So Apple is suing smartphone rival HTC for the Touch.
This is not about HTC … this is about Google. Specifically, about Android.
Android is the only competitive threat to Apple’s iPhone today. Windows Phone 7 may become one tomorrow, Nokia may have something else up its long sleeves, Palm may catch a miracle and become an actual player … but only Android is a real threat right now. Google’s fairly recent addition of multi-touch support was the final straw.
And now Apple’s throwing down the gauntlet. This is going to get interesting!
The ‘331 Patent, entitled “Time-Based, Non-Constant Translation Of User Interface Objects Between States,” was duly and legally issued on April 22, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The ‘949 Patent, entitled “Touch Screen Device, Method, And Graphical User Interface For Determining Commands By Applying Heuristics,” was duly and legally issued on January 20, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘949 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit B.
The ‘849 Patent, entitled “Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image,” was duly and legally issued on February 2, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘849 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit C.
The ‘381 Patent, entitled “List Scrolling And Document Translation, Scaling, And Rotation On A Touch-Screen Display,” was duly and legally issued on December 23, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘381 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit D.
The ‘726 Patent, entitled “System And Method For Managing Power Conditions Within A Digital Camera Device,” was duly and legally issued on July 6, 1999 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘726 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit E.
The ‘076 Patent, entitled “Automated Response To And Sensing Of User Activity In Portable Devices,” was duly and legally issued on December 15, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘076 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit F.
The ‘105 Patent, entitled “GMSK Signal Processors For Improved Communications Capacity And Quality,” was duly and legally issued on December 8, 1998 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘105 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit G.
The ‘453 Patent, entitled “Conserving Power By Reducing Voltage Supplied To An Instruction-Processing Portion Of A Processor,” was duly and legally issued on June 3, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘453 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit H.
The ‘599 Patent, entitled “Object-Oriented Graphic System,” was duly and legally issued on October 3, 1995 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘599 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit I.
The ‘354 Patent, entitled “Object-Oriented Event Notification System With Listener Registration Of Both Interests And Methods,” was duly and legally issued on July 23, 2002 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘354 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit J.
I wonder if this will have any anti-trust implications ….
<blockquote>That’s right. Google will give the carrier ad splits that result from implementing the Google search box on any Android phone. FBR Capital Markets suggests that Google is taking this idea one step further in its November 24, 2009 report titled Implications of a Potential Share Shift to Android-Based Wireless Devices. “Recent support for Android-based devices appears to be correlated with significant up-front financial incventives paid by Google to both carriuer and handset vendors.” FBR goes on to suggest that these incentives may be as high as $25-50 per device. This is simply an offer that no carrier can refuse, particularly when U.S. carriers are currently in the habit of paying $50-150 per handset sold in subsidies.</blockquote>
The first phone we’ll be selling through this new web store is the Nexus One — a convergence point for mobile technology, apps and the Internet. Nexus One is an exemplar of what's possible on mobile devices through Android — when cool apps meet a fast, bright and connected computer that fits in your pocket. The Nexus One belongs in the emerging class of devices which we call “superphones.” It’s the first in what we expect to be a series of products which we will bring to market with our operator and hardware partners and sell through our online store.
Manufactured by HTC, the Nexus One features dynamic noise suppression from Audience, Inc., a large 3.7″ OLED display for deep contrast and brilliant colors and a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ chipset for blazing speeds. Running on Android 2.1, the newest version of Eclair, the software includes innovations like a voice-enabled keyboard so you can speak into any text field, fun Live Wallpapers, a 3D photo gallery for richer media experiences and lots more. Of course, it also comes with a host of popular Google applications, including Gmail, Google Voice and Google Maps Navigation.
L5 Technology is using this week’s CES trade show in Las Vegas to debut the L5 Remote, a $50 accessory (paired with a free application) that turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a universal remote control. It’s coming in February.
The accessory plugs into the iPhone or iPod touch’s dock connector. It measures 1.25 x .85 inches. Using a free app you’ll be able to download from the App Store, you drag and drop buttons into place to control your home entertainment devices.
The accessory works without batteries and will control any number of devices within about 30 feet, according to the manufacturer. It doesn’t require independent batteries, Wi-Fi or external power to function.
iLingual from Lean Mean Fighting Machine is a new translation app for iPhone. Pick your phrase, hold it up to your mouth, and let ‘er rip. Check out this brief – and hilarious – video:
Tonight I failed the husband geek-test: fixing something electronic for your wife.
“But it’s not my fault,” I told my wife. “It’s Apple’s fault – WiFi is buggy on the iPhone.” And I think that’s more than a excuse. I think it’s true.
Here’s the deal: we have a wireless network. My iPhone connects to it when I’m home, as does her iPhone. No fuss, no muss: fast free connection to the internet.
But when Teresa puts her phone in Airplane mode at night (as do I) and then wakes it back up again in the morning, turning Airplane mode off … WiFi never comes back automatically.
On my iPhone, turning Airplane mode off returns the phone to the state it was in when Airplane mode was first activated. On my wife’s, it changes the state to something different. In other words, it does not fully undo Airplane mode.
Now, before you ask:
same phone (iPhone 3G)
same firmware (latest updates from Apple)
same settings (General, network, WiFi, you name it)
OK, hers is black and mine is white
So what gives? In doing some googling, I notice that someone has the exact opposite problem. Others, on Apple’s support forums, have the same problem. Some can fix it by resetting network settings, some can’t. (You can put us in the can’t category.)
Very, very, very odd.
Here’s a visual overview of the problem in a slideshow:
They put out a WordPress plugin, WPtouch, which transforms your blog to a very quick and friendly “application” for iPhone, iPod Touch, and any Android phones.
I just installed it here while listening, then tested on my iPhone.
My iPhone is currently paired with my iMac, and I want it paired with my MacBook. So I go to synchronize it and this is the message iTunes gives me:
“Are you sure you want to sync applications? All existing applications and their data on the iPhone “John Koetsier’s iPhone” will be replaced with applications from this iTunes library.”
Interesting.
To me, synchronization means that two or more applications have a little chat. They find out what each other knows, and update each other to include any data that each individually has, and the most current version of any shared data.
Anything else – such as this iTunes “sync” – is just export and import.
Which means that in this case, iTunes synchronization is at best a white lie, and at worst deceptive.
But late last year, he crunched the numbers and came to a shocking conclusion: that the 13 million owners of iPhone owners had already downloaded as much software as—are you sitting down—1.1 billion other cell-phone owners.
The “he” is Jeff Holden, an Amazon alumnus, and founder of Pelago, a mobile applications development company. The quote is in a BusinessWeek article announcing that iPhone users have downloaded 500 million apps from Apple’s App Store.
Think about that: 13 million iPhone users … more software than 1.1 billion other cell phone users.
If anyone thinks that the game has not changed, they are deluding themselves.
If anyone thinks that there’s nothing all the special about the iPhone, they’re delusional.
If anyone thinks that all the iPhone excitement is just hype, they’re not living in this world.
This is simply amazing. And the reason is: a device that works, a device that is friendly, a device that is usable, a device that invites use.
More on that last though later … as my wife just got her first cell phone: an iPhone.
Imagine this: you spend $50K developing an iPhone app. You submit it to Apple for approval and posting on the app store. Then you wait for 4 months … with no word whether or not your app will be approved and place on the store.
That’s precisely the situation that Newber finds itself in with its location-aware business phone number application for iPhone. And it’s exactly the kind of situation that companies who are thinking of investing in iPhone application development have nightmares about.
Newber is an innovative app that doesn’t obviously contravene any of Apple’s
app acceptance standards. As Cult of Mac reports:
If you’re in the office at your desk, Newber will send calls to your work phone. At home it can ring the house phone. On the road Newber will ring your iPhone, the phone extension in your hotel room, even the payphone at the gas station in the middle of nowhere where you’re getting a flat fixed – if that’s where you want it to ring. Your callers have one number for you and you can receive their calls anywhere.
The problem is obvious: how willing are companies and developers going to be to develop innovative, cutting-edge applications if they can’t tell in advance whether or not they’ll be accepted to the App Store?
Porn is obvious. Malicious apps would presumably include viruses, malware, adware, and so forth. Privacy – again fairly obvious, as are illegal content and bandwidth hogs. Unforseen issues, however, is a little vague.
You would assume it means software and hardware compatibility, but what else might fit into this nebulous category?
Answering that question simply, quickly, and publicly would give more developers confidence to invest time and money in building innovative new iPhone apps.
The walls are coming down, the barbarians are storming the gates, civilization as we know it is coming to an end.
Yes, you guessed correctly: iFart is now the top paid application for Apple’s iPhone. It’s just as the slogan says: thousands of reasons to love your iPhone:
This is a sad day for highbrows … but maybe not quite so bad if you have a sense of humor!
Welcome to Sparkplug 9, John Koetsier's blog on technology and social media.
I'm a software exec who cares about UX and UI, scours web & social media, lives in Canada, plays hockey, uses a Mac (mostly). Oh, and I blog and speak at conferences.
Tonight I failed the husband geek-test: fixing something electronic for your wife.
Welcome to Sparkplug 9, John Koetsier's blog on technology and social media.
