We’re finding out all sorts of things about Steve Jobs now that he’s left us. For example, he wanted to crush Android because it was “stealing” from him. That’s funny, considering that one of Jobs’ pet phrases was “Good artists copy; great artists steal.” He knew what he was talking about, since much of Apple’s early success can be ascribed to his “theft” of the mouse and GUI from Xerox. We’ve also learned that his next big idea was to transform the living room with Apple TV sets. That’s all well and good, but Jobs is gone now. What should Apple do next?

First, I think it should get out of the intellectual property (IP) lawsuit business. Sure, for the moment, Apple has the upper hand on Samsung — whose Galaxy Tab tablets seem to have been especially annoying to Jobs — but as someone who follows IP lawsuits, I’m sure that won’t last. Major IP litigation takes years to resolve, goes through ups and downs, and can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. I think Apple would be far better off if it focused its attention on what it has always done extremely well: making the best possible products.

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