What does Hugo Barra think of Steve Jobs's allegations of Android 'imitating' Apple's phone operating system?

Has Android imitated features from Apple's iOS? It's not a issue that Google's leading managers for the Android operating system want to get mixed up in.

Hugo Barra, product management director for Android at Google, persisted in London on Tuesday that he hadn't listen to the disclosures that appeared last Friday from the Steve Jobs biography: that the late Apple chief executive "vowed to tear down Android", and was so angry at what he saw as replicating applied in Android 2.1 on HTC phones released in January 2010 that he called for Eric Schmidt to a meeting in March and said he required it closed.

"He said that?" said Barra, sounding overwhelmed. He said that he had been journeying and had not listened to the stories.

When given explanations about them – and inquired whether he would articulate that any features in the new version of Android, such as the two-line preview of emails in the Gmail app (found in Apple's iPhone email program since 2007), or the "speedy reply" buttons at the bottom of the email app (about alike in order and aim to those in Apple's iPhone email program), or the stipulation of a shortcut to the camera from the phone's lock screen (first seen in iOS 5 appetizers in June), or the an additional elements further to the Notifications bar in Android – were duplicating iOS, he responded: "I'm not going to find into this."

Barra refused to response when asked Google had applied a "element freeze" on Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of Android which will be put into practice in phones due for delivery from next month. A "element freeze" is the point at which no latest aspects are further to code, so that it can be experienced and refined: "That's an inner matter," he said.

Barra joined Google's Android attempt in December 2010, and was main in the making of Ice Cream Sandwich, which is version 4.0 of Android. He said that a main purpose was to enhance the client experience of Android, and that work on figuring out what to do and how, if at all, to alter it had built in broad-scale testing with both presented users of Android and non-users to discover what they found harder or wanted to observe.

"A numbers of the coding [of Ice Cream Sandwich] was simultaneous with that of Honeycomb [which was released to makers in February 2011]", Barra said. The "gold master" version of Ice Cream Sandwich was formed in time for the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus last week in Hong Kong.

As lots of you identify, I’ve often been serious on these pages of Apple’s incapability to completely capitalize on the living room. I’m a solid believer that the firm has a actual chance to be a leading force in home entertainment, and yet, it hasn’t made something to show that. Up till now, the Apple TV is the pioneer offering it has, and most would consent, that that device is stagnant just a “hobby.”

Accurately why Apple has been so reluctant to completely double down on the living room is anyone’s presumption. Maybe it’s because the firm is so paid intention on mobile inventions, like the iPad and iPhone. Or maybe it just doesn’t see any chance in the living room.

Though, my assumption is that Steve Jobs didn’t observe a good basis to hunt after the dominance of another space until his firm could completely remark its place in the mobile market. What’s more, I’m not agreed that Jobs required Apple to be a new Sony, offering a host of home-theater goods that only few people like.

And while I appreciate that idea, I do consider that the single product Jobs should have initiated is a game console.

The technique I observe it, the game console is the focus of any home-theater set-up. For several folks, it’s the device they utilize to see movies, stream Netflix content, and play games. It’s an all-in-one option.

And so far, during his period as CEO at Apple, Jobs never show any sign that he would try and take on Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo in the gaming space.

But will Tim Cook?

I suppose he should. Looking around the App Store, it has become richly obvious that Apple is now, at the very slightest, a game seller. And at the very most, the firm is no dissimilar from Nintendo, offering a moveable device that allows possessors play video games, while relying on third parties to increase those titles.

What’s more, Apple’s devices have been thieving largest market share away from other manufacturers of portable-gaming goods, thanks to the average customer’s wishes to rise up their phone, check e-mail, play some stages in a game, and then place a call.

Setting Apple’s victories in the mobile gaming world, why shouldn’t Tim Cook desire to fight in the living room with a game console? After all, Apple has confirmed that it appreciates how to build a gamer-friendly device, it has a marketplace in the App Store to present digital titles to clients, and it has the cash on hand to make a device that could set a new set in the gaming market.

At this level, there’s purely no convincing cause for Apple’s new CEO to not at least deem offering a game console. The video games manufacturer is ready for a new contestant to shake things up and initiate it on a fresh lane.

Why shouldn’t the Tim Cook-led Apple be that representative of transform?