The most noteworthy piece of the just-announced Apple-HTC settlement is that the iPhone maker has a price.
Until now, Apple indicated only that it wanted other companies not to copy it. It didn’t seem interested in licensing its patents.
Late CEO Steve Jobs seemed more interested in crushing Android than trying to extract royalties from those that use Google’s operating system.
By contrast, Microsoft has also said it believes Android devices infringe its products, but has been plenty happy to license its patents.
Under the 10-year deal announced on Saturday night, however, Apple appears to be following suit, allowing HTC to continue to do business as usual — and collecting a fee in return.
Also surprising is the fact that HTC is apparently not being forced to pay an arm and a leg for that privilege.
Although terms are not being disclosed, HTC did say that it does not expect the agreement of have an “adverse material impact” on its financials. Whatever the company is paying (and rest assured, Apple is being paid here), it would appear to be relatively cheap considering that a jury ordered Samsung to pay upward of a billion dollars for infringing Apple patents.
Of course, Samsung continues to fight that verdict in court and is still some way from actually having to write Apple a check.
Whether this indicates a willingness by Apple to settle with Android device makers beyond HTC remains to be seen. Apple hasn’t been totally closed to patent deals with mobile phone makers — it has a pact of some sort with Nokia and a rather broad cross-licensing arrangement with Microsoft. It even offered Samsung a deal at one point, though it was seeking $30 per phone and $40 per tablet.
It’s not totally clear what type of license HTC has to Apple know-how, but HTC did say the deal will allow it to continue shipping its existing lineup of devices, a lineup that includes a wide range of Android and Windows Phone devices.
Apple may also be playing a bit of “the enemy of the enemy is my friend” here. Though Apple and HTC have hardly been chummy, the company’s biggest strategic battles are against Samsung and Google (which now owns Motorola). By making peace with a struggling HTC, Apple could boost the Taiwanese phone maker in its battle with those two larger rivals.
Late CEO Steve Jobs seemed more interested in crushing Android THEN trying to extract royalties from those that use Google’s operating system.
Seriously? THEN?!
Hey, humans make mistakes. Even copyeditors err. Mea culpa.
I believe these companies now focus more on new innovations and good products
......
The reason for this settlement between Apple and HTC has very little to do with HTC's implementation of Android, which quite frankly, if that was the main reason for their dispute, Apple wouldn't have settled.
No, this settlement is about APPLE realizing it was facing a LOSING patent infringement battle against HTC and its LTE patents that could have lead to a sales injunction against all iPhone 5, iPad Mini and iPad 4 LTE models in the US.
The judge in the case had already cautioned Apple that he would have to be "overwhelmed with evidence" to grant their request to invalidate HTC's LTE patents. If he didn't invalidate those patents, it would basically be an air-tight case for HTC as Apple hadn't argued that they didn't use the technology covered by those patents (which is beyond dispute), only that HTC shouldn't have been awarded them.
It's not a surprise that the terms of the settlement were kept "confidential", but if they are ever released it will be revealed that it is APPLE paying HTC for licensing fees, not the other way around.
Unfortunately for Apple, they are involved in a similar case with Samsung in the EU with regards to infringements against Samsung's LTE patents in the iPhone 5, iPad Mini and iPad 4.
It's unlikely Samsung would agree to a settlement. Rather, it's more likely they'll play hardball and force a permanent sales injunction on those Apple products in the EU, which would land a crippling blow to Apple, ceasing revenue from their top three highest grossing products in their second most important market, and sending their AAPL share price into a spinning nose dive from which they may never recover.
You state that, "if [the terms of settlement] are ever released it will be revealed that it is APPLE paying HTC for licensing fees, not the other way around." That's an interesting "take", Buckus Toothnail, considering that, as the article stated, "HTC did say the deal will allow it to continue shipping its existing lineup of devices."
Buckus has posted the same exact post to MacRumors, the Verge, PCMag, ArsTechnica, and probably other sites (I haven't checked out AI or 9to5Mac). I suspect he is a "professional" poster.
Samsung tried to ban the iPhone 4S on 3G patents, too, with zero success.
It wont happen with LTE, since the license is already provided to Qualcomm who provide Apple the chips.
All that will happen is Samsung will find themselves in the middle of an anti-trust investigation.
It already started. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether Samsung violated commitments to license it's standard essential 3G patents to competitors on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms.
The European Commission has also spent the past few months investigating Samsung’s patent conduct.
Google is under a similar investigation from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
It is believed this is just a beginning. Apple is shrewdly going forward with these lawsuits I would say. HTC has a great data transfer technology that apple can take advantage of with this settlement. HTC is small though competent competitor to Apple. you should note that apple was small too before 2007. Now they are bigger than everybody and has more lawsuits too. However, they know the game and how to play it well.
HTC can take all of Samsung's sales. Fandroids don't much care for anything except price anyhow. And USB ports. LOL
Apple's position is untenable. It's obvious they are using and abusing the court system as they certainly are no longer winning with products.
How are they not winning with products? They have the 2 best selling phones and 2 best selling tablets of all time.
They also take 70% of the profit in the entire smartphone industry....
The iPhone is the best selling phone, but the problem is their position is going to be hard to defend if/when android becomes the ubiquitous monster it is shaping up to be. Apple does not seem to respond fast enough to new tech, just look how long it took them to get halfway decent internet on their phones. I mean, if I had to bet what os is going to take over, it is not going to be IOS. I firmly believe, not due to any brand loyalty or emotional feelings, that google is operating freely in a space that apple is fighting tooth and nail to dominate (but still only barely retaining 30%, with android closing in on 60%). And furthermore, if you had both phones, and among those who do have both phones, the most favorable thing you are going to hear between s3 and iPhone 5 is 'tossup', with the vast majority saying they prefer their s3. I use google calendar, gmail, gchat and I could go on. I've tried a number of times to use apple's attempts to move into this space (remember MobileMe...yikes) but they never got it right. Their cloud is also doomed, it's just not going to get integrated into everyone's lives. It will just be a subset of a subset of their hardware users.
I have both an s3 and an i5. You can tell yourself whatever you want, and cherry pick as well. I'm not analyzing this with some kind of apple love/hate. I'm just telling you what is up. Apple has reached market saturation. They are at their peak. Just as a tidbit, to break down your argument a bit, apple is doing it's best to remove as much google stuff as they can from their phones so your argument strikes me as lacking much credibility. Google integration is incredibly weak on the iPhone compared with android and at times now, non existent. Last week, Romney supporters were cherry picking polls and basing decisions on their gut. It was wrong. The hard numbers are that android has a far bigger market share than iPhone has or has ever had, and is growing, while apple market share has started to shrink. And among people who have both phones, very few, and none that I know, including myself, think the iPhone is better. But I mean, while I guess that can be called opinion, the market share numbers will never lie. All google has to do is continue to marginalize IOS to succeed, their model has nothing to do with selling that OS, which is smart. it's to embed.
The attempt by apple to control and restrict google integration via making it less functional than on android has already proven to be a mistake. It puts them in a situation where they are competing with google now, in a way that is not smart. Maybe Cook's apology signals a reversal in course on that, but I doubt it. They will probably just try to replace google. Which my friend, is not going to work. What you fail to see is that google is already embedded in nearly everyone's lives, in a way that cannot be replaced easily, whether they have android or not. And google isn't out there trying to be cooler than apple. They are innovating. And this is something apple has started to fall behind in. Sure, they make some consumer gadgets now that have a 'cool' factor. And Mountain Lion is probably their best OS since system 9. But apple has lost it's visionary, and today they are at the top. But their promise for the future is dim. I've been with this company since 1991. I am telling you. They are not innovating at a fast enough speed anymore. Certainly not fast enough to compete with google, which will be a silent killer. Google is growing, just like android saturation is growing. Apple is trying hard to fight them and just about everyone. But it's a battle between a closed, walled in system, and an open, free one.
5-7 years from now, google triple market cap, apple half at best. And they will never get past the market share they have at this point.
Your claim that people claim they prefer their S3 is totally unfounded. Actually customer satisfaction surveys prove exactly the opposite - the iPhone 5 is more 'loved' by its fans.
When I owned an iPhone, my Gmail, and calendar all automatically sync'd. I think you probably haven't used an iPhone for a while.
As for which OS is going to 'take over' - in terms of profit, it certainly doesn't look to be Android right now. Android is free to anyone, including Apple. It doesn't generate profit, and its app store isn't part of Android (the app store isn't open source).
I think Apple would happily license its patents to anyone and settle disputes with anyone.
They didn't jump straight into litigation with Samsung, Apple contacted them 4 times before going to the courts. Samsung had their chance to license the patents (some of which were ones the Microsoft has recently bought licenses for).
However no company is as bad as Samsung. As I have said, and always will say, Samsung have taken far too many ideas from Apple and made their products look far to similar. Hardware, Software, Marketing, Packaging, Stores and Accessories. No other company has gone this far to make themselves feel more like Apple.
I've used this example before. HP recently launched an all-in-one which looks very similar to the iMac, They aren't facing a lawsuit, it's one product. Samsung on the other hand, have released phones, laptops (chromebooks), tablets, stores, adverts, accessories and software that is designed to look as close to their relevant Apple products as possible. And I can see why any company would envy Apple. Jony Ive has certainly proved how good he is at design.
I think any patent settlement is good. But there is only one outcome I want to see in the Apple Samsung case, and that's the same outcome the Jury gave.
That's further from the truth..
Apple's first contact in 2010 largely consisted of generic OS patents that had nothing to do with the US case in August. Furthermore, according to the court document, Apple does not license so-called core-patents and demanded that Samsung remove the so-called infringed features from their devices.
Everyone copies designs (check Braun's radios vs Apple's iPod/iPhone). It's true that Samsung piggybacked on Apple's marketing, but that's nothing illegal about this.
Sure, Samsung is not a software UI company. Samsung is mainly known for components and, actually, industrial designs. There are abundant evidence that SAmsung had prototype ear-touch-phone designs before the iPhones.
Apple has seen its patents disavowed by the patent office. ( Rubber banding zoom, scroll bounce back and touchscreen have been disavowed or rejected, the rest, including rectangle are under review).
Most of their patents will follow suit. Apple and investors know this, this is the reason Apple's stock will fall at least to the upper 470 range.
Most smart companies know that in the end they(Apple) will end up paying an arm and a leg, an the 1B verdict will seem like chump change.
Apple is only trying to take advantage while it can by preying on the weak. It mitigates further losses in the future.
Samsung, LG, Motorola wont follow suit unless terms are very favorable to them. HTC thinks its got a deal that won't affect its bottom line, that is not what Steve Jobs wanted.
This post couldn't really be any more wrong.
Almost none of the sentences are correct.
None of the patents you mention have been invalidated at all.
Fandroids gotta dream. If they weren't totally delusional, they would have an iPhone.
htc and apple are similar companies producing hardware in china and software in US
Lucky for Apple, iPhone 5 was a major improvement. But the weird thing is, all it gave users was a second rate version of what Android users have already been using for 2 years. Which is LTE 4G, Maps with turn by turn directions, proper GPS, and proper signal exposure. And all those things on my iPhone still do not work as well nor as reliably as they have since 2010 on my Galaxy. It could have been worse. But my prediction for apple is grim if they don't focus more on fixing their products rather than suing those with better products. After all, their most recent iPhone 5 just stole crap from android, it's just that android isn't petty enough to patent every single little 'innovation' they make(think slide to unlock, or click to call. I mean, apple was not the first to do that, they just patented it - petty), instead they just release it and move on to the next thing. Apple can't keep up by holding others back forever, those forces are going to work against them.
Actually, nickric, iPhones have always had "proper signal exposure" (whatever that is), proper GPS, and even maps with turn by turn directions, the latter initially via third-party apps. Apple did not add 4G LTE until two things occurred: first, 4G LTE became sufficiently ubiquitous to justify adding the feature and second, the support circuitry became energy efficient enough to support its inclusion in a device for which long battery life was important.
By the way, Apple doesn't sue those with "better products;" it sues entities that steal its intellectual property and trademarks. In fact, it is its corporate and fiduciary *duty* to do so.
It's tough to argue with someone who does not have both phones, because you get irrationally tied to whatever phone you have. Signal exposure on previous iphones was dismal. You don't remember all the weird hacks and faux antennas they came out with at one point? Maybe you missed it, but in the same spot, and with the same carrier, on the same tower(s), iPhones have had inferior signal. Dropped calls, no service. It was a joke. And, you can try to argue all you want about how smart it was of apple to wait 2 years to bring 4G LTE to their phones. But I'm a busy guy. The internet was crap on their phones for 2 years. And I bet you tried to argue even back then why it was better. It's still slower, for whatever reason side by side with my s3.
I have both phones. And I own a lot of apple products. And I can tell you, the one which works best with my lifestyle is the s3. Before iphone 5/4G, it was no contest. Now, it's more the subtleties. S3 It has a bigger screen, the internet is still faster at uploading and downloading, the hotspot is better, the cable is far more ubiquitous (if I forget the special apple cable, I'm probably screwed, but the s3 is just...USB) and the battery life is twice what the ipone's is, even with hotspot, bluetooth, and whatever running 24/7. I can go on, but until you own both, the samsung s3 and the iphone 5, you are just being an emotional weirdo defending your choice, and you are not unbiased.
The only thing that the iPhone does better, is that it fits perfectly in my M3 and it works great as an ipod and phone for my car. That way, I don't have to deal with the battery always dying, or forgetting the cable, and if the signal on the iphone is crap I can always use my s3, which reliably works.
But that leaves him nothing to troll about!
All? Really? That's not what I have heard. I know a lot of people who dumped their Androids for iPhones, actually. But then, MOST Androids are actually barely more than 'feature phones' which is why all your stats about sales numbers are so meaningless, and also why there is not much profit on the android side, no one buying apps, etc...
Look man, I have both, and you don't. I get them to evaluate for business reasons, and also because I like new technology and new design. I appreciated the first iPhone, a lot when I got it to eval in 2007. But my iPhone 5 simply not as good as my s3. If you had both, you'd be saying the same thing.
You can try to make fun of it all you want, but those of us with both prefer the android. Now, I'm not tied to it, but right now andorid is far better for me. I'm a pro and I need to do a lot with my phone day to day. Maps and internet and calls, all which are better on my android, are just the start...
Exactly. I don't know one single person who has both who prefers the iPhone. Not one.
Maybe you missed it, nickric, being so emotional about it and all, but anandtech's (among others) OBJECTIVE sensitivity tests showed that the iPhone 4 was both more sensitive than the best rivals and that it could grab a usable signal in marginal areas where rivals failed to do so.
Please refrain from guessing or making things up, nickric.
Good point, if you are Wozniak and have tens of millions in the bank, and desperately trying to show your relevance 30+ years after your last development, then it actually makes sense.
Look at the great Steve Wozniack...He has both Android and iDevices and still prefers the Android devices.
Or someone who is not pretending to have two phones. This makes absolutely NO SENSE, BTW, to have both phones. Unless you bought the Samsung trash first, and had buyer's remorse. Every fandroid pretends to have a ton of Apple equipment. That's a red herring, frankly, and I for one am not buying it.
'all it gave users was a second rate version of what Android users have already been using for 2 years'
Um, the iPhone 5 is faster than any Android phone ever made. It's also thinner than any Android phone ever made. It's one of the lightest, has one of the longest battery lives, and one of the best cameras.
It's also made of superior materials. Android doesn't have any of that, even to date. It's ridiculous to claim Apple copied something which doesn't exist.
iPhone 5 has a slower processor than the Galaxy SIII, but I'll let you have that one because the app makers are coding to the iPhone's dual-core processor instead of the proper quad-core.
Superior materials? Is that why there were dings, dents, and scratches before it was even removed from their packaging?
Additionally keep in mind as well that the s3 came out like 6 months ago now or so, and they are gearing up to release a new one, which it will undoubtedly take apple 2 years to catch up with AGAIN. But I'm never benchmarked chips on any of my phones, it's not relevant unless you are using it to RENDER stuff. I cinebench all my horses here, but why my phone? Who cares...really it's more about how quickly I can browse, call, transfer files to and from, and get directions. All of which the iPhone is terrible at, side by side with the s3. The one area apple has an edge is that it's a great toy to play music with. The s3 sucks at that, compared to iPhone and once again that is just a fundamental difference between android and IOS. Apple has made it's OS very closed off and only really operates as a pivot around iTunes or appstore, which is great for listening to things that they serve up to you but not so great at, say putting 100 clips of various resolutions and formats that I want to show as part of a presentation.
According to Anandtech, they've only used tests that test the Javascript/Browser capabilities...http://www.anandtech.com/show/5810/sa...
Er, no it doesn't. The CPU in the SG3 benchmarks significantly slower in every CPU benchmark which can be used as a cross platform test (according to Anandtech).
Materials are better. If you get a scratched unit, you can get it replaced for free.
The iphone is lighter, but both of these phones are already so light that I forget they are in my pocket. What I'm talking about are day to day, usable features. You just like apple because that is what you own. I have both. And I'm telling you, all of the features apple put into this phone have been on the galaxy phones for 2 years as of January. Like LTE 4G, which is still faster on my S3 than on my iPhone 5. Say what you want, but if you were someone who had a clear head, and owned both, you wouldn't be getting angry. You'd be talking about preference. Personally, I prefer a faster internet, better battery life, bigger screen, and OS that lets me do what I need to with the phone, but hey. To each his own.
None of my comment has anything to do with 'who will win'. It's apt that you talk about Romney because you're like a campaign manager talking about things I haven't even discussed.
iOS vs Android isn't the same thing as iPhone 5 vs current Android phones.
You're coming across like a proper lunatic.
I wonder if you believe that stating 'I have both' followed by a deluge of fanboy nonsense does anything whatsoever to restore your absolute lack of credibility or the complete absence of any objective facts in your post.
This reminds me so much of the people who were insisting Romney was going to win last week, just because they were Republican. The market share difference should be enough to make you think twice. Android is relatively new compared to IOS, and it's taken over. That is why Steve was so mad about it. Apple...you know benefitted a lot from his vision and his stubbornness. With him at the helm, it was a different story. Maybe he would have driven the innovation of a new system or new phone, or do what it would take to knock google and android and samsung back to square one. But it really was Steve driving that innovation. I am telling you. He left the company, it was tanking. He came back, it was succeeding. He's gone again, and guess what. The iPhone was a disappointment to investors. Their stock has been tanking, I think you are being emotional about this, I'm just telling you. Sit back and watch what happens. Numbers rarely lie.
I think you have a problem or a bone to pick. I have both, for sure the s3 is a better phone. IOS sucks, the google integration is terrible. I'm a pro, dude. Maybe you are a consumer, perhaps that is the difference.
Now, it's a great iPod, it plays music better than my android. I will give you that. And at least now the thing can browse the internet at 4g LTE. But it took them years to get that, and the speed of it is still faulty.
I'm sorry if I upset you or something, but I mean. I have both dude. The s3 is by far a better choice.
(written on my 12 core tower from mountain Lion)
Sorry but you don't just get to arbitrarily define a point at which the iPhone being lighter no longer matters, just because it suits your agenda. The iPhone is thinner too, which makes a big difference during day to day use.
Don't tell me what I own, I don't own an iPhone, so your comment on 'anger' (which I have done nothing to suggest) or 'preference' are nothing to do with it. Everything I stated is a fact. The internet has been benchmarked by Anandtech to be faster on the iPhone 5, as has the battery life, performance, and size and weight are indisputable. It's absurd that you claim you like better battery life and faster internet when both are inferior. That's YOU being biased.
If you let an OS tell you what to do with a phone, you have issues. iOS doesn't in any way prevent you achieving any 'day to day' tasks that you need to, and doesn't in any way tell you what to do. The bigger screen is great if that's what you want (and the only advantage you claim which is actually true) but some people prefer to be able to use their phone with one hand. For which the iPhone 5 is better.
Now lets touch on the performance. The iPhone 5, as I told you, is fundamentally faster than any Android phone, and that affects every single task that users may perform on the device. Also, the battery life has been benchmarked to be superior, again. So, some people prefer a device which is actually up to date performance wise, isn't a chunky, heavy phone, can be used one handed, and has long enough battery life such that the phone isn't telling the user 'no, sorry, you can't use the phone anymore'. And that device is the iPhone 5.
And that's before we mention the plastic materials or inferior drop tests, or the fact that you receive software updates months and months later (if at all).
apple wants to dominate every part of the device that's why they did away with google maps and started their own. bad move indeed.
Your assertions are incorrect. Maps changed because of Google and not Apple.
How about you keep your lousy S3 then, while you troll articles about the iPhone? Apple Maps is way faster than Google maps, no comparison. Of course Google had to release again, as if they lost iPhone network traffic, there goes business. We all know no one actually uses Android much, we can see that in virtually every network use study ever done. Android is a blip on the radar, iPhone/iPad OWNS the network use statistics.
Haha. You guys crack me up. Now you are telling me it was a good idea for apple to try and emulate google maps? Talk about a game of catch up. First it was 4G LTE, then it was a bigger screen, now it's a battery with decent life, and a usable maps.
I mean, I get it. You think your apple product is better, because you don't know about what else is out there.
Or maybe it's just opinion, but it is certainly coming off as pretty darn silly. I mean, you are really trying to tell me that apple's customers are happy with the current implementation of maps? People were so mad about that, and it's just one of a litany of reasons my iPhone 5 stays in the console of my car, relegated to being an ipod and an occasional car phone.
Sure, maybe their situation will improve, but it's been 2 years not that they have been continually playing catch up. And as far as they have caught up, given the choice between the two, my s3 is way better on all counts except as a device to play music.
Nick, it was an Apple decision as it's kind hard for another company to make Apple's decisions for it. It was a result of Google not allowing turn-by-turn, the 5 year contract expiration, and Google trying to raise the rates on Apple (after having clearly ripped off Apple's technology, even having an insider on Apple's board).
Apple maps has a lot going for it, BTW. And Google maps is far from perfect.
Robert, what are you smoking? There has been extensive coverage of this, including press releases from both companies, and interviews with management. This was an apple decision.