It’s no secret that Apple aren’t exactly the nicest players in the mobile business in fact, if you were to ask me I’d tell you that they were needlessly aggressive defending what they think is their own. The Cupertino based company has had legal run-ins with just about any company that makes a successful Android-based product, attacking people such as HTC, Motorola and Samsung. Just last week Apple’s blood-thirsty attitude towards Android took a turn in their favour, the ITC granted a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Nexus – banning it from sale in the US until a decision has been reached.
This is hardly good news for either Google or Samsung but, it’s arguably worse news for Google as it now sets a precedent, when Apple usually attacks Android devices it attacks a build of Android that is skinned, like the builds that shipped on the EVO 4G LTE and AT&T’s One X. However, this time around not only has a complaint been filed by Apple on a pure Google device running stock Android but, it’s been granted in Apple’s favour. This definitely suggests that Apple is going after Android full stop now and, quite frankly, I think it’s pathetic. No company before has been as anti-competitive before and, if I dare say it, anti-American as Apple. Competition is what drives innovation, it’s what makes a free market, free and it’s what makes an industry such as the mobile industry an ever-evolving giant. Apple seem hell-bent on becoming the only company to sell tablets and phones and, realistically that should never be allowed to happen.
To this end, it’s been reported in The Korea Times that Google and Samsung together have a “game-plan” to fight the greedy beast lying in Cupertino. A source is quoted as saying to the Korean paper that “It’s too early to comment on our game plan (with Google) in the legal battle; but we will do our best to get more royalties from Apple, which has benefited from our technology. The fight is becoming more dramatic and the possibility of a truce in the form of a cross-licensing deal, seems to be becoming likely.”
Cross-licensing of patents is something that many companies deal in, a poster-child for the concept is of course, Microsoft drawing in money from all over the place and also licensing patents from others. I don’t see how, in this day and age, a company such as Apple could go on much longer without these type of cross-licensing deals being made. It’s well-known that Apple don’t do a whole lot themselves, aside from design and software, its all made in China and the parts are from other companies, a lot of them from Samsung and, let’s not forget that Apple are still a newcomer to the phone world. Sure, they’re a big name now but, having only joined the mobile phone business in 2007, their patent portfolio is hardly humongous. It’d be nice to see a deal reached between parties and, if not, I’d more than like to see Apple get what they deserve and have it well and truly handed to them.
[Source: 9to5Mac]