无情（甚至罪恶）的商业手段成为常规操作，苹果（Apple）和三星（Samsung）也不例外。

    这是上周末两篇获得社交媒体广泛转发文章的核心内容，其中一篇出自《纽约时报》（New York Times），另外一篇出自《名利场》杂志（Vanity Fair）。

    据因一系列揭露内幕交易的报道而获得1988年普利策奖（Pulitzer）的詹姆斯•斯图尔特报道称，史蒂夫•乔布斯本应该死在狱中。据两度获得波卡奖（Polk）、因报道药品临床试验获2000年普利策奖提名的库尔特•艾肯沃德报道称，三星本应在多年前就被勒令关门歇业。

    下面吊一吊大家的胃口：

    如果史蒂夫•乔布斯当今还活在世上，他是否应当被关进监狱？这个话题在反垄断业界中引起了热议，因为人们最近发现，在硅谷享有盛名的苹果公司联合创始人乔布斯是“防止对手挖墙脚”阴谋的推手......乔布斯“一贯违反反垄断法”，艾奥瓦大学（Iowa College of Law）法学院教授、反垄断专家哈伯特•霍温坎普(Herbert Hovenkamp)说：“我被他似乎心甘情愿去承担的风险惊呆了。”-- 《纽约时报》: 史乔布斯挑战惯例，甚至法律。

    据不少法庭证词和与三星合作的人士称，无视竞争对手的专利对于这家韩国公司并不是什么不寻常的事情。而且，一旦被抓住把柄，它就采取与苹果案件一样的策略，反诉、拖延、败诉、拖延、上诉，等到失败不可避免之时，再进行和解。“无论专利权属于谁，它们从来没遇到过它们认为不能拿来用的专利，”一位曾为三星代理案件的专利律师山姆•巴克斯特说。“我曾代表（瑞典电信公司）爱立信（Ericsson），如果事关他们的生计，他们就不会撒谎；而我代表三星时，如果事关他们的生计，他们肯定不会说实话。”-- 《名利场》：智能手机大战

    每篇报道都近乎是在诽谤的刀尖上跳舞。艾肯沃德至少做了一些一手的报道。而斯图尔特的文章在我看来就是炒冷饭。不过，你的观点可能会不一样。（财富中文网）

    Ruthless -- perhaps criminal -- business tactics are the rule not the exception at Apple (AAPL) and Samsung.

    That's the take-home message from a pair of stories being widely re-tweeted this weekend, one from the New York Times, the other from Vanity Fair.

    According to James Stewart, who won a Pulitzer in 1988 for a series about insider trading, Steve Jobs ought to have died in jail. According to Kurt Eichenwald, two-time Polk winner and 2000 Pulitzer finalist for an investigation of medical clinical trials, Samsung should have been shut down years ago.

    A pair of appetizers:

    If Steve Jobs were alive today, should he be in jail? That's the provocative question being debated in antitrust circles in the wake of revelations that Mr. Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, who is deeply revered in Silicon Valley, was the driving force in a conspiracy to prevent competitors from poaching employees... Mr. Jobs "was a walking antitrust violation," said Herbert Hovenkamp, a professor at the University of Iowa College of Law and an expert in antitrust law. "I'm simply astounded by the risks he seemed willing to take." -- New York Times: Steve Jobs Defied Convention, and Perhaps the Law.

    According to various court records and people who have worked with Samsung, ignoring competitors' patents is not uncommon for the Korean company. And once it's caught it launches into the same sort of tactics used in the Apple case: countersue, delay, lose, delay, appeal, and then, when defeat is approaching, settle. "They never met a patent they didn't think they might like to use, no matter who it belongs to," says Sam Baxter, a patent lawyer who once handled a case for Samsung. "I represented [the Swedish telecommunications company] Ericsson, and they couldn't lie if their lives depended on it, and I represented Samsung and they couldn't tell the truth if their lives depended on it." -- Vanity Fair: The Great Smartphone War.

    Each piece is hatchet job that dances to the edge of libel. Eichenwald at least has done some fresh reporting. Stewart's story struck me as a rehash. Your mileage may vary.