How devoted was the late Steve Jobs to the company he co-founded? Devoted enough for him to liken Apple’s competition with Google’s Android operating system to a “holy war,” according to emails unearthed by Samsung’s lawyers as part of the Korean company’s legal fight against Apple.

Samsung’s legal counsel aired the emails during opening arguments in the latest round in court and the Wall Street Journal sifted through those to find Jobs’ discussion points for an annual retreat.

The email was sent in October 2010 to Apple’s top 100 employees before their meeting, with one notable agenda topic: “2011: Holy War with Google.”

It sounds like Jobs knew that Apple had to act like a shark and keep swimming or die, writing that “Apple is in danger of hanging on to old paradigm for too long (innovator’s dilemma).”

He also acknowledged that companies like Google and Microsoft were further along on technology that connects and synchronizes users’ info, like contacts, photos, music and other things that can be stored in a cloud.

To that end, Jobs told executives in charge of iOS that Apple “needed to catch up to Android where we are behind,” included areas like “notifications, tethering and speech.” Hello, Siri.

These emails were used by Samsung to underscore its argument that Apple really wants to fight Google, not Samsung, over four of the five patents involved in this most recent lawsuit.

But Apple insists that’s not the point.

“Don’t be misled by that. This case is not about Google,” said Apple’s lawyer in his opening statement.

Apple’s Jobs Declared ‘Holy War’ Over Android [Wall Street Journal]

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