Teknovis

It has been a really interesting week in terms of patents! Probably the biggest news has been Apple‘s attempts to block the selling of superior Android based tablet devices made by Motorola and Samsung. For example, see Samsung delays Australian Tab launch, Apple prevents Galaxy sales in EU, Will Apple block the Motorola Xoom in Europe next?, and Apple patent disputes Xoom towards Motorola. HTC should be in the mix there also as another infringer. However, the fight back in the EU has started according to The Battle Continues: Samsung To Appeal Apple’s European Injunction.

Apple have reasons to be concerned with the rise of the Android based tablets according to Android tablets peel away 20% of iPad’s mega market share.

Yes – I am annoyed by Apple for its behaviour. Although I imagine Google must be more annoyed! See Google Patent Woes for more details.

There has also been considerable interest in some of Apple’s patent applications that become public this week. For example see Apple Patents Hint At Multi-Part Gestures, Touchable OS X and Patent application: Apple wants to put projectors in its iPhones. The first of these is very interesting, and it makes me wonder if there is more to gestures on touch devices than we are currently considering. I do not think that I would be interested in the second idea, due to the extra hardware requirements it would impose on the device. Anyway, we will know if these applications are successful in about 5 years time.

Finally, Google had some success this week with one of its patents – US7996328. It is probably best described in Google lands patent for, um, estimating shipment time. That should help dissuade Amazon from taking patent infringement cases against Google anyway! Amazon is also in the patent news this week for its mobile device airbag idea – Amazon’s Bezos Dreams Up Protective Airbag for Smartphones.

Tags: Amazon, Apple, Google, HTC, Motorola, Samsung

Interesting article: Google Rips Into Microsoft, Apple, Oracle For “Bogus Patents” And Trying To “Strangle” Android.

I am not sure that Google would feel so strongly about the anti-competitive practices of Apple, Microsoft, and Oracle if the roles were reversed!

Oh – the patent world is so fascinating!

Tags: Apple, Google, Microsoft, Oracle

I came across this concise summary of the differences between Google‘s Cloud Computing approach and Apple‘s Cloud Computing approach: Apple cloud vs. Google cloud: The philosophical differences.

Tags: Apple, Google

There was lots of talk about Apple‘s announcement of iOS 5 last week. For an overview of the new features read See new features included in iOS 5.

The most interests aspects are:

• Notification Center – This seems like very expected functionality to me! Actually, it is interesting that Apple is playing catch-up to Android in this respect!
• iMessage – A potential SMS killer? Some think so! See Apple Has Finally Stuck A Dagger Into SMS. I Love It. and Apple surprised iPhone carriers with iMessage. I think that this must have the telcos worried!
• Reminders – I just think this looks good, at the same time as being functional.
• Twitter – Interesting that Twitter was chosen ahead of Facebook. Why did Apple choose Twitter over Facebook for iOS 5? gives some insight into this decision.
• PC Free – Big advantage to me! I hate having devices coupled to a single computer!

I am not an iDevice user, but I am becoming more impressed :)

Finally, Google Android vs. Apple iOS: Handicapping the 2011 death match gives a good comparison of iOS and Android.

Tags: Apple, Facebook, SMS, Twitter

When Apple recently announced that it was going to start taking a share of revenue on purchases made within applications on iDevices (yes – I made that name up) I thought that this would accelerate the move to HTML5 web apps.

The first significant player (at least that I am aware of) made the leap this week! The Financial Times! For more details read FT Bypasses Apple’s iTunes, Launches HTML5 Web App (Free Access First Week), and to download the app go to The new FT app for iPad and iPhone.

I really wonder if Apple has got the strategy wrong with this!

Tags: Apple, HTML, The Financial Times

I previously described how I really liked the Motorola Xoom in Motorola Xoom. I really liked it when I saw it in Barcelona (at Mobile World Congress), but I must admit that I was disappointed when I saw it recently in a local shop. Perhaps it was because it had a very dull theme, and the iPad2 beside it seemed very colourful.

However, after reading Motorola Xoom A slab of 10in Honeycomb goodness today I find myself interested again :)

Tags: Apple, Mobile World Congress, Motorola

There is lots of media coverage of Apple‘s covert user tracking activities: iPhones and 3G iPads record location data without permission – research.

It is times like this that I am glad I am not an Apple user :D

Tags: Apple

It certainly has been an interesting week from a tablet point-of-view. Firstly, I borrowed an iPad, and I have been giving it a good testing. The user interface is very nice, and the browsing experience has been excellent. I only encountered one website where the Javascript driven menus would not work for some reason. My only complaint with the device is that it starts to feel rather heavy when resting on your stomach :o

I also got to play with a Motorola Xoom (see Motorola Xoom for more details). During my brief encounter the device seemed to be as desirable as I had imagined ;)

The other big development (from the 10″ tablet point-of-view) was that Samsung launched the Galaxy Tab 10.1. For more details see the images or the features.

Galaxy Tab 10.1

I spent some time playing with it also, and I cannot say that I noticed any significant difference between this and the Motorola Xoom. Perhaps this is not surprising given that they are both based on the same chipset, and they both have the same operating system.

I did read some complaints about the plastic build, but I did not find this problematic. Indeed, I liked the circular recessed area on the back because it made holding the device from any angle very comfortable.

Perhaps the only disappointment this week was that HTC did not launch a 10″ tablet :|

Tags: Apple, HTC, Motorola, Samsung

Today I came across the first commercial deployment of an mPayment solution. At least I am not aware of any others! The service is being supplied by Orange, and more details can be found in Orange customers of Everything Everywhere get mobile payments.

I think that this is a very exciting area, and it is certainly something in which I am becoming increasingly interested. I think that there are huge opportunities for the telcos in this area, since they effectively already maintain electronic purses (or wallets :) for all of their customers. Most importantly, this is an area in which it is very difficult for over-the-top players to compete (although Apple‘s App Store has shown that it is possible).

Tags: Apple, Orange, UK

I read during the week that Skype has become the world’s largest international call provider! That is amazing, and it certainly must be concerning the traditional telcos! For more information see CES 2011: Skype Steals International Scene.

I am aware that Skype had a serious outage before Christmas, but luckily it did not affect me. The $1 credit was a nice apology!

During Christmas I had the opportunity to use Skype for video calls on the latest version of the iPod Touch, and I was extremely impressed with both the quality and the ease of use. It was a much better experience than I imagined, and I could easily get used to doing all my calls like that!

Tags: Apple, Skype