Apple's Jobs Razzes Chip Partner Samsung

March 10, 2011 at 9:00 PM UTC

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This article is part of the March 14, 2011 issue of businessweek.

Steve Jobs likes to poke bears. The Apple (AAPL) chief executive officer has ribbed the likes of IBM (IBM), Google (GOOG), Adobe (ADBE), and Microsoft (MSFT). In many cases, he rips into these companies even while Apple depends on them as partners. Adobe and Microsoft, in particular, have long provided valuable software for Apple's operating system. No matter. They're still subject to abuse from the man in the black turtleneck.

His latest whipping boy: Samsung, a rival to Apple in the consumer electronics business. During the iPad 2 unveiling on Mar. 2, Jobs roasted Samsung, making fun of one of its executives who tried to defend sales of the Galaxy Tab, the company's answer to Apple's first tablet computer. He also gave Samsung top billing in a chart proclaiming 2011 the "Year of the Copycats."