Silicon Valley’s best-known CEO blogger now wants to become its best-known ex-CEO blogger (and yes, there may be a book in the works as well).
Jonathan Schwartz, formerly of Sun Microsystems, has used his new pulpit to poke a stick at Steve Jobs. The Apple boss tried to bully Sun into submission back in 2003 by threatening to sue it for trampling on Apple’s intellectual property rights, he claims. He also relates a revealing meeting where Bill Gates turned up the heat with a legal threat.
Schwartz’s bigger point: bullying doesn’t work in tech. Wouldn’t it be nice to believe him?
Schwartz bases his case on the argument that big tech companies, each with their own large portfolio of patents, can neutralise hollow threats by leaning on counter-claims of their own.
But what happens when companies don’t own an arsenal of patents, or are unwilling to use them?
That makes the latest Apple attack – on Google’s Android (via a lawsuit against HTC) – such an intriguing moment. Google has built its brand on not playing by the usual rules of business.
Has Eric Schmidt (a former Sun exec himself) already received the same threatening phone call from Mr Jobs that Mr Schwartz says he got? Even if not, can he ignore this direct challenge to Android – since presumably Motorola and Samsung will be next in the firing line?
Until now Google has held back from heavy-handed attempts to use its own IP as a weapon. How it acts next will say a lot about how it plans to use its new-found weight to fend off the bullies.
