Apple patents method for iPhones and iPods to chat wirelessly

Not really sure how much mileage Apple is going to get out of this patent, with Zune and pretty much everybody else already swapping songs and such wirelessly, but we'll humor 'em all the same. A September 1st, 2006 filing describes methods "for delivery of data to a portable electronic device from another electronic device." For sake of argument, we'll assume they're talking iPhones and iPods here. Applications are pretty broad, ranging from various protected and unprotected media files, to news subscriptions and shopping lists, and syncing can be done automatically and manually. In a definite step above the level of sharing offered by the Zune, subscription files can be shared in an unlimited manner with other subscription users -- though of course that would all be contingent on Apple ever offering a subscription-based iTunes to its users.

[Peter @ Jul 12th 2007 3:25PM]

interesting... this was filed long before he zune was launched.

[Mark @ Jul 12th 2007 3:30PM]

but long after information about the zune was released. So no, there can be no claim about microsoft copying this

[Matt @ Jul 12th 2007 3:33PM]

A way to make it popular...do not put a limit on how many plays or days you can have the song.
If I transfer a song from my iPhone or Ipod to your similar device, you get to keep it.

That was one of the worst things the Zune had & why it can or will not become mainstream.

[M@ @ Jul 12th 2007 8:37PM]

Uh, small issue with copyright there, Matt.

[paloooz @ Jul 13th 2007 1:08AM]

Does the Zune impose that 3 days/3 plays restriction on unprotected music as well? For instance, if I am in a band and I have a recording of my live show that I want to send to my girlfriend's Zune, does she get to keep it indefinitely? I own the copyright, so how is there an issue with copyright there?

Any if it _does_ let her keep it, then I don't see why anyone cares about the 3 day/3 plays restriction. Don't buy music from the Zune store, it's that simple.

This is all hypothetical, I might add. I would _never_ buy a Zune, I don't have a girlfriend, and she doesn't have a Zune. I'm also not in a band. :-)

[Brian @ Jul 14th 2007 2:02AM]

Since when is two and a half months a long time? I'm also sure that Microsoft filed for and received a patent for its wireless technology before it released information that the Zune would even have wireless in it.

So what's your point about Apple filing for a patent before the Zune was launched? It wasn't anything new for a MP3 player when Apple applied for the patent. I can't say it's not going to be any better, but it's just not news.

[dglaz @ Jul 12th 2007 3:26PM]

I am sure Apple can find a way to make sharing popular. And what about ipod to ipod?

[ItchyArms @ Jul 12th 2007 3:29PM]

ohhh, I hope it comes to light so I can 'squirt' all over my friends...

[js @ Jul 12th 2007 3:41PM]

We had this for years. It's called Bluetooth.

[01 @ Jul 12th 2007 5:39PM]

True, Bluetooth has been around for while, but to my knowledge there aren't any portable devices around that you can send a song and then listen to it on the fly utilizing bluetooth. I know I'm leaving out the Zune in that statement, but whenever I try with the Zune I get to excited and squirt all over my friends. Boy do they get pissed...

[Ireland @ Jul 12th 2007 8:50PM]

History lesson folks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_I_of_Denmark

[bms @ Jul 12th 2007 3:47PM]

I wish tech blogs would stop confusing patents with patent applications. I can ask for anything in an application. I can ask to patent the pencil. That doesn't mean I will get that patent. The claims here mean just about nothing.

Also, from reviewing the application, you can have no idea how far back apple is able to document their work on this 'invention'. It is certainly quite possible that they can show it going back prior to any public disclosure about zune. Bluetooth is obviously another issue...

[Scabies @ Jul 12th 2007 3:48PM]

which translates to you buying itunes on your iphone and syncing it to your ipod wherever you get a cellular signal. ilike it.

[Brian Darringer @ Jul 12th 2007 3:49PM]

I've been sharing music with my friends from my iPod for a long while now.

It's called Winamp.

[narrativium @ Jul 12th 2007 3:50PM]

I think Apple will implement wireless song sharing a la the iTunes method: you tell the iPod to share your library (or selected playlists) and it broadcasts that information to any other iPod in range. Anyone in your vicinity would be able to stream (not download) songs off your iPod as long as they are near you. You, likewise, would be able to stream songs off of any iPod in the area with sharing turned on.

This has proven extremely popular for iTunes in college dorms and other such socially-oriented computer networks.

[Señor Swanky @ Jul 12th 2007 3:51PM]

Hey, M$ had the idea of world domination pretty early on, too. So much for good ideas, I guess.

Crappola. Another M$ innovation.

[kevin rummelhart @ Jul 12th 2007 3:51PM]

Ah! They have got you!!!!... It is an addiction... iPod first... now iPhone... next NEW iPod that is bluetooth...

[roach @ Jul 12th 2007 7:01PM]

...and Apple had world domination pretty early on, but they weren't very successful.

[michael @ Jul 12th 2007 3:56PM]

But you have to admit, the Zune was out first with idea of WiFi interaction on PMP devices. They didn't implement it sucessfully, but they were first to launch it out in a big market way.

Before anyone says that Apple 'will do it right', a simple big Zune firmware update could provide a better WiFi experience than now. Maybe they're working on it, who knows. But Zune could have a better WiFi experience with just one update. When it comes.

[wombat @ Jul 12th 2007 4:13PM]

It could, but it won't.

[michael @ Jul 12th 2007 6:30PM]

You also have to think that if Zune didn't come out, would there be any other PMP's coming out with some sort of WiFi integration in it? Would we have imagined what we could do with WiFi (if Zune had done it better)? Like buying music right off the device, wireless syncing, tons of stuff. At least the Zune pushed the WiFi generation forward.

[Moe @ Jul 12th 2007 3:56PM]

Ok.. So this would work with say my regular ipod video? Or are we about to see the next gen one's coming out? this might prove the next gen ipods will include wifi or w/e tech they are trying to use.

[Chicksta @ Jul 12th 2007 3:56PM]

It says from an electronic device to a portable electronic device; it doesn't say both are portable devices. So, this makes me think something more like AppleTV to iPod/iPhone wirelessly...

[ricosuave @ Jul 12th 2007 4:00PM]

GOD I hope so! Controlling my songs with my iPhone on the AppleTV would be the shizNit!

[Todd @ Jul 12th 2007 4:11PM]

"...this makes me think something more like AppleTV to iPhone wirelessly..."

Isn't that what the Sling box/Sling mobile client is? Prior art! Prior art!

[Trace The Hedgehog @ Jul 12th 2007 4:07PM]

You guys have no idea how pissed off I would be if it was iPod to iPod sharing!

[Josh @ Jul 12th 2007 4:14PM]

Nor would we care.

[Karan @ Jul 12th 2007 4:28PM]

Because you bought a Zune for this feature?

[Trace The Hedgehog @ Jul 12th 2007 5:01PM]

No, I did buy a Zune but not for that feature. I'm just getting mad at the half-ass job Microsoft is doing with the Zune. I doubt they're even trying. I hope Apple doesnt cripple the sharing like MS did. It's an awesome concept, but the 3 days 3 plays is its ultimate downfall. Not just of the concept itself, but the whole device.

[SWisler817 @ Jul 12th 2007 4:11PM]

or it cvould be wireless syncing between computers and ipods/iphones...

[Steven @ Jul 12th 2007 4:20PM]

The wifi connectivity cant possibly be as great as we want it to be. Apple has to obey the laws about sharing music just like microsoft has. I'm pretty sure the RIAA or whatever its called doesn't want millions of people carrying around a portable limewire.

[Gus Miller @ Jul 13th 2007 12:29AM]

Apple has instilled a great deal of trust in the music and computer industries, and I'm sure they can throw their weight around and bend some of the usual copywrite rules. And what about their recent deal with EMI and the non-DRM MP3 files?

Perhaps a hybrid of the two extremes, one in which you could only use the song on your own iPod/iPhone, but not send it to another, but you would still be able to keep it for as long as you liked... ?

Anything is possible. Honestly, I hate speculation, and I'm a hypocrite. Big woop. We'll all see in due time, perhaps before the Holidays, perhaps when January rolls around again.

Ciao.

[Joe @ Jul 12th 2007 4:32PM]

I think some of you may be missing the point. This is the start of the mobile iPod. Big deal you say? Maybe, but what about a feature that allows you to "beam" a song or movie to a friend? Either another wi-fi iPod or via URL to an iTunes on a computer.

The technology would allow for "ghosting" the loaned out song or movie, temporarily disabling it from your iPod and enabling it for X hours or days on the other device.

Like the song? Buy it wirelessly from your wi-fi Ipod via the iTunes store.

This is just one example of how this technology could work.

[carlos @ Jul 12th 2007 5:49PM]

I hate the zune but isn't that what it does now?

[L.M.L.Y.P @ Jul 12th 2007 4:49PM]

Balls... i own a zune and only use the wifi to send picture to gf and friends. the song limitations dont effect me really, and im happy with it. but i can see people spending 300 frogskins to buy a new ipod just because they added wifi so they can send each other the latest ..... what are people listening to now? Im sure itll be just like the zune's wifi but people will praise it as being new and innovative. Zeitgeist ,thats is all it is

[coffee @ Jul 12th 2007 5:15PM]

wow, quite a reach. let's go back and check every Apple patent application over the past year and liberally apply it to iPhone if possible, then create story about iPhone-iPod.

not that it couldn't apply to the iPhone, but...

nevermind. It's just a blog, Coffee, just a blog. Not news, just a blog.

[pop @ Jul 12th 2007 5:17PM]

From the first Palm Pilots with infrared to two laptops with 802.11b and file sharing turned on, there's so much prior art that I can't fathom why Apple bothered to try and get a patent. It won't survive the first lawsuit.

[zach @ Jul 12th 2007 5:25PM]

It would be pretty neat if you could add someone to your address book by just pressing a button if you were in their vicinity.

You could walk up to a person with an iPhone, click a button, and have their name/number/contact info added to your iPhone.

I guess, as stated above, that would be basically an adaptation of previously existing technology. But it would still be pretty cool. I hate sitting there, inputting someone's name and info on the spot.

[Malachi @ Jul 12th 2007 5:35PM]

Notice it says "for delivery of data to a portable electronic device from another electronic device." That means that only one of the 2 devices is portable. I think it probably refers more to the ability to transfer data from something such as an Apple AirPort, a wifi enabled lap/desktop, or dare I even say an EDGE/3G network. Can someone say "wireless iTunes downloads for iPod or iPhone"?

[William McIntosh @ Jul 12th 2007 5:57PM]

Dude whats with chilli peppers on all ipods?
they're rank!

[Saul Good @ Jul 12th 2007 6:34PM]

Boom!

[Miles @ Jul 12th 2007 7:39PM]

Apple had this patented way before the Zune ever came out.

Yet another thing Microfuck stole, like desktop search and the GUI.

[jilie @ Jul 12th 2007 9:15PM]

never heard of pocketpcs and smartphones?

[roc ingersol @ Jul 13th 2007 8:58AM]

Does the Zune impose that 3 days/3 plays restriction on unprotected music as well?

Yep.

[vassilis @ Jul 13th 2007 5:07AM]

iPhone in Athens(Greece)today: 13th July -demo only: http://www.plaisio.gr/promoiphone.aspx

[DJ @ Jul 13th 2007 6:58AM]

Why do people think just because a major brand releases something that they automatically invented it? Sharing songs using wireless connections has been around for years, I remember an Australian production called Beyond Tomorrow covered it long before the Zune was about.

There are devices that can share songs and business cards by shaking hands using your skin as a conductor, MS patented a similar technology a little while back, it's old hat and if MS do something with it they will again receive all the credit for inventing it, when all they did was buy the rights to it (or got away with a patent that sounds different enough to succeed). The battery in my electric toothbrush charges by proximity, no mental connection, phones and ipods will do it too when it improves. Microsoft and Apple may patent a lot of technologies, but they also buy out a lot of rights, it doesn't matter which of the two talked about wireless transfer first, someone else did it before either.

They're bringing things to the mainstream , they get credit for that, but no they weren't the first devices to do this.

[Dan Zillion @ Jul 13th 2007 5:54PM]

This could be anything from a local "social networking" application, to a Zune-like interaction all the way up to a D. A. V. E.-like device (see http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/30/seagate-unveils-d-a-v-e-drive-with-bluetooth-and-wifi/ ) to anything else... there's just no telling from teh sparse information provided... though it will be interesting if apple ever releases anything utilizing any of these ideas...

[James @ Jul 16th 2007 12:29AM]

my god Miles you are truly an apple loving fanboy idiot.

[Jay @ Jul 16th 2007 12:34AM]

DJ it's useless to even try to discuss things with apple loving fanboy idiots. apple created the mouse, oops, that was xerox. apple created the first gui, oops, that was xerox too. apple created the portable mp3 player, oops, that was diamond.