You wouldn’t think so much drama and hand-wringing goes into the creation of something as simple as a SIM card, but where international standards are concerned, compromises must be made. Research in Motion and Motorola have done just that with Apple’s proposed nano-SIM design, which appears to have the majority of votes already.
The Verge has filed an update on the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) search for a new nano-SIM standard to replace the current micro-SIM used in Apple’s iPhone 4 and 4S, as well as other popular handsets such as the Nokia Lumia 900.
While ETSI members have already been quietly voting on the future of the SIM card this month, a competing standard proposed by Nokia, Research in Motion and Motorola persists. That is causing some concern among members that two different standards could emerge, much like the VHS and Betamax situation during the heyday of home video.
To appease ETSI members, Motorola and RIM have gone back to the drawing board to find a compromise “by merging the two proposals into one, a notion supported by Samsung.” While Apple seems to feel it’s not possible given the more radical approach used by the competing standard, the iPhone maker appears open to adoption of both standards, given Cupertino already has the support it needs for its own nano-SIM.
“At that point in the meeting, Apple already knew that it had somewhere around 80 percent of the voting body behind its standard from the chairman’s previous show of hands.” the report reveals. “And realistically, how many carriers would stop carrying the iPhone over its SIM design anyway? Apple’s pioneering move with the micro-SIM in 2010 ultimately led to broad-scale adoption — presumably, it has no reason to think it can’t push nano-SIM with even more force than it could two years ago.”
ETSI members won’t meet again until May 31 in Japan, when we should have some idea of whether or not Apple will accept the proposed compromise.
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
(Image courtesy of The Verge)
We’ve been reporting on International Trade Commission decisions for what seems like forever, but it appears that one of them is finally making an impact — two of HTC’s latest handsets are being “indefinitely delayed” by U.S. customs as the result of an ITC ban Apple won against the handset manufacturer late last year.
The Verge is reporting that the HTC One X and HTC Evo 4G LTE have both fallen victim to an import delay by U.S. Customs “for potentially infringing an Apple patent.” As a result, the new handsets have been “indefinitely delayed” until Customs can investigate the situation further.
The move is likely to come as bad news to Android lovers ready to wrap their fingers around these handsets — the One X is currently out of stock from AT&T’s website and the situation appears grim as to when further units may arrive in retail stores.
The import delay is the result of a “wide-ranging exclusion order” won by Apple last December by the International Trade Commission (ITC), who found that “Android’s messaging app and browser infringed upon Apple patent #5,946,647, which covers automatically converting things like phone numbers and email addresses into actionable links that open a menu of options.”
Although a ban of infringing devices was delayed while HTC could figure out a workaround, that delay ended on April 19. HTC has likely fixed the problem with the One X and Evo 4G LTE, but the ITC order is fairly broad and prohibits importation of any “personal data and mobile communications devices” made by HTC.
Needless to say, HTC isn’t very happy about the delay, but appears confident that Customs will move quickly to clear the blockade.
“The US availability of the HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE has been delayed due to a standard U.S. Customs review of shipments that is required after an ITC exclusion order,” the company said in an official statement. “We believe we are in compliance with the ruling and HTC is working closely with Customs to secure approval. The HTC One X and HTC Evo 4G LTE have been received enthusiastically by customers and we appreciate their patience as we work to get these products into their hands as soon as possible.”
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
Apple won three significant courtroom battles against Samsung this past week in California and down in Florida, it seems Motorola’s eyes were bigger than its stomach. Also, Cupertino lawyers have a prett-ay, prett-ay, prett-ay good week as they prep for some major upcoming U.S. lawsuits. Join us for another week of Law & Apple as we will lay the law happenings.
As the super sunny summer blockbuster trial between Apple and Samsung, scheduled for July 30, creeps toward us, the pre-trial manueverings of the two companies is getting even more interesting. A series of developments over the last few days seem to significantly favor Cupertino, and the lawyers must be excited about Apple’s chances in the courtroom.
Strike three! But we are still going to trial.
Judge Lucy Koh ordered Apple and Samsung to narrow the scope of the trial, and last Thursday issued a ruling on those attempts to slim down. Although Judge Koh agreed with Samsung that still more narrowing is required, she made a few points that were very favorable to Apple. Primarily, Judge Koh granted that if Apple removes claims from the case in order to keep things on schedule, those claims can be reasserted in a later trial. Samsung was hoping for dimissal with prejudice that would have basically killed the claims forever. Score one for Cupertino.
Last December, Judge Koh denied Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction against four Samsung products. Cupertino immediately appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), and on Monday a ruling was issued. The CAFC agreed with Judge Koh regarding two iPhone design patents as well as a software patent, but agreed with Apple that one design patent (U.S. Patent No. D504,889) is valid. This patent was specifically targeting the Galaxy Tab 10.1, and it seems likely now that an injunction will be issued against this device. Samsung should be able to modify the device quickly to keep in on the shelves, but a differentation between Apple and Samsung products is what this lawsuit is all about, so score two for Cupertino.
Finally, Judge Koh ruled this past Monday on a motion Samsung filed to dismiss Apple’s antitrust counterclaims. Samsung got Judge Koh to toss out a couple of the unlikely claims, but for the most part, Apple’s claims were upheld. These FRAND claims by Apple are the rock solid defense Cupertino needs to combat any success Samsung has in the upcoming trial; they basically say that if Apple did infringe on any Samsung products, it was because Samsung did not uphold contract obligations to disclose and license those patents to Apple. As Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents put it, “I’m sure Samsung was hoping for a much better outcome. It won nothing against Apple’s antitrust claims, and very little against the breach-of-contract claims.”
It will be extremely unlikely now that Samsung will succeed with any infringement claims against Apple in this trial, and you can score a third huge win for Cupertino right there.
Down in Florida, Motorola is learning an expensive lesson the local alligators could have taught them for free: don’t bite off more than you can chew.
In November of 2010, Motorola filed a lawsuit against Apple that was scheduled to go to trial later this year. Motorola, with its pending sale to Google, would like this trial to happen as soon as possible. However, after the lawsuit was filed, Motorola wanted to add six additional claims against Apple regarding the iPhone 4S and the iCloud. The original judge in the case, Judge Ursula Ungaro, ruled it was too late to add the claims, so in January of this year Motorola filed a second lawsuit against apple.
Dude. You need to chew your food before you take another bite!
That may not have been the best move. Judge Robert N. Scola, the federal judge now presiding over both of these cases, ruled that “the parties have shown a complete inability to agree upon anything and it is frustrating the progress of these cases” and decided to consolidate both cases and move the trial to April of 2014. The case is now terribly bloated with 12 Apple patents, 12 Motorola patents and the addition of a third defendant (HTC), and the new trial date is later than even Apple wanted. This is a win for Apple, and now Motorola has lost any realistic chance to enforce any of its high-priced patents against Apple in the near future.
Hello, Motorola? Google is on the line — they have some questions about this .5 billion they were planning to pay for your patents…
Adrian writes the weekly Law & Apple column for MacLife.com. Follow him on Twitter, or subscribe to him on Facebook.
Could Google’s Chrome browser ever come to iOS? At least one analyst seems to think so today, and they seem confident that the search giant may even have a final version of the app waiting for Apple’s approval in the App Store. There’s not much to dislike about Mobile Safari, but choice is always a good thing — even though Apple isn’t likely to ever voluntarily let us change the default browser on our iOS devices. Meanwhile, here’s a look at everything else making news for Tuesday, May 15, 2012.
The Wall Street Journal has published a followup report on the recent smattering of lawsuits attempting to get class action status against Apple over claims that Siri “doesn’t perform as advertised.” Today, Apple is fighting back with a motion to dismiss that claims the Siri technology may only be a beta, but she’s still cutting edge. “They offer only general descriptions of Apple’s advertisements, incomplete summaries of Apple’s website materials, and vague descriptions of their alleged — and highly individualized — disappointment with Siri,” Apple’s motion argues. “Tellingly, although Plaintiffs claim they became dissatisfied with Siri’s performance ‘soon after’ purchasing their iPhones, they made no attempt to avail themselves of Apple’s 30-day return policy or one-year warranty — which remains in effect. Instead, they seek to take an alleged personal grievance about the purported performance of a popular product and turn it into a nationwide class action under California’s consumer protection statutes. The Complaint does not come close to meeting the heavy burden necessary to sustain such claims.” Your move, Siri users.
Adobe kicked off their annual Digital Publishing Summit on Tuesday by announcing a series of new features for the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite (DPS). “Among the new features are Content Viewer for iPhone, social sharing, expanded font licensing and enhanced integration with Adobe Creative Suite 6, a milestone release, creating an unbeatable combination for media and corporate organizations,” the company revealed in a press release. “As readers voraciously consume mobile content, they’re demanding dynamic, shareable reading experiences across tablet and mobile phones,” explains Jim Guerard, vice president and general manager of Creative and Media Solutions, Adobe. “Adobe’s digital publishing innovations propel the industry forward by allowing publishers to reach and monetize an unprecedented number of consumers hungry for dynamic, one-of-a-kind mobile reading experiences.” For more details on Adobe’s DPS improvements and how the company’s customers plan to implement them, check out a live blog of the Digital Publishing Summit on the Adobe website.
Business Insider is reporting that Google’s Chrome browser may soon make the leap to iOS, where Apple currently makes 50 to 60 percent in revenue sharing from Google on searches made with Mobile Safari. According to Macquarie analyst Ben Schacter, Google Chrome may arrive sooner than we expect. “Apple may already be reviewing Google’s submitted code for a Chrome browser for iOS,” the analyst says, and expects the app to be released in the second quarter if not “definitely this year.” Of course, for Google, a Chrome browser would help level the playing field where search revenue is concerned — although Apple doesn’t currently allow third-party apps to act as a default browser on its iPhones, iPod touches and iPads. Schacter notes the tide could turn, however, should the Federal government go after Apple in the same way they did with Microsoft, who made Internet Explorer the default browser on its Windows PCs. “All that said, the most important thing to consider is whether or not Google’s Chrome will be better than mobile Safari,” the report concludes. “Google has failed to deliver solid applications for iOS in the past.” No kidding…
Facebook may be on the verge of a historic stock offering, but that doesn’t mean diddly squat to automaker General Motors, who’s pulling the plug on million worth of paid advertisements with the social network. According to Forbes, GM “is definitely reassessing our advertising on Facebook, although the content is effective and important.” The company will continue to “post relevant content about the company and its brands on GM’s Facebook pages” — and why not, since that kind of advertising is pretty much free? “In terms of Facebook specifically, while we currently do not plan to continue with advertising, we remain committed to an aggressive content strategy through all of our products and brands, as it continues to be a very effective tool for engaging with our customers,” GM explained in a statement. Of course, that doesn’t exactly look good for Facebook, whose 5 billion IPO is coming at the end of the week.
Let’s take a break from all these crazy MacBook Pro rumors and turn our attention back to the fabled seven-inch iPad, shall we? AppleInsider is reporting that the fabled 7.85-inch junior iPad will launch in Q4 2012, complete with “G/F2” thin-film touch technology. According to DigiTimes, “the G/F2 structure places the electrode on the top and bottom ends of the ITO film, which will then be laminated onto the cover glass. The iPad Mini will also be more transparent and will have good sensitivity despite current skepticism with thin-film touch panels in the industry.” Since we only yesterday reported that DigiTimes tends to have a spotty track record when it comes to Apple rumors, we’d say readers would do well to approach this one with a big ol’ grain of salt as usual…
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
Image courtesy of 9to5Mac
Before iOS 5 was released, word on street was that Apple has been preparing to boot Google out of Maps. A flurry of cartography-related purchases, along with the decision to snub the search giant in iPhoto for iOS–not to mention a very public feud over Android–have all pointed to an inevitable in-house overhaul of the aging locator app.
Now, thanks to the the ever-reliable sources at 9to5Mac, we’re told it’s set to be unveiled as part of iOS 6 at the upcoming WWDC. And if All Things D’s John Paczkowski is truly in the know, it’ll be “blow-your-head-off” big.
We looked at everything we know about the next Maps and decided they’re both right. Here’s what we found:
For the Places geotagging feature in its iOS version of iPhoto, Apple tapped the OpenStreetMap Foundation, a collaborative, worldwide wiki community that “creates and provides free geographic data and mapping to anyone who wants it.” Apple likes uniformity in its apps, so a quick move to OSM in Maps makes a lot of sense–plus Think of all the open-source street cred–but it wouldn’t be worth the time spent swapping out all those map tiles without a major facelift.
Back in July 2009, Apple quietly purchased PlaceBase, a Google Maps competitor that was experimenting with customizable maps to increase rendering speeds and map quality; by putting elements on a separate layers, PlaceBase let users choose display data based on their needs (kind of like Maps’ traffic lines, but for streets, parks, rivers, etc.).
A recent Apple patent filing by PlaceBase co-founders Jaron Waldman and Moran Ben-David introduces “schematic maps,” which builds upon the startup’s original idea. According to the documentation, “schematic maps can be ‘distorted’ to better illustrate important maps areas in greater detail … while deemphasizing less important map areas by illustrating them in less detail … to provide a simple and clear representation sufficient to aid a user in guidance or orientation.” This is basically the same concept they introduced at PlaceBase, but with fancy animation (presumably blurring or shadowing) in place of the missing data.
In mid-2010, Apple purchased the second piece of its mapping puzzle, Canadian-based Poly9, the brains behind the powerful (though Flash-powered) interactive 3D Poly9 Globe project.
Poly9 actually had its own database (according to its LinkedIn profile, its primary focus was on “extending the capabilities of web-mapping platforms to help you solve problems where location is critical”) and its powerful APIs are the treasure here (you’ve seen them in action if you ever followed St. Nick using NORAD’s Santa tracker). Apple will likely use Poly9′s location expertise in tandem with PlaceBase’s renderings to create beautiful landscapes that (literally) leave no stone unturned.
Poly9′s specialty was 3D, but Apple’s got yet another trick up its sleeve: C3 Technologies. The Swedish Saab spinoff is where the real “blow your head off” stuff comes into view: We’re talking about Google Earth-style, 360-degree imaging with pinpoint accuracy, right down to the missing shingles on your neighbor’s house.
According to a 2011 report by Fast Company, C3 “renders 3-D color models of entire cities–its buildings, statues, even it’s trees–to a resolution of 15 centimeters. With a background in aero-engineering (Saab doesn’t just make cars no one wants), C3 one-ups Google Earth by taking to the skies to create maps with stunning depth and detail–and that was before the company was bought by Apple last year. We can only imagine what they’ve cooked up in Cupertino.
