Surprise! HTC Doesn't Agree With Apple Regarding Suit

HTC has finally spoken out regarding the pending lawsuit Apple (s aapl) launched against the smartphone maker regarding its use of multi-touch as an interface navigation mechanism, and around 20 other technologies. It should surprise absolutely no one that the Taiwanese company doesn’t see eye-to-eye with the iPhone maker regarding the appropriateness of its use of the tech.

HTC CEO Peter Chou released a statement Wednesday addressing the recently filed suit directly. According to Chou, as quoted by InformationWeek, “HTC disagrees with Apple’s actions and will fully defend itself.” HTC’s stance, like that of Apple, is that it respects and values healthy competition and innovation. Of course, that shared premise leads both companies to quite different conclusions.

Chou elaborates HTC’s position further in the official statement:

HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done, but we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible.

Apple is no stranger to suits from other companies, and it certainly hasn’t shied away from pursuing legal action itself in the past. A suit against Nokia (s nok) along similar lines is still ongoing. HTC shouldn’t be surprised about the move, either, considering the fact that multi-touch wasn’t officially introduced as a launch feature on the Nexus One, even though the hardware supported it. It was added later by Google (s goog) to the device via a software update. Sure seems like an attempt to dodge the ire of multi-touch’s proclaimed originator to me.

The Nexus One is almost certainly the catalyst for this suit, and with good reason. Despite the fact that the device itself isn’t selling anywhere near at the level of the iPhone, recent evidence suggests that the phone has raised the profile of Android, which seems to be positioning itself to make a serious bid on Apple’s smartphone market dominance. If Apple is ever to strip Google of some of that momentum, the time to do so is now.

But are the claims Apple is making valid, or is it just an attempt to strike down any and all competition before the consumer gets a chance to choose? I’m no legal expert, but it seems to me that Apple is going after some very basic concepts in its legal claims, ones without which the concept of a modern smartphone would be untenable. I’m all for giving credit where credit is due, but if we’re to see cell tech progress, it has to be at the behest of the free market, and that means not unduly placing restrictions on Apple’s competitors.

[Via http://theappleblog.com]

HTC Desire vs Apple iPhone 3GS vs Nokia N900

This infallibly has to be the battle of the titans in the phone globe? FoneHome.co.uk have posted an article where one of their stay has compared all three phones.

Most articles I’ve seen like this are normally biased towards a strict manufacturer or phone but I’d say that this is perfectly a fair comparison.

Read on for a few snippets:

In interface provisions
The iPhone famously has the easiest smartphone interface in the real estate, but we’re often left hankering after more customisation, which is offered by Maemo and Android.

Both give you control over a handful of home screens, what one. you can populate with all sorts of neat little shortcuts and widgets. The sheer flexibility of Android wins out for us though, with so a great deal of additional potential offered in app form.

Desktop replacement apps let you completely make some ~ in. the way your phone works – you can even design your acknowledge interface with Sweeter Home. We’re not quite that ambitious, except it wins the HTC Desire lots of points.
Winner – HTC Desire

For suffusion browsing
There’s fierce sword clashing going on here. The Apple iPhone offers a imaginary control interface, with pinch zooming still feeling better than anywhere otherwise here. Gliding around web sites is a dream, and the practical keyboard gets pretty close to a full Qwerty for typing in those textile fabric addresses. There’s one major boo-boo though – no flash favor.

The Nokia N900 boasts full flash, which is still a scarcity on mobile devices, but because of its resistive touchscreen, browsing is quite a different experience. No multitouch features and a less casual be perceived , thanks to the pressure you have to apply with your handle, start swaying the balance back in the Apple iPhone’s favour.

Enter the HTC Desire, oblation the best of both worlds – sort of. It doesn’t require full flash, but its mobile version of Flash 10.1 is a dutiful compromise. The superb capacitive touchscreen and multitouch functionality make casual browsing a ravishment too.
Winner – HTC Desire

I must say, coming from a consummate lover of Nokia I can see that the writer does be assured of what he’s talking about in the terms of things that Nokia devices endeavor their users. This is why I find the article quite a honest “test” when comparing all three phones.

Now I’d allude to reading the rest of the article to see how the Desire fared in other ways…

[Via http://prresblog.wordpress.com]

HTC Releases Statement About Apple Lawsuit

The Boy Genius Report has received word from HTC regarding the very public lawsuit filed by Apple. Here is what HTC had to say or not say about the situation:

Seattle – March 17, 2010 – HTC Corporation today outlined its disagreement with Apple’s legal actions and reiterated its commitment to creating a portfolio of innovative smartphones that gives consumers a variety of choices. Founded in 1997 with a passion for innovation and a vision for how smartphones would change people’s lives, HTC has continually driven this vision by consistently introducing award-winning smartphones with U.S. mobile operators.

“HTC disagrees with Apple’s actions and will fully defend itself. HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done, but we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer, HTC Corporation. “From day one, HTC has focused on creating cutting-edge innovations that deliver unique value for people looking for a smartphone. In 1999 we started designing the XDA

The O2 XDA by HTC was the first 3.5-inch color touch screen smartphone in the world in 2002. and T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition The T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition by HTC was the first 3.5-inch color touch screen smartphone in the United States in 2002., our first touch-screen smartphones, and they both shipped in 2002 with more than 50 additional HTC smartphone models shipping since then.”

The industry has recognized HTC’s contributions through a variety of awards including Fast Company’s 2010 Top 50 Most Innovative Companies and MIT Technology Review’s 2010 50 Most Innovative Companies. The GSMA also recently awarded the HTC Hero as the “Best Phone of 2009.” Some of HTC’s technology firsts include:

• First Windows PDA (1998)
• First Windows Phone (June 2002)
• First 3G CDMA EVDO smartphone (October 2005)
• First gesture-based smartphone (June 2007)

• First Google Android smartphone (October 2008)
• First 4G WIMAX smartphone (November 2008)

In 2009, HTC launched its branded user experience, HTC Sense. HTC Sense is focused on putting people at the center by making phones work in a more simple and natural way. This experience was fundamentally based on listening and observing how people live and communicate.

“HTC has always taken a partnership-oriented, collaborative approach to business. This has led to long-standing strategic partnerships with the top software, Internet and wireless technology companies in the industry as well as the top U.S., European and Asian mobile operators,” said Jason Mackenzie, vice president of HTC America. “It is through these relationships that we have been able to deliver the world’s most diverse series of smartphones to an even more diverse group of people around the world, recognizing that customers have very different needs.”

For more information on HTC’s history of innovation, please visit: www.htc.com/history.

Via [BGR]

[Via http://thegadgetgurus.net]

Bye bye Blackberry, hello HTC

Blackberry Bold - a very popular model

People have been Blackberry picking.  In this, the age of the iPhone, everyone wants to get their hands on their very own cleverphone.  Sorry, I mean smartphone.  But why the Blackberry?

I, for one, have no idea.  Yes, they are a bit different and yes, they are good in the email department.  But there’s a lot more you can get from other devices without having to sacrifice any more money.

For me, the best bet has to be the wonderful HTC HD2.  I have been wondering about what phone to get when my contract comes to and end, and this one is a surefire contender.  This is a true smartphone.

HTC HD2 - like the iPhone, but not

I’m sure you’ll agree its a wonderful looking piece of equipment.  The HD2 runs on Windows Mobile’s operating system, which is still very much up-and-coming and constantly improving.  But don’t be put off, for there are new ‘apps’, or applications being developed and added every single day.  Not only does it do emails (and it does them very well), but it does a heck of a lot more.  It can be a sat nav, it can be a Twittering device, it can take you to any webpage on the internet, it can be used as a device to watch YouTube videos.  Many see this as a big threat to the iPhone and some see it as an alternative to the iPhone.  However, I think that it is a great phone in its own right and should be recognised as such.  And the best thing of all is that you can even use it if you have fat fingers. (Something you can’t do with those miniscule buttons on most Blackberry phones!)

You can see a full review of this phone here on Tracy and Matt’s technology blog.

[Via http://jonnyharvell.wordpress.com]

HTC Touch Pro3 to touchdown this summer?

An unsubstantiated rumor out of XDA-Developers suggests that HTC is continuing its Touch Pro series of handsets with the third iteration expected to arrive this summer. According to the forum post, the rumored Touch Pro3 will be smaller and thinner than the current Touch Pro2 and will launch in Europe in Q2. With Windows Phone 7 Series smartphones expected to debut during this holiday season, the Touch Pro3, if it indeed launches, may be one of the last Windows Mobile 6.5 handsets to hit the market. Anyone interested?

[Via http://itsoluti0ns.wordpress.com]

Podcast: Talking with tnkgrl #23

It’s time for another podcast (28 min):
- Audio version
- Video version

Matthew Bennett (Nokia Daily News, US Mobile Industry) joined me while Tony Peric (fone frenzy) edited the video

This week we discussed Mobile World Congress (Windows Phone 7 Series & Meego), the Apple iPad, the Motorola Devour, and the LG BL40!

Other topics include the Google Nexus One software update, the Nokia N86 camera, Qik Premium & Skype for Symbian, and the BeagleBoard…

Click here to subscribe to this podcast.

[Via http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com]

HTC Legend Review

Wow! Just, wow! That was pretty much the crux of our first impressions of HTC’s latest Android-based smartphone, the Legend. With a chassis carved from a single piece of aluminium, with a beautiful sandblasted finish, this is one stunning looking device. As Gordon rightly pointed out at the World Mobile Congress, the Legend looks and feels somewhere between the first generation iPhone and the new unibody aluminium Macbooks, and we mean that in every possible good way.

However, there are a few immediate problems. First, contrary to what you might expect, matt aluminium like this still scratches fairly easily (though less so than plastic) and over time can be polished to a shine on exposed edges and corners. As such we’d be inclined to keep the Legend in some sort of case – I’m a big fan of the leather slip, like this one I use with my iPhone – that protects the phone when in transit but doesn’t hide its design or inhibit its functionality when in use. However, due to the Legend’s jutting jaw profile such cases can’t be used. Aesthetically, we don’t mind it and we appreciate it’s a design feature that harks back to the first Android phone, the G1, and this phone’s direct predecessor, the HTC Hero, but on a practical level we think it’s something that needs to go.

On a more positive note, the power button on the top, volume rocker on the left edge, and central circular select button all feel very solid in terms of fit and have a superbly light yet defined action. The new optical trackball (the sensor for which sits in the middle of the central button) also looks great and works well. However, we still think that such things are largely unneeded on touchscreen phones – pin-pointing a cursor in text is about the only task we regularly used it for. Sadly it isn’t a clean sweep when it comes to button quality, with the four black ones under the screen being a little wobbly, and sometimes leaving you unsure if you’ve pressed them properly. We also maintain that Android phones simply have too many buttons – all three of the Menu, Back, and Search buttons can easily be replicated in software without any loss of functionality.

There are no alarm bells when it comes to connectivity, though, as the Legend sports a conventional 3.5mm headphone jack on its top and a micro-USB socket on the bottom for connecting to a PC and charging the phone. There’s also a microSD slot hidden under the bottom, black-coloured section on the back of the phone, so getting files on and off the phone is a cinch. This plastic section also pulls away to reveal the battery (Apple take note) and SIM slot. It’s a beautiful mechanism, but it’s a bit of a pain to power down the Legend to remove the microSD card.

Aesthetically, you might want the battery/memory cover to be hewn from aluminium too, but it needs to be plastic to enable proper transmission of the various wireless signals used in the phone – a solid metal chassis would severely hamper these signals. Indeed, this was one of the reasons the original iPhone apparently had bad reception and why the iPhone 3G changed to an all plastic back. However, we had no such problems with the Legend, even in our office that has particularly poor reception. Call quality was also excellent, though the loudspeaker is a little weedy.

Another area where HTC has created an immediate wow factor is the screen. It’s sadly not glass so isn’t quite as scratch resistant as some rivals, but it’s still a very smooth, glossy, and flat surface. At 3.2in diagonally, with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels, it’s not the biggest or highest resolution screen either, but it is superbly sharp. It’s also an AMOLED screen rather than an LCD one, so is completely unaffected by viewing angles and is incredibly vibrant. In fact, it’s so vibrant that photos can sometimes look unnatural with reds and oranges looking particularly radioactive – the TrustedReviews logo, for instance, looks completely wrong. For the most part, this won’t be a problem as you’re unlikely to need the Legend for colour critical work. Another plus point is the pure black that results from the lack of any backlight bleed, which means video and games look superb. Previous OLED screens we’ve looked at can struggle in direct sunlight but this one seemed to cope very well. All told, this is an exceptional screen for viewing.

The screen is pretty good when it comes to touch-sensitivity, too, thanks to its capacitive touch-sensing as opposed to the less responsive resistive type. This does mean it can’t be used with gloves or a stylus but for everyday phone use it’s the best choice. It also supports multi-touch so you can pinch-to-zoom on photos and in webpages and you can theoretically type super fast. However, while the touch-sensing works quite well, we did have a couple of issues.

The first is that the screen is rather narrow when held in portrait and this can make typing uncomfortable. Even though it’s only 5mm narrower than the iPhone screen, and the icons for each key are almost exactly the same width, the Legend feels more cramped resulting in more mistakes. Obviously, if you’ve got smaller fingers and hands this may be less of a concern but certainly none of us in the office have particularly large fingers and we all noticed a difference. Furthermore, HTC has modified the keyboard to constantly show the secondary function of each key and we think it makes them more difficult to read.

The other problem is the interface in general. While Android has a very capable touch interface, it doesn’t quite have the finesse of the iPhone OS. Take scrolling through a list. On the iPhone, it feels completely intuitive with the list responding exactly as you would expect if you were physically interacting with it. However, on the Legend, it’s not as slick and you’re made to feel that your movements are being interpreted and then output on-screen. Likewise the pinch-to-zoom gesture doesn’t quite zoom at the rate you expect given what your fingers are doing. Individually it’s small-fry but collectively it results in an interface that is simply less appealing to use everyday.

We also tried the touchscreen accuracy test as pioneered by moto labs whereby you slowly draw angled lines across the surface of the screen. Doing this, we found the Legend has consistently wavy lines whereas the iPhone has much straighter lines, indicating a greater degree of accuracy. This could affect the Legend’s performance in some touch-dependent apps like games.

Something else that might affect games is the Qualcomm 600MHz processor. It’s by no means slow, but it’s not a patch on other premium handsets using the company’s 1GHz Snapdragon processor. These include the Toshiba TG01 and HTC’s own HD2 as well as the upcoming HTC Desire. In everyday use, the Legend is very fast and we have no complaints whatsoever but if you do want the best gaming experience or want to run taxing apps like full-3D sat-nav, then you may want one of the above handsets.

Getting back to the software, the Legend employs the latest 2.1 version of Android, which comes with improvements like integrated Microsoft Exchange and Facebook support, better performance, a unified email inbox for viewing multiple accounts at once, and a faster web browser. Google Maps also now supports layers, though it still doesn’t include pinch-to-zoom so you must press buttons to zoom in and out.

Overall, though, version 2.1 feels much the same as previous Android iterations. You get a multifaceted desktop onto which you can scatter various shortcuts to programs or little apps known as widgets. These can show things like email and calendar entries, giving you a quick way of checking without fully opening the respective app. The Google apps integration is superb, with YouTube, Gmail, and Calendar all on hand, while the lightening fast search function makes it incredibly easy to find contacts, emails, and calendar entries all from one search term. The web browser is also excellent with its speedy operation, slick interface, and even support for Flash so you can watch our video reviews no matter where you are. That said, we did see evidence of the CPU struggling as the framerate of Flash video was pretty poor.

On top of the standard Android setup, HTC has also sprinkled its own HTC Sense interface, which gives the Legend a slightly slicker look and feel and adds a whole plethora of extra widgets. These include ones for checking the weather, viewing your email, seeing live bookmarks, and browsing your calendar.

The major new addition, though, is Friend Stream, which is a bit like Motorola’s MotoBlur service. It combines your social networking apps (Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr) and presents the stream of updates to you in one widget. Click on the widget and you can also view photos and links from the services. As with all the widgets, Friend Stream does suck up resources, so to prolong the Legend’s battery life you might want to avoid it. Another new addition is ‘Leap’, which gives you an overview of your various home screens. You simply pinch inwards to reveal a grid of all the home screens, then tap one to go to it. It’s quite neat but we certainly didn’t find ourselves using it very often.

As for battery life, the 1,300mAh unit is not the largest we’ve seen in a smartphone but was nevertheless good for two days of fairly heavy use. Like many large-screened smartphones, though, we recommend charging the Legend every night to be on the safe side.

Something that will of course drain the battery is the camera, which is a 5-megapixel affair that includes a surprisingly powerful LED flash. The camera app is quick to load and we managed an excellent shot to shot time of three seconds or so. The interface is also very nice with a surprising number of options including exposure control. Results are obviously limited by the tiny lens and sensor but are surprisingly good for a phone, displaying accurate colouration and a decent amount of detail. The flash is also surprisingly powerful with a range of a couple of metres. Video is also available and the light can be used while recording. Results are pretty poor though with an annoying wobbliness to the footage when any motion is on screen.

Verdict

The HTC Legend is undoubtedly our favourite Android phone so far. Its screen looks amazing and is responsive, it’s packed with features, and of course that aluminium chassis is something to behold. So if you’re a fan of Android already and you’re looking for a smaller and potentially cheaper device then it’s an easy recommendation. However, we still think Android has some overarching interface issues that make it feel a little clunky. When combined with our few hardware complaints, like the slightly small screen and protruding chin, we feel there are just too many compromises to outright recommend the Legend to those looking for a premium device – particularly as we’re yet to review the Google Nexus One and HTC Desire, which could be better devices overall.

Buy Low Price @ Amazon.co.uk

Buy Low Price @ Amazon.co.uk

[Via http://flukioh.wordpress.com]

Posting from Android

Posting from my HTC Hero Android phone. I really have to sat it folks: I’ve absolutely fallende in love with the Android platform. I’m coming from the Windows Mobile platform, which I (believe it or not) found quite useful at the time. But nothing feels so flexible as the Android platform, not even the IPhone. So, I’m gonna play some more with my new phone, and I’m really looking forward to the upgrade to version 2.1 of the Android platform. This is to be released by the end of March (according to HTC), at least in Europe.

[Via http://goliberal.wordpress.com]

Apple talks tough to handset makers

The HTC lawsuit capped blunt talks that have reportedly shaken their faith in Google

Oppenheimer’s Yair Reiner issued a behind-the-scenes report Tuesday that sheds a lot of light on the patent suits Apple (AAPL) filed last week against HTC, the leading Taiwan-based smartphone maker.

Citing “industry checks,” Reiner writes that:

“Starting in January, Apple launched a series of C-Level discussions with tier-1 handset makers to underscore its growing displeasure at seeing its iPhone-related IP [intellectual property] infringed. The lawsuit filed against HTC thus appears to be Apple’s way of putting a public, lawyered-up exclamation point on a series of blunt conversations that have been occurring behind closed doors.

“Our checks also suggest that these warning shots are meaningfully disrupting the development roadmaps for would-be iPhone killers. Rival software and hardware teams are going back to the drawing board to look for work-arounds. Lawyers are redoubling efforts to gauge potential defensive and offensive responses. And strategy teams are working to chart OS strategies that are better hedged.”

The story, as Reiner tells it, actually began a year earlier, in January 2009.

That’s when Apple COO Tim Cook, standing in for the ailing Steve Jobs, warned in an earnings call that when it came to companies trying to reproduce the iPhone’s user experience,

“we will not stand for having our IP ripped off and we’ll use whatever weapons we have at our disposal. I don’t know that I can be more clear than that.”

That original warning, Reiner says, was read relatively narrowly as referring to Apple’s multi-touch technology, and it seemed to have some impact. In the months that followed, the major handset manufacturers — including LG, Samsung, and Nokia (NOK) — stayed clear of multi-touch. The most prominent exception was the Palm (PALM) Pre, which was well received in the press but didn’t represent a strategic threat to Apple.

That deference, Reiner writes, began to evaporate in late 2009 with the arrival of two mult-touch smartphones: the Motorola (MOT) Droid and the HTC Eris.

“Top-tier handset makers continued to avoid implementing multi-touch, but Apple could safely assume that they were hanging back to gauge Apple’s response to Motorola and HTC. If there wasn’t one, the OEMs would likely read the silence as a green light, especially after Google also moved to enable multi-touch on its Nexus One phone.

It was likely in order to counter that perception that Apple began reaching out to handset OEMs in January and explaining in no uncertain terms that it was now ready to do battle–and not just on multi-touch. It was ready to press its case along a number of axes that had made the iPhone experience unique, from the interpretation of touch gestures, to object-oriented OS design, to the nuts and bolts of how hardware elements were built and configured.”

Why pick on HTC? Reiner speculates that as the earliest and most aggressive user of Android, HTC was the perfect proxy for Apple’s real target: Google (GOOG). It helped that Apple and HTC didn’t have any supplier relationships that could be disrupted by a protracted legal battle.

According the Reiner, the combination of the tough talk and a big lawsuit have had their intended effect.

“Until recently, most high-end smartphone programs were focused primarily on trying to match the iPhone’s user experience, and secondarily on avoiding any egregious violations of Apple’s patents.

“We believe this order of priorities has temporarily changed — along with the industry’s appreciation for how far Apple is willing to extend the fight. Few OEMs believe that simply staying clear of multi-touch can, on its own, avert Apple’s wrath. We believe a lot of software and hardware is being sent back to engineering departments for work-arounds.

“It’s too early to know how Apple’s legal action against HTC will ultimately play out, or whether Apple will have the appetite to launch additional battles with other OEMs. But in the near term, Apple’s legal actions appear to have temporarily left competitors playing catch-up with their shoelaces tied.”

Even before the lawsuit, handset makers were having second thoughts about Google, which with the Nexus One had become a direct competitor. Now their faith in Android as the easiest and cheapest way to counter the iPhone has been shaken, says Reiner. The unintended consequence, he suggests, is to send them into the arms of Microsoft (MSFT) and Win7 Mobile.

“Our checks,” writes Reiner, “indicate that Microsoft has been quick to sniff out this burgeoning opportunity and has begun to aggressively promote the strength of its own IP portfolio, as well as its willingness to join battle with customers that come under IP attack.”

See also:

• Counting patents: Apple, Google, HTC
• Steve Jobs: A man aggrieved
• Apple vs. HTC: What the experts say
• Apple strikes back, sues HTC

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]

[Via http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com]

An Apple a day, keeps the competition away...

Apple has changed the world, literally. They’ve let us bring our music libraries with us where ever we go, made smart phones cool for the average joe blogs, now they’re going to shake up up portables and how we read news and magazines.

While this is brilliant for us, who are now so used to seeing the Apple logo, it’s practically one of our five-a-day now. The Software and hardware giant has also livened up competition, made other companies fight for our attention and forcing them to produce machines that don’t just work, but look attractive.

Phones are no longer bricks, laptops no longer black plastic, and our music is so small we can never stop consuming, much to the annoyance of the record labels.

However all good things, must come to an end – or must they? As with all competition stirred up, the old guard never want to change. Apple has threatened the dominion of all the major manufacturers. From Microsoft, to Nokia and all in between, including Sony (remember the Walkman anyone?).

These companies have tried their hardest to halt Apple in it’s tracks, even Google is taking shots now with their Nexus One, which could be argued is the only real threat to the iPhone, given that Apple are filing legal charges against its Android phone manufacturer HTC.

In hot water, is HTC the serious contender Apple might fear?

Nokia had the N-Series, Microsoft has Windows 7, and Sony jumped into the e-reader market. But the thing is, even with these endless attempts to stop the Cupertino behemoth, only minor dents have been made. The App store still over shadows Ovi and Android apps, and iTunes is the go-to music program for shopping and listening.

What are these companies doing wrong? How could Microsoft, Apple’s old rival and Google, the worlds largest and most powerful corporation be stumped by a company whose fortunes in the past have been mixed, at best.

Well, it could be design. John Ive, UK born and living over in San Francisco has designed classics, which will probably never age, the original iPod looks just as hot now as it always did, and the click-wheel is being incorporated by competitors still.

One of the earlier iPod lines, still lookin' good!

Macs were revolustionised, phones were given rounded edges and made not only look, but feel comfortable, and something you could live with, finally electronics lost their nerdish , and metallic or plastic image and became something which began to favour form, rather than function and unlock a market to the average consumer previously seen to be niche and the realm of techies.

This later forced others to fall in line and make products people could enjoy using as well as having to.

It could also be function. As I said, Apple didn’t sacrifice function for form, they looked at how to do both. OS X, or it’s current name of ‘Snow Leopard’ is easy to use, a much more flowing, less hierarchy, menu based structure, favouring instead how you want to work, utilising codes for plenty of developers to make small widgets to help make your life easier, such as ‘Quicksilver’ for handy access to files and programs, and Google Mail for inbuilt mail notification on your desktop, all make life easier, the OS also tries to make day to day usage light on processing with such handy tidbits like full page previews of a document without going through the processing power of actually opening it.

Once using OS X, I find it hard to get into work and sit in front of XP, Microsoft’s most widely used build of their Windows operating system.

OS X, simple, efficient, easy to use - a pleasure

Another first; brought about much more recently is a distinct lack of need for accessories. Most laptops or desktops require you to get a separate webcam, or mouse, or anything else you might need, short of an external hard drive – the MacBook and larger iMacs, have it all, webcams built in, wireless keyboards and mouses, and on the desktops; just one wire, leading to one monitor which houses everything.

Wait, wait… WAIT. Apple, and more so Steve Jobs, have perfected the art of hype. The entire planet knew about the iPad, sorry iSlate, no – iPad almost a year before its release. A level of hype which Google and Ballmer just can’t manage.

Mostly it’s Apple heads who attend product launches, but you can bet that the entire world is well aware of the happening just at the same time, and most are ready to pre-order. Few companies can make such exposure. An example would even be the Nexus One, half the world still don’t know it exists, but there were lines around blocks in New York the day of the iPhone release.

Apple know how to work the crowd, they understand the logic of whetting appetites and getting the fans excited, and the results? iTunes has its 10 billionth download, Apple has made Macs a serious contender for home and office computing which was formerly an exclusively Windows territory, few people use the term MP3 favouring iPod, and while typing this half of the cafe have their iPhones out.

It can be something to do with Apple’s image as the struggling rebel to Microsoft’s omnipotence, even though now it’s turning the opposite way around, especially in the portable market. However Apple is still on a knife edge and can go either way for the moment they keep the image of being a thorn in the side of major industry.

Steve Jobs seems to know what works, and how life could be made easier. Wireless hard drives, remotes with laptops, wireless media drives and full internet on a phone. Apple doesn’t necessarily get there first, but where it doesn’t it makes an idea attractive, where it does get there first then it makes life, just easier.

Making the standard, look attractive.

The iPad is all set to revolutionise the news-stand, and how we consume print media and like all Apple products set to revolutionise our world, there’s a host of ‘killers’ being developed. Where there’s an iPhone, there’s a Nexus One or a Nokia and where there’s an iPod there’s a Zune.

But in the end, Apple has the style, the hype and general sensibility to trump the lot. How long this lasts, is up to the Cupertino power house, it could even be suggested that it’s as long as Steve Jobs is at the helm. For the moment however, Apple is getting a much deserved time in the sun to impress us with new devices, and generally stir up competition, which in the end can only be a good thing for consumers by keeping the valley well on it’s toes.

[Via http://coconut2674.wordpress.com]

Steve Jobs: A man aggrieved

A new theory about why Apple decided to take HTC — and indirectly, Google — to court

Photo: Apple Inc.

Two thirds of the way through a 3,000-word essay on This Apple-HTC Patent Thing, Daring Fireball’s John Gruber quotes a tweet by John Siracusa that gets to the heart of the matter:

“To me, the Apple patent suit smells like nothing more than a manifestation of Jobs’s own sense of injustice.”

In the context of Gruber’s essay — a passionate and thoroughly readable diatribe about why the software patent system is broken — the quote rings true.

Apple (AAPL), like most large tech companies, uses the system primarily for defensive purposes. They amass a portfolio of broadly worded patents to be unleashed, like nuclear warheads, on any company that dares take them to court — as Nokia did last October (see here).

What’s different about the suits Apple filed Tuesday is that they amounted to a first strike — something Apple hasn’t done in patent court, as far as anybody can remember, since Apple vs. Microsoft, the famous court battle over the Macintosh “look and feel” that Apple ultimately lost.

That case, although it was filed in 1988, when Jobs was nowhere near Apple, may be a telling precedent. Like Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows, the Google (GOOG) Android operating system that runs most of the HTC smartphones in Apple’s complaint, is self-evidently built on the shoulders of Cupertino’s software engineers.

Jobs, Gruber suggests, is not so much worried about HTC’s products as offended by them. He quotes Apple’s Tuesday press release:

“We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”

“That’s not the language of a licensing dispute or the beginning of a polite negotiation,” writes Gruber. “That’s the language of a man aggrieved.”

It’s easy to understand Jobs’ indignation, especially in light of the damage Windows inflicted on the Mac’s market share. But the problem for Steve Jobs is that everybody in the world of modern software  — including Apple — “steals” (to use his verb) from everybody else.

Gizmodo on Tuesday dragged out the clip (posted below) from the 1996 PBS documentary “Triumph of the Nerds” in which Jobs quotes Picasso’s “good artists copy, great artists steal” and adds, about Apple: “We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.”

By launching a nuclear first strike against HTC, Apple seems to be coming very close to the dark side. Gruber quotes an open letter to Jobs posted by Mac developer Will Shipley:

“If Apple becomes a company that uses its might to quash competition instead of using its brains, it’s going to find the brainiest people will slowly stop working there. You know this, you watched it happen at Microsoft.”

“Apple is inching ever closer to evil,” writes Y Combinator’s Paul Graham, using the word in Google’s low-bar “Don’t be evil” sense, “and I worry that there’s no one within the company who can stand up to Jobs and tell him so.”

Gruber won’t call Apple “evil,” but concludes by saying he’s right there with Graham in that sentiment.

“And I say this not in any sort of hippy-dippy sense of expecting or even hoping for Apple to behave selflessly, holding them to a separate idealistic standard, or expecting them to fight with one arm tied behind their corporate back. And only a fool would argue that a company should never seek redress through litigation.

“But I believe that it’s good business, in the long run, for a company’s acts of aggression to take place in the market, not in the courts.”

Gruber’s essay is available here. For people who care about the issues raised by the Apple-HTC lawsuit, it’s a must-read.

Below, Steve Jobs on artists stealing ideas:

See also:

• Apple vs. HTC: What the experts say
• Apple strikes back, sues HTC

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]

[Via http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com]

Apple vs. HTC (aka Google)

My good friend mil_ wrote an interesting article over at his technology blog: TechNippon. As you may have guessed from the title of this post, it’s about “Apple vs. HTC (aka Google)“…

He said I could post it here as well, so give it a read if you care at all about the advancement of technology!

As you may have heard, Apple has filed a patent lawsuit against cell phone manufacturer HTC (manufacturer of the “Google Phone” the Nexus One). And as you may have also figured out, these lawsuits are a thinly-veiled attack against Google’s Android OS as well (Google, despite not being directly named in any of the lawsuits, released a statement in defense of HTC).

The two lawsuits (one federal, one with the ITC) name 20 patents that Apple is claiming infringement upon. The first question is how did Apple manage to get some of these things patented? Most of them deal with OS-level software functions (ie the Android OS, not HTC’s hardware) that, if upheld by patent courts, would give Apple all but a monopoly on basic functions of smartphones or any modern-day multi-device. For example, power management functions for a digital camera or “reducing voltage to an instruction-processing part of the processor” aka sleep mode.

Many of the patents also deal with specific software/OS programming techniques, like using OOP for, well, anything (graphics, notifications, multitasking) and others deal with how the OS is run. It seems that Apple took some basic, broad programming ideas and patented them being used in a specific context: in this case, on a mobile platform. Mobile phone OSes were extremely simple until smartphones came along, and Apple got a head start on everyone by a few years with the iPhone–admittedly a paradigm-shifting piece of hardware and software. In other words, they patented the basic functionality it would take to make any phone work like a desktop. And now, a few years down the line when more and more phones are becoming PC-like, Apple suddenly has the golden patents to throw the hammer down on any and all competitors.

What Apple is doing here is nothing short of snuffing out technological advance to increase their own market share and, in turn, profit margin. Things like multitouch gestures are not something you should be able to patent. ”Unlocking a device by using a gesture on an image” is such a broad idea that it should have never been granted a patent to one specific company in the first place. Multitouch gestures, and smartphones in general, are natural evolutions of technological advance. OOP is not a specific idea that one company owns, but an entire method of programming. How can a company “own” multitouch? There are many manufacturers of capacitive and resistive multitouch screens. But the software that enables us to take advantage of the technology? Apple’s.

In this case, Apple should at least grant third parties the license to use their patented technologies for a nominal fee like any rational company/entity. But it has instead requested to bar the sale of any and all devices who are named in the infringement case–which includes all Android phones and even some WM phones. Is Apple being overprotective of its own products or its own ideas (which is also dubious at best–the idea of a screen that responds to multitouch has probably been around for decades. I can assure you that Mr. Jobs was not the first person ever to think of it, just the first to think of using the law to claim ownership of it)? Or is it just sending out a quite large and loud first attack on the other technological mega-entity (and reasonable threat to their smartphone near-monopoly) in the room, Google? It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Google didn’t back down from China, instead directly confronting it. How will it deal with the closed regime of Appleland and its leader’s all-powerful reality distortion field??

scott

[Via http://thenoisingmachine.wordpress.com]

Apple Sues HTC, Kills Smartphone Industry

Normally, I try and keep my nose out of the legal world, mainly because I think of lawyers as bottom-feeding, money-hungry SOBs who like to bend the rules for their own benefit.  This time, though, the situation is so asinine that I feel it is my responsibility as a somewhat intelligent, questionably sane tech lover and smartphone user to comment on it.

Apple announced today that they are suing HTC, a technology company known for their Windows Mobile and Adroid smartphones, for patent infringement regarding similar software and hardware to the iPhone, which WAS a revolutionary device that undeniably made the industry what it is today.

What is it that’s so asinine (devoid of intelligence, for all you non-big-word people out there) about this, you ask?  It’s not the lawsuit itself; companies sue each other for patents on a regular basis.  It’s the things Apple is claiming that make me scratch my dented head.

Before I start in on this, I need to bring up one small detail.  Apple actually posted a PRESS RELEASE about this on their website.  Who publicly announces lawsuits?  If I were Apple (thank God I’m not, by the way), I’d want to keep a senseless lawsuit secret so I didn’t have the whole world know how stupid I am when it blows up in my face.

Now, onto the suit itself.

Basically, this lawsuit points out a number of patents that, for some God-forsaken reason, are held by Apple and have the power to kill off the smartphone industry as we know it.  What I’m going to do for you now is outline most of these patents and let you know why the industry is, if Apple has its way, S.O.L.

1) U.S. Patent No. 7,479,949: “Touch Screen Device, Method, And Graphical User Interface For Determining Commands By Applying Heuristics”

This patent basically says that Apple owns the touch screen.  A vast majority of smartphones today rely on touchscreens to operate.

2) U.S. Patent No. 7,657,849: “Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image”

This refers to unlock sliders similar to that on the iPhone.  A similar method is used on devices manufactured by HTC, Palm, and many others.

3) U.S. Patent No. 7,469,381: “List Scrolling And Document Translation, Scaling, And Rotation On A Touch-Screen Display”

Remember “scrolling”?  That thing we use to look through lists of contacts, web pages, and pretty much anything else?  Apple owns that.  Rotating orientation based on an accelerometer?  That, too.

4) U.S. Patent No. 7,633,076: “Automated Response To And Sensing Of User Activity In Portable Devices”

Probably the easiest way to describe this would be the use of a proximity sensor.  For those who don’t know what that is, a proximity sensor is a sensor in your phone that, among other things, automatically disables the touchscreen display when you’re on a call to prevent you from pressing things with your face.  If you’re not Apple, those are illegal as well.

5) U.S. Patent No. 7,383, 453: “Conserving Power By Reducing Voltage Supplied To An Instruction-Processing Portion Of A Processor”

Whoever said you couldn’t patent common sense was obviously lying to you.  If you reduce the voltage, you actually do tend to save power.  Apparently, Apple invented electricity.

6) U.S. Patent No. 5,455,599: “Object-Oriented Graphic System”

Say goodbye to Windows, Linux, BlackBerry OS, Android, Symbian, webOS, and pretty much any other operating system you’ve ever heard of.  Object-oriented GUIs, which is pretty much what EVERY operating system uses, are owned by Apple.

7) U.S. Patent No. 6,424,354: “Object-Oriented Event Notification System With Listener Registration Of Both Interests And Methods”

Getting a notification that you have a new phone call, text message, e-mail, tweet, or anything else was obviously Apple’s idea.

(In addition to the seven patents I just put into layman’s terms, Apple claims that HTC, and smartphone makers in general, have stolen three other things from them.  You can read the court filings in their entirety at http://www.docstoc.com/docs/27230230/Apple-complaint—Delaware.)

So what does this mean for the smartphone industry?  To make it short and sweet, they’re all screwed.

Apple’s patents are vague (and in one case, completely stupid), meaning that they pretty much have the ability to define whether or not something is in violation of it.  If they see it as any kind of threat to their undeniable position as king of the smartphone world, they’ll probably sue the hell out of you.

Competition drives innovation.  Without competition, the iPhone, which runs a dated and stale OS, will never improve beyond what we have today.  Why would Apple need to make their product better if it’s the only thing you can buy, right?

Apple’s scared.  Big time.  Other companies are developing better products and they’re fully aware of it.  Since Apple obviously can’t innovate anymore or make their product any better, they’re forced to stop everyone else dead in their tracks.

As far as I’m concerned, they’ve crossed the line.  I’m on HTC’s side, and thus the side of innovation and development.  I’ll try and keep you guys up to date with the situation as it develops.

On a final note, to the person(s) at the U.S. Patent Office who granted Apple half of these patents: PLEASE get your nose out of Steve Jobs’ asshole.  You should be fired.

Feel free to let me know what you think of this situation, world.

Best wishes,
-nstark89

P.S.: Apple fanboys, I know you won’t be happy about what I have to say.  As far as you and your nasty comments are concerned, I simply say: Bring it.

[Via http://nstark89.wordpress.com]