And “One more thing…” said the spectacled-man in the black turtle-neck and blue jeans. The crowd goes wild, this is it! That magic of Steve Jobs on the stage, it was phenomenal, the work of a true genius. “One more thing” was one of his best quotes and it seems like he’ll be rolling in his grave right now as the watchmaker Swatch has gone ahead and trademarked it.
According to Wirtschaft, Swiss watchmaker Swatch applied for the “One More Thing” trademark back in November of last year, and in the May of 2015, the United States Patent and Trademark office awarded them this trademark. This is certainly a blow in the face of Apple, the company which is already pretty famous for waging lawsuit-wars against the ones who copy it. Mostly, Google and Android manufacturers have been on the receiving end of these lawsuits and it is a well known fact that Steve Jobs said he is ready for “thermonuclear war” with Google. Therefore, this move by Swatch is probably not going to go by Apple unnoticed.
Swatch hasn’t clarified its motives behind acquiring this particular trademark. Maybe it is a move to provoke Apple by using this for marketing. Apple launched its own smartwatch recently and the Swiss watchmaker is clearly worried about this.
Just after the launch of Apple’s Watch, Swatch co-inventor Elmar Mock said,
“Apple will succeed quickly. It will put a lot of pressure on the traditional watch industry and jobs in Switzerland.
Unfortunately, I’m reminded too strongly of the quartz crisis. So far I see watchmakers in this country making the same mistakes as back then. We’ve seen a lot of arrogance in the Swiss watch industry in the past few years, calling the smartwatch a gadget and not taking it seriously.”
Now that Swatch has trademarked “One More Thing”, the Cupertino company may be barred from using any slides in its presentation with that quote. They can’t even use it for marketing their products. Already, Apple was unable to secure the “iWatch” branding and instead used the Apple Watch naming. Apple hasn’t responded to this in any way but an opposition to the trademark is reportedly pending. But if the Swiss company does get its way, then this trademark will be owned by them until it expires in 2024.
Even if you are not an Apple fan but used to follow the tech news in the Steve Jobs era, you will know that “One more thing” is Steve Jobs way of keeping one last magic trick in the bag till the end. You hear somebody say that phrase and the first thing that pops up into your mind is the image of Steve Jobs in his black turtleneck shirt and blue jeans standing on the stage with a grin on his face as the excitement in the crowd grew. Almost in every Apple event, he had one last device or important announcement to make that he kept for the last and at that point, he will say “One more thing” and then go ahead with the announcement. It was a part of his Apple legacy but it doesn’t look like it will be a part of Apple’s events anymore.
Source — Wirtschaft and image credits — SquareSpace, Telegraph