly agreed to go somewhere "more private" to continue their conversation.