APPLE REFUSES ALL NEW IDEAS

F

FatPiper

Registered
Hi there,

I came across this page when browsing apple.com.
For those that are lazy to click :
 

 Apple's Unsolicited Idea Submission Policy

Apple or any of its employees do not accept or consider unsolicited ideas, including ideas for new advertising campaigns, new promotions, new or improved products or technologies,product enhancements, processes, materials, marketing plans or new product names. Please do not send any original creative artwork, suggestions or other works. The sole purpose of this policy is to avoid potential misunderstandings or disputes when Apple's products or marketing strategies might seem similar to ideas submitted to Apple. So, please do not send your unsolicited ideas to Apple or anyone at Apple. If, despite our request that you not send us your ideas, you still send them, then regardless of what your letter says, the following terms shall apply to your idea submission.

TERMS OF IDEA SUBMISSION
You agree that: (1) your ideas will automatically become the property of Apple, without compensation to you, and (2) Apple can use the ideas for any purpose and in any way, even give them to others.

http://www.apple.com/legal/default.html#unsolicited

They "do not accept or consider" them ??? This means that basically any ideas submitted to them (like the hotkey specsheet in the hotkeys-hot topic thread ... etc.) won't even be taken into account. They've gotta be crazy!

Any one else got anything to say about this. This really makes me mad ... a lot ...
 
the keyword is "unsolicited" apple has asked for feedback regarding os x. all that crap you quoted is to cover their asses, it makes sense in this world where people are anal
 
Hey -- re-read that paragraph!
It specifies quite clearly that (despite the "do not consider" sentence) that Apple can and may use any good idea you send them.

And Vroom's point about "unsolicited" is important.

And if you listened to Jobs's keynote, you would have heard a lot about the feedback they did "accept and consider."

No reason to be angry here.

Zach
 
I actually sent an e-mail to Steve Jobs recently and he personally replied. This is not the kind of thing that most forture 500 CEO's do and it is an example of Apple's respect for their customers.

I don't defend all of their corporate policies, however as large companies go, they are far more responsive than the IBM's and MS's of the high tech world.

just my opinion

PS, I am a nobody, so don't think that I got a reply because I have a connection to anyone.
 
I actually sent an e-mail to Steve Jobs recently and he personally replied. This is not the kind of thing that most forture 500 CEO's do and it is an example of Apple's respect for their customers.

I don't defend all of their corporate policies, however as large companies go, they are far more responsive than the IBM's and MS's of the high tech world.

just my opinion

PS, I am a nobody, so don't think that I got a reply because I have a connection to anyone.
 
This was sorta mentioned in an earlier post, but I'm bored and just feel like typing. What that statement is saying isn't that Apple won't take into account any of your ideas. It's just saying that if Apple uses the idea you gave them they will under to circumstances compensate you or acknowledge the idea as being yours. Any advice/suggestions submitted to Apple automatically makes it theirs not yours.
 
I think almost everybody missed the most important point here...
It's not that they're being mean and not considering your ideas AND its not that they want to steal ideas that you are giving them.
Think about this, if you had a company and you were coming up with an idea that is new on the scene and then someone sends you a 'suggestion' that happens to be roughly the same thing, the problem that arises is that now your company can't release it without the sender thinking that it was them who suggested it.
This is why they'll assume to appropriate anything you send them, so that if it happens to match it won't matter. I would do the same.
hey, if I had a great idea I'd put it out on the market and make the money myself ;)
-Lister
 
I work as a freelance copywriter in Europe, had a powerful ad campaign slogan/concept which I submitted on zip to Apple for consideration. I received an email with the same details as above. Basically, Apple is saying that if they come up with any ideas that resembles mine, it's pure coincidence! Interesting idea. They claimed that my concept was never forwarded to their ad agency and said they'd return the zip disk to me. I wrote back and insisted that the concept contained on the disk would most certainly be of interest to them. I never received a reply, nor did I receive the disk.

Let's say they use the concept I submitted in the future....what happens then? I can establish that I came up with the concept and that I submitted it to them at a certain date. How could they claim ownership based on an agreement I hadn't seen prior to my submission, let alone approved? I think Apple is full of it. If they try to use my ideas without my concent or other agreement, I'll take them to court and will fight to the very end.
 
If they try to use my ideas without my concent or other agreement, I'll take them to court and will fight to the very end.
Click to expand...

Lots of people do this all of the time. 99% of them lose for the simple reason that it is not possible to prove that Apple (or whatever company) wasn't already thinking the same thing. There's a large body of law about unsolicited submissions, etc, and most of it does NOT side with the submitter of the ideas.

Example: Unsolicited movie ideas. Hundereds of people sue movie studios saying things like "I sent you the idea for Wayne's World II in which they host a big concert and you stole it." But come on, how many possible permutations for a sequel, or an ad campaign, etc, are there? It's the thousand monkeys at a thousand typewriters principle.

Further, I would imagine that holding you to the agreement wouldn't be a problem for Apple. Unless Apple has solicited something from you and provided a contract, I think that most courts would find that your submission of art/ideas to Apple (without such a contract/agreement) is tantamount to tacitly donating them to Apple. And I agree. If you send someone something unsolicited, you're pretty much giving it to them. That's where the cue:cat people ran into trouble -- trying to regulate the use of hardware that they sent out indiscriminantly and for free.

Bottom line: If you want to make money from something, don't send it unless they want it. Lawsuits don't help. If, however, you just want to help Apple make OS X better, their feedback forum is a great idea. I have heard tell of certain ideas/mockups that were approvingly circulated among Apple engineers. Now that's cool!

Zach
 
Apple isn't bad, just look at it this way:
Apple takes your idea and gives it a read, they think it's a good idea, they mess around with it, give it a bit of a tweak, and there you go. You never know, one idea may be used if it's good enough, you just may not know about it cause they've tweaked it a little. Besides, personally I'd find the satisfaction of knowing "I thought that up!" enough. Just my opinion.
 
Lets not forget that Apple is a corporation operating in a free market economy and therefore needs to do some pretty cutthroat things to make ends meet and please the shareholders who are (and I assure you of this) majority none apple users.

In a nutshell, we in the Apple computer community (myself NOT being a good example of this) tend to be more leftist and artsy in our view of the world and don't like to think of Apple as a company but rather as a governent or parent who's sole purpose is to provide us with inexpensive and at times free (read: OS X beta contavercy) computer software and hardware. This is not the case however and Apple is infact a for profit operation and has to compete with the likes of Dell and Gateway as well as Compaq and others.

nuff said....

Sam
 
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