Apple on smartphone competition: "if others rip off our intellectual property, we will go after them."
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Jan 21st 2009 6:21PM
posted Jan 21st 2009 6:21PM
Q: "There are other iPhone competitors coming to the market: Android, Palm Pre. How do you think about sustaining leadership in the face of these competitors?"
A: "It's difficult to compare to products that are not yet in the market. iPhone has seen terrific rating from customers. Software is the key ingredient, and we believe that we are years ahead of our competitors. Having different screen sizes, different input methods, and different hardware makes things difficult for developers. We view iPhone as primarily a software platform, which is different from our competitors. We don't mind competition, but if others rip off our intellectual property, we will go after them."
And then the follow-up:
Q: "The Palm device seems to directly emulate the iPhone's innovative interface. Is that what you're referring to?"
A: "We don't want to refer to any specific companies, so that was a general statement. We like competition because it makes us better, but we will not stand for companies infringing on our IP."
Now, we've heard Apple sound off on its intellectual property before, but the way a somewhat innocuous question about new challengers in the mobile arena got turned into a not-so vague threat of legal action is a bit stunning. Could it be that the Pre is Apple's first real multitouch, capacitive-screen competition, and the device just happened to be co-developed by Jon Rubinstein... formerly of Apple? We're not taking any flying leaps here, but the preempted initial answer seems to suggest that the folks in Cupertino may not take every new threat so coolly.
oh STFU apple.
Says the one with the name "Deeznuts420".
hurray you can read a username!
Indeed I can. I learned to read in the first grade.
Question is how is someone supposed to take your comment seriously if 1.) You have a ridiculous username. 2.) Your comment offers no real value to the discussion, only "flame-bait". 3.) Your avatar is that of a bear.
Didn't Apple also rip-off Palm's tab dock and their threaded SMS? Even the accelerometer used in the iPhone has been used in other phones and DAPs before Apple.
if thats what it takes for you to take a comment on engadget serious, then you MUST be a noob here, or youre just that pathetic
yeah, this is pretty friggin ridiculous. if nothing else, it's an empty threat that holds no realistic real-world value, and displays apple's pompousness.
leaves a bad taste in my mouth, at the VERY least.
Sorry to invade your tight-nit internet clique. God knows how you and Ryan Block or any other face on here are such good friends, and take their time to read every single comment you make.
Because you aren't a "noob" and therefore you are special.
P.S. I have been reading Engadget since 2005, FYI
Awww, I wish *I* had a serious name, like Doctor SeriousPants-Cormier6083.
@Paul A Chapel
Bell labs showed the first multi touch interfaces in 1984
FingerWorks patented a ton of stuff in 1999 and since Apple bought them in 2005 to get at their patents all those patents Apple applied for in 2004 can't have been too hot.
In fairness, dude, I don't think you get to say "STFU apple" when this comes from Apple's own earnings conference call, in response to a question.
Now, if Phil Schiller had run into your room, jumped up and down on your bed holding a placard and screamed, "WE HAVE PATENTS! WE WILL SUE!"... Yeah, then you'd get to say that. Possibly also strike out in self-defence? Depending on local laws.
okay... wtf? apple is the one who jocked palm... the iphone menu looks exactly the same as all of the latest non winmo treos... u unlock the phone and all of your programs are sitting right their into view... palm isn't jocking anyone..
Interesting, Paul - you complaining about people copying when, oh you know...
@Major4Play
Well, that's interesting and all about Bell Labs, but I never said that Apple invented Multi-touch, I'm just saying that they've applied for patents on the technology. And do you have any information on whether thy have patents on Multi-touch and exactly what kind of Multi-touch that Bell used? It could be drastically different than Apple's version.
On a side note, I would assume that Apple acquired FingerWork's patents when they bought them out. They have a extensive list of patents:
1 20070139395 Ellipse Fitting for Multi-Touch Surfaces
2 20070081726 MULTI-TOUCH CONTACT TRACKING ALGORITHM
3 20070078919 MULTI-TOUCH HAND POSITION OFFSET COMPUTATION
4 20070070052 MULTI-TOUCH CONTACT MOTION EXTRACTION
5 20070070051 MULTI-TOUCH CONTACT MOTION EXTRACTION
6 20070070050 MULTI-TOUCH CONTACT MOTION EXTRACTION
7 20060238522 IDENTIFYING CONTACTS ON A TOUCH SURFACE
8 20060238521 IDENTIFYING CONTACTS ON A TOUCH SURFACE
9 20060238520 USER INTERFACE GESTURES
10 20060238519 USER INTERFACE GESTURES
11 20060238518 TOUCH SURFACE
12 20060232567 CAPACITIVE SENSING ARRANGEMENT
13 20060032680 Method of increasing the spatial resolution of touch sensitive devices
I would provide the link, but it's like a mile long.
This... is where is starts... It starts with threats, then quickly spirals downward until they are filing suit against the Apple Mini-Golf course....
What happened Paul, get banned?
BTW, only trolls set there profile to private.
how is icons arranged in a grid an innovative interface?
I used to hate apple products
RIGHT UP UNTIL THE IPOD TOUCH/IPHONE
Now I realize Apple is an American company and I want them to destroy their competition.
@Cormier: "i've been reading engadget since 2005" "Ryan Block... on here"
uhm, dude, did you miss the memo about Ryan Block? Let me introduce you to my friend Josh...
My, my, looks like a few people are suffering from Apple Hater Derangement Syndrome, but fear not, there is a cure.
{cue folksy music and a soothing baritone male voice}
"Apple Hater Derangement Syndrome is a contagious disease that affects 20 million Windows users. Once you contract it, you have it for life. There is no cure, but there is Zunex."
{cue beautiful redhead in a park, seated on a bicycle}
"When I first found out I hated iPods, I thought my life was over, but then my doctor prescribed Zunex and since then, I see beauty in every Windows product I see, even when they blue screen! Thanks, Zunex. "
{redhead rides off into the sunset}
"Zunex is a once a day pill which works by helping you to rationalize your unbridled hate for everything Apple. Ask your doctor for it. Side effects include sweating, shouting, chair throwing, lost of voice and possible hallucinations and feelings of persecution from gadget sites. Call your doctor if these symptoms persist."
LOL, I know some of you woke up this morning hoping and praying to the Microsoft Gods that today would be the day where Apple reported bad earnings, but calm down, I'm sure Windows 7 will turn it all around. I love Microsoft too, but my love for Microsoft doesn't, for me, require me to automatically hate Apple.
Apple has filed patents on Multi-touch, people. Get over it. It's not the end of the world. Apple has innovated. They were the first company to bring Multi-touch to a phone and for this innovation (and that's what it is, innovation) they should be praised. Bashing me is not going to change that fact.
I have no problem with companies copying, but if someone owns the IP for something, they own it, and there's nothing you can do about it. It's up to brighter minds in a court of law to determine if the aforementioned companies owe Apple licensing fees. Apple has licensed 1-Click technology from companies like Amazon, so it's not like they don't deserve the same in return.
Well, I guess LG can sue Apple since they had the first touch screen phone on the market:
"The PRADA Phone by LG (KE850) is a real breakthrough in the industry, as it is a unique, sophisticated and elegant mobile phone with the first complete advanced touch interface."
http://www.lge.com/about/press_release/detail/20328.jhtml
FYI: Multi-touch isn't the same as Touch Screen. There have been Touch Screen phones before the iPhone, but no Multi-touch.
@Flashpoint
How did it take you until the iphone to realise that Apple is a US company? They have been around for quite some time.......
You do know that Palm Inc is also a US company?
Apple need more money! http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/21/apple-records-another-record-quarter-1-61b-profit/
If you cant beat them, sue them (...and take their money)!
@ Paul
The iPhone may have been the first phone with Multitouch (I don't know if that is true, but for the sake of argument, lets assume it is), but that doesn't mean that a multitouch phone is patentable. To be patentable, an invention needs to be 1) new (which we have assumed) *and* 2) non-obvious. To me, if there were touchscreens and multitouch input long before the iPhone (albeit for other devices), and there were touchscreen phones (albeit not multitouch), it would be quite obvious to even a technophobe that "hey, maybe a multitouch phone would also be useful."
I'm sure some of Apple's multi-touch patents (and are they even issued patents yet... all the numbers you listed, except for the Design Patent, appear to only be patent applications, which are not enforceable in any way) are more involved than merely "multitouch," but if Palm avoids those additional features, there can be no infringement.
ok.. this is obviously Apple being scared because they actually have competition that does what they do, and more. Until now, they could use "multi-touch" as their little gimmick that gave them on edge compared to their competition, but now the Pre also has said gimmick. I, for one, am very excited for the Pre, and can't wait until it is finally being sold. This was the phone that I've been waiting for; the one that I would throw my iPhone against the wall for!
Dislike of Apple =/= love of Microsoft.
They have about a thousand people in China to go after.
Hahahaha. This is true! Apple and 5 Billion other companies!
Yep, the iFone 3G was pretty offensive.. but
the picture!!
Have to say, those 2 frontpage personalities iphone vs pre (Steve Martin vs the dude) are SPOT ON regarding the circumstances...
Kudos to whom that composed that image. Really made me laught so hard.
John Candy.
And the movie is "Planes, Trains & Automobiles", one of my fav. movies. :)
Man I miss John Candy. That was real entertainment. =/
They're not using Apple's patented tech to implement multi-touch, are they?
Apple are just pissed off that soon they'll actually have some competition with decent touch-screens. How ever will they survive?
No, but I do think the Pre uses gestures which were patented for the iPhone.
You mean the subset of gestures licensed from Jeff Han? The gestures that have existed and been around forever, of which Apple (and even Microsoft) and now Palm have implemented only a few of the most basic?
Yes, those gestures.
Apple is just being defensive. I imagine the climate around there isn't where it was say, last year this time, considering they've got:
1. A sick CEO
2. Huge market stock price fall
3. An unimpressive "meh" response from just about everyone after MacWorld
Yeah.
@ Cormier6083
Palm had gestures with Graffiti going back to the ye old' Palm Pilot days. Which actually goes back even further when Palm bought out 3Com UsRobotics IP on gesture tech.
I'm just saying that's what it might be, IMO. I don't see what else their could be to sue about.
people on here love to rag on Apple, but no matter what phone you buy now it seems like they all were influenced by the iPhone, look at how many times EVERYONE chases after Apple, remember the original iMac? Soon after that, everything was USB compatible, everything came in see through bright colours etc etc......you NEVER saw that before the iMac. Its a bit like Toyota coming up with a car idea and then all those no good american car companies scramble after that.
The iPhone is NOT the first touchscreen anything, I know that there were "ok" touchscreen phones ten years before the iPhone came out ok, but they were nothing like the iPhone, nothing at all. Did any Nokia N series etc have any features like the iPhone? not really. I wish Apple would copy things like higher MP cameras etc from them, sadly Apple never seems to acknowledge other companies good ideas. I still love Apple and cant consider using anything else, Im looking for a video camera at the moment, and I keep finding myself asking "why doesnt Apple make one?", you see how shit ugly all the HD cameras are, how huge and heavy and cheap feeling they all are in the same shape etc, with terrible interfaces etc. Imagine an iCamera! An iCar!
@Temple FYI Graffiti started on the newton a while before Palm got into the biz.
This will be fun now!
Go ahead Apple, show how petty you are because other people can do what you do!
Dude, listen to yourself.
@ Hawkman:
Couldn't of said it better myself.
Engadget needs an audio preview button like YouTube added in their comments...
This isn't inflammatory at all!...? Apple isn't going after their competitors who make smart phones, or touchscreens. Apple didn't invent those things. This is just flamebait.
Just business as usual at Apple, right?
I wonder where apple got so many ideas for the new nano, like the accelerometer, genius playlists and shake to shuffle?
http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/overview/w910i
Glass houses, much?
Yeah, because Sony invented everything too, right? Jeez, my point is that Apple is not going to get all freaked out by a couple of competitors. They drive innovation, and they've done it for years. Hello! The Powerbook preceded the laptop that you might even be using to view this post. They're not gonna get sue happy unless someone specifically violates a patent and how is that different from any other company. They are beholden to shareholders and have a responsibility to protect their IP.
In other words we are scared of the palm webOS. If it turns out its better we're going to put our tin foil hats on and sue palm in to oblivion. The palm webOS is the biggest threat to apple.
"software is the key ingredient, we believe we are ahead of the competition"
The WebOS is ahead of apple softwear. They will sue. If they do then I have no respect for apple.