Apple’s reputation is for individual genius, for go-it-alone different-drummer design and development style. That well-deserved reputation sometimes obscures the fact that it takes a team to put together Apple’s exceptional products — and not everybody on that team works at Apple. One example is Corning, whose Gorilla Glass is the conduit every time you touch your iPhone. It’s a huge part of the Apple experience, but Apple doesn’t make it.
Similarly, a British company called Imagination Technologies has long supplied some of the graphics technology at work internally in Apple devices. When Apple said recently that it would wean itself from Imagination’s tech in the next two years and go it alone with in-house tech, the Imagination stock plummeted. It’s recovered a bit though, after Imagination asserted that Apple can expect the kind of less-than-amicable break up that Glenn Close showed us in Fatal Attraction. (Imagination is not going to be ignored.) Imagination believes Apple will have a hard time going solo and not infringing on Imagination patents. The company issued this statement (CNN):
“Apple has not presented any evidence to substantiate its assertion that it will no longer require Imagination’s technology, without violating Imagination’s patents, intellectual property and confidential information,” the company said.
