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Passed through but not fully digested at AppleSecrets.com
Apple’s ITC complaint names HTC phones, 10 other patents
!–body–
pAs we reported, Apple a href=”http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/03/htc-feeling-apples-fury-over-smartphone-patents.ars” title=”Ars Technica: HTC feeling Apple’s fury over smartphone patents”filed a federal lawsuit/a against HTC Tuesday claiming infringement of 10 of Apple’s patents related to smartphone technology. Apple said that HTC violated 20 of its patents, and the remaining 10 are covered under a parallel complaint with the ITC. That complaint also names essentially every current HTC product as infringing devices./p
pThe complaint, unlike the federal lawsuit, specifically calls out HTC smartphones by name. Devices suspected of infringement include the Nexus One, Touch Pro and Pro2, Touch Diamond, Tilt II, Pure, Imagio, Dream (aka T-mobile G1), myTouch 3G, Hero, HD2, and Droid Eris.
/ppSeveral of the devices run Google’s Android operating system, though the rest run a version of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system. Neither of the complaints specifically target either Google or Microsoft, however. Likewise, Apple has yet to file any complaint against Palm over its webOS-based Pre or Pixi smartphones, though COO Tim Cook alluded a href=”http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/01/apples-massive-371-page-iphone-patent-granted-by-ustpo.ars” title=”Ars Technica: Apple can now swing +6 mace of multitouch at enemies”that could happen/a last year./p
pThe 10 patents in question in the ITC complaint include:/p
ul
lia href=”http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=7d4aAAAAEBAJ” title=”Read this patent”5481721/a: emMethod for Providing Automatic and Dynamic Translation of Object Oriented Programming Language-Based Message Passing Into Operating System Message Passing Using Proxy Objects/em/li
lia href=”http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=C4YdAAAAEBAJ” title=”Read this patent”5519867/a: emObject-Oriented Multitasking System/em/li
lia href=”http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=AGwIAAAAEBAJ” title=”Read this patent”6275983/a: emObject-Oriented Operating System/em/li
lia href=”http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=L-IeAAAAEBAJ” title=”Read this patent”5566337/a: emMethod and Apparatus for Distributing Events in an Operating System/em/li
lia href=”http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=7MAYAAAAEBAJ” title=”Read this patent”5929852/a: emEncapsulated Network Entity Reference of a Network Component System/em/li
lia href=”http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=aFEWAAAAEBAJ” title=”Read this patent”5946647/a: emSystem and Method for Performing an Action on a Structure in Computer-Generated Data/em/li
lia href=”http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=Z0sXAAAAEBAJ” title=”Read this patent”5969705/a: emMessage Protocol for Controlling a User Interface from an Inactive Application Program/em/li
lia href=”http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=nCYJAAAAEBAJ” title=”Read this patent”6343263/a: emReal-Time Signal Processing System for Serially Transmitted Data/em/li
lia href=”http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=1lEEAAAAEBAJ” title=”Read this patent”5915131/a: emMethod and Apparatus for Handling I/O Requests Utilizing Separate Programming Interfaces to Access Separate I/O Services/em/li
lia href=”http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=Lb0GAAAAEBAJ” title=”Read this patent”RE39486/a: emExtensible, Replaceable Network Component Systems/em/li
/ul
pThose patents are related to technologies used in the iPhone and iPod touch as well as Macs running Mac OS X. Notably, they are all software patents, and software patents have a contentious status in the US. However, Apple states in its complaint that these patents have some litigation history and that a number of companies (the list of which is redacted as confidential) license these technologies. The federal case, in contrast, requests the 10 patents listed in the suit be declared as valid, suggesting they have yet to be tested in court./p
pOne tidbit that caught our eye in the ITC complaint is that NeXT remains a separate, wholly owned subsidiary of Apple. Both Apple and NeXT are named as complaintants./p
pa href=”http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/03/apples-itc-complaint-names-htc-phones-10-other-patents.ars?comments=1amp;utm_source=rssamp;utm_medium=rssamp;utm_campaign=rss#comments-bar”Read the comments on this post/a/p
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HTC feeling Apple’s fury over smartphone patents
a href=”http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/03/htc-feeling-apples-fury-over-smartphone-patents.ars?utm_source=rssamp;utm_medium=rssamp;utm_campaign=rss”
img vspace=”4″ hspace=”4″ border=”0″ align=”right” src=”http://static.arstechnica.com/assets/2009/07/apple_lawsuit_ars-thumb-230×130-7200-f.jpg” /
/a
!–body–
pApple has filed a lawsuit against smartphone maker HTC, alleging that it violates as many as 20 patents that Apple has on the iPhone interface and hardware architecture. A parallel complaint has also been filed with the International Trade Commission to block imports of devices that violated the patents in question./p
p”We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it.nbsp;We’ve decided to do something about it,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement.nbsp;”We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”/p
pa href=”http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/03/htc-feeling-apples-fury-over-smartphone-patents.ars?utm_source=rssamp;utm_medium=rssamp;utm_campaign=rss” title=”Click here to continue reading this article”img src=”http://static.arstechnica.com/mt-static/plugins/ArsTheme/images/read-more.jpg” alt=”Read the rest of this article…”/a/p
pa href=”http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/03/htc-feeling-apples-fury-over-smartphone-patents.ars?comments=1amp;utm_source=rssamp;utm_medium=rssamp;utm_campaign=rss#comments-bar”Read the comments on this post/a/p
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etc: Netflix is polling subscribers on their interest in an iPhone app that would stream over WiFi. Maybe there’s hope for a near-term iPhone OS solution after all.
!–body–
pNetflix is polling subscribers on their interest in an iPhone app that would stream over WiFi. Maybe there’s hope for a near-term iPhone OS solution after all./p
pstrongRead More:/strong
a href=”http://www.hackingnetflix.com/2010/03/netflix-survey-hints-at-iphone-streaming-via-wifi.html”Hacking Netflix/a, a href=”http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/01/netflix-ceo-not-streaming-to-the-ipad-in-the-near-term.ars”Ars Technica/a /p
pa href=”http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/03/netflix-is-polling-subscribers-on.ars?comments=1amp;utm_source=rssamp;utm_medium=rssamp;utm_campaign=rss#comments-bar”Read the comments on this post/a/p
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Week in Apple: The Great Sexy App Purge of 2010
a href=”http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/02/week-in-apple-the-great-sexy-app-purge-of-2010.ars?utm_source=rssamp;utm_medium=rssamp;utm_campaign=rss”
img vspace=”4″ hspace=”4″ border=”0″ align=”right” src=”http://static.arstechnica.com/assets/2010/02/thumb_sexylips_ars-thumb-230×130-12312-f.jpg” /
/a
!–body–
pNews about the iPhone OS was all over the place this week, from Apple’s plans to expand to more devices to hints in the latest SDK beta. We also discussed why NVIDIA’s Optimus is ready to be dumped into some new MacBooks and why a paid version of Hulu on the iPad would make sense. What, you thought this week was emall/em about the sexy app purge? Read on to get the low-down:/p
pstronga href=”http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/02/apple-vp-attempts-to-explain-double-standard-for-risque-apps.ars”Apple VP attempts to explain double standard for risqué apps/a/strong: Apple’s Phil Schiller has addressed the issue of the recent purge of sexually themed apps from the App Store. However, it seems an arbitrary double standard still remains./p
pstronga href=”http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/02/apple-releases-pulls-ipad-sdk-beta-camera-hints-inside.ars”Apple releases, pulls iPad SDK beta, camera hints inside/a/strong: Several tidbits were uncovered in the latest iPad SDK beta before it was pulled by Apple, ostensibly to address a “major bug.”/p
a href=”http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/02/week-in-apple-the-great-sexy-app-purge-of-2010.ars?utm_source=rssamp;utm_medium=rssamp;utm_campaign=rss” title=”Click here to continue reading this article”img src=”http://static.arstechnica.com/mt-static/plugins/ArsTheme/images/read-more.jpg” alt=”Read the rest of this article…”/abr /br /
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Apple files alt iPhone input, physical "key" login patents
!–body–
pTwonbsp;recently publishednbsp;patent applications from Apple caught our attention for their craftiness. One shows how to use the iPhone’s camera as an alternate gesture input method; the other details a system using a uniquely shaped signet to log in to a computer./p
pThe first patent, “Camera as Input Interface,” a href=”http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2010/02/cool-new-finger-swiping-camera-controls-coming-to-iphone-ipad.html” title=”Patently Apple: Cool New Finger Swiping Camera Controls coming to iPhone amp; iPad”adds alternate input methods/a for a touchscreen phone, particularly useful when the touchscreen is pressed against your face during a phone call. The patent describes a method using the built-in camera as a gesture detector, recognizing “swiping” up, down, left, or right using a finger. The gestures could be used to control voicemail, for instance, by swiping “forward” or “back” to skip to the next or previous message. The input could be augmented with accelerometer data to recognize a “tap” as well, according to the patent application./p
pMacRumors a href=”http://www.macrumors.com/2010/02/25/apple-patent-application-details-iphone-control-via-finger-swipes-over-camera/” title=”MacRumors: Apple Patent Application Details iPhone Control Via Finger Swipes Over Camera”notes/a that Apple has filed a number of alternate input methods for the iPhone, including a rear surface or an outer bezel that are also touch-sensitive./p
pThe second patent, “Shape Detecting Input Device,” describes a system using a touchscreen to a href=”http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2010/02/you-might-need-a-secret-decoder-ring-to-log-on-to-future-macs.html” title=”Patently Apple: You Might Need a Secret Decoder Ring to Log on to Future Macs”recognize uniquely shaped signets/a, and to perform actions associated with a specific shape. One application would be to log in a unique user based on the recognized shape. This is similar to the now-defunct practice of stamping a seal from a signet ring into sealing wax to verify a document’s authenticity or source. If such a signet were indeed on a ring, it could also be used to unlock an iPhone./p
pApple’s patent suggests that unique signet shapes could be embedded in a ring, a tag, a card, a stamp, or even a key. Other suggested actions initiated by the signet shape recognition include configuring a system to a unique user’s needs, launching certain applications, or encrypting or decrypting messages or other content, making the signet like a modern, high-tech decoder ring./p
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iPhone particularly popular among the young and the old
!–body–
pThe iPhone is twice as popular as comparable smartphones among young’uns and older folks. This from a survey conducted by the analysts at mobile advertising firmnbsp;a href=”http://www.admob.com/”AdMob/a, who pollednbsp;a total of 963 iPhone, Android OS, webOS, and iPod touch users on their demographics and usage patterns. The survey was part of an opt-in initiative sent to users on their mobile devices./p
pAccording to the statistics, 14 percent of those on the iPhone were 55 or older, while only eight percent of Android users and seven percent of webOS were in the same age group. Similarly, iPhone users under the age of 17 made up for 13 percent of the sample, while Android and webOS users of the same age made up for less than 10 percent combined. Apple could do especially well if its young iPod touch demographic (65 percent of all iPod touch users were under 17) eventually upgrades to the iPhone, too.nbsp;/p
pIt’s difficult to tell just how accurately the statistics portray the entire smartphone-using demographic. Likewise, without RIM’s series of BlackBerry devices, it’s even harder to see the whole picture.nbsp;Nonetheless, the numbers are at least representative of users receiving ads on the AdMob network, and it seems at least a little curious as to why the upper and lower echelon of age are so heavily in Apple’s favor.nbsp;The teenagers are most likely using the device as a status symbol while thenbsp;handset’s ease of use might have a hand in attracting the older demographic. But twice as much as other smartphones? Let us know what you think./p
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etc: Apple may be readying an "Explicit" section to the App Store. The decision would be surprising, given Apple’s recent move to purge the App Store of risqué offerings.
Apple may be readying an “Explicit” section to the App Store. The decision would be surprising, given Apple’s recent move to purge the App Store of risqué offerings.
Read More:
Cult of Mac, Recent Ars coverage
Apple VP attempts to explain double standard for risqué apps
Apple recently began purging over 5,000 “overtly sexual” apps from the App Store after customer complaints caused Apple to reverse a policy that had allowed such apps to be approved. The New York Times recently asked Apple’s SVP of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, to explain the reasoning behind the decision, and he says that it’s all about the children. However, there might be a double standard if you are an “established brand” such as Playboy or Sports Illustrated. The uneven application of constantly changing standards is a problem for developers and users alike, and continues to be a thorn in Apple’s side.
Originally, Apple tended to fall on the side of banning anything from the App Store that had sexual overtones, including e-book reading apps that could potentially access a text-only version of the Kama Sutra. Apple extended Parental Controls to the App Store with iPhone OS 3.0, and the policy became more lenient on apps that were rated 17+. However, it was later discovered that children could access apps that sometimes had salacious descriptions and screenshots, even if they couldn’t actually buy them.
iPhone and Android biggest winners in mobile market in 2009
Though the overall mobile market is slowing—sales are down about one percent for 2009 year-over-year—a slight fourth quarter sales jump balanced the dips during the rest of the year. The good news is all in smartphones, as sales were up a whopping 41.1 percent for the fourth quarter and 23.8 percent overall, according to the latest data from market research firm Gartner. Nokia still commands large but declining chunks of smartphone and overall mobile phone sales, while iPhone and Android devices saw big leaps last year.
Overall mobile phone sales were down about 11 million units for 2009—perhaps good news for the growing concern about the contribution mobile phones make to the growing e-waste problem. Three of the top five vendors saw sales decline over the year, with Nokia down a couple points, and Motorola and Sony Ericsson seeing their shares cut almost in half. Samsung’s share of the mobile phone market is up to almost 20 percent, and LG bumped up a couple points to 10 percent. Gartner told Ars that Apple doubled its share of the overall market from 1.2 percent in 2008 to 2.1 percent for 2009, though it wasn’t enough to put it in the top five.
