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ATD: Samsung could have licensed Apple patents in 2010
Sitting through a patent trial day after day is a tough assignment for AllThingsD's Ina Fried, as today's technical testimony led the judge to inquire of the jury if anyone needed caffeine. But the flip side of the eyelid-drooping legal process is the occasional scoop. Tonight ATD reports that Samsung had an opportunity to license Apple patents at a per-device fee way back in 2010. Apple executives had told Samsung brass that the Korean company's phones and tablets were infringing Apple IP in the summer of 2010. Keeping in mind that Samsung was (and remains) a key Apple parts supplier, the US company apparently swallowed hard and made an offer to cross-license relevant patents in October 2010. "Samsung chose to embrace and imitate Apple's iPhone archetype," reads Apple's presentation to Samsung. "Apple would have preferred that Samsung request a license to do this in advance. Because Samsung is a strategic supplier to Apple, we are prepared to offer a royalty-bearing license for this category of device" (emphasis Apple's). Samsung would have owed royalties of $30 on each affected phone and $40 per tablet (dipping to $30 per over 2 years), with some steep discount options. Samsung's entire line of touchscreen phones would have come under the proposed agreement, including Symbian and Bada phones in addition to Android-based units. Apple estimated the total 2010 license payments at US$250 million, noting that "[these] figures pale in comparison to Apple-Samsung's balance-of-trade." You can read the whole deck here, and it's fascinating. Given the high costs of litigation, expert witnesses and adverse publicity from the ongoing dispute -- balanced out with the advantage of being free and clear, worldwide, from injunctions and patent challenges from Apple -- it all makes one believe that maybe Samsung should have thought longer and harder about taking the deal. (For a giggle, check out slide 17 -- as Mark Gurman points out, Apple's "iPhone 4" looks a lot like it's showing the screen of an original iPhone instead...) Photo by kasia | flickr cc
Court lifts the curtain on iPhone, iPad US sales numbers
In the deluge of documents, inside baseball and offbeat revelations emerging from Judge Lucy Koh's courtroom as the Apple/Samsung trial proceeds, there are some genuine gems. AllThingsD's Ina Fried points out a pair of disclosures that reveal, in finer detail than either company would like, the extent of Samsung and Apple's phone and tablet sales in the USA. The numbers aren't entirely (forgive me) apples to Apples, since Samsung's phone lines are broken out by device in granular fashion and the company's sales numbers only go back to 2010 in this disclosure; Apple counts "iPhone" as one product regardless of model, and the counts go all the way to 2007. These numbers also only account for the US, so Samsung and Apple's international sales don't enter into the equation. Nevertheless, comparing Samsung's domestic phone revenue to Apple's from June 2010 to June 2012, Fried comes up with US$7.5B in revenue for Samsung, and my math shows a total of about $36B for Apple -- nearly five times as much. The higher average selling price of the iPhone contributes heavily to this disparity, as the iPhone only outsold Samsung's overall units by ~60 million to 21.25m in the same period. On the tablet side, the entire Galaxy Tab line generated $644M in domestic revenue since its introduction in late 2010. Nothing to sneeze at, certainly, but the iPad's US sales since 2010? $19 billion -- 29 times higher than Samsung's tablet number. In fact, the entire multiyear sales arc of the Galaxy Tab is eclipsed by the iPod touch, the underappreciated little sibling of the iOS product line... in the first six months of 2012 alone. ($765 million in iPod touch US sales for Q1 + Q2 2012.) Another intriguing point on the iPhone sales curve in the States is that in its best quarter to date (Q4 2011, immediately following the introduction of the iPhone 4S) Apple sold 15 million iPhones accounting for revenue of about $9.4 billion. That one quarter alone surpassed the totals for the entire 2010 calendar year (14M units, $8B revenue). Meanwhile, 2012 is still tracking ahead of 2011, and September 12 is getting closer and closer. Photo by kasia | flickr cc #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Road safety project simTD connects cars, infrastructure. Hopes to save lives, time
Live traffic info likely prevents many a clenched fist meeting steering wheel every single day. A new trial scheme in Frankfurt Germany, however, could prevent even more unnecessary road-rage. The project involves 120 vehicles from a range of manufacturers, loaded with "car-to-x" technology. Cars will communicate with each other, and with general infrastructure, in an attempt to make roads safe and less congested. As well as basic location data, other tools include a brake light that advises the car behind it once activated, and an obstacle warning system to share information on the presence and location of hazards -- as well as what those blockages are. The project is a collaboration between Universities, research institutes, telecom providers -- and of course -- the auto industry. We're keen to see how the trial turns out. Even if it's just to lower our next taxi fare.
Apple vs. Samsung: Trial roundup
Under normal circumstances, the proceedings of a patent trial would be about as exciting as watching grass grow on TV, picture-in-picture, while paint dries on the main channel. However, Apple versus Samsung has been surprisingly fascinating so far, but less so for the legal wranglings than for the information surfacing during the trial. Evidence and testimony presented during the trial is giving us unexpected insights into Apple's inner workings. By now you've probably already seen the very early iPad and iPhone prototypes that were published last week and the giant iPad prototype from a week earlier yet. If not for the current patent trial between Apple and Samsung, it's unlikely these prototypes would have seen the light of day until many years from now, if ever. Yet we've learned that Apple was designing prototypes for the iPad as long as ten years ago. More bits of info have come to light in the past few days: Nearly 40 iPhone and iPad prototypes revealed in Samsung trial The Verge has galleries of prototypes for both the iPhone and iPad. Many of these images are of prototypes we already saw last week, but several new ones have surfaced showing yet more designs that Apple considered and ultimately rejected. Feast your eyes on the iPhones and iPads that might have been, but that's the best you'll be able to do for now; it'll be a long time before any of these walk out of Apple's labs and show up on eBay. Apple designer: iPhone crafters are "maniacal" Reuters describes testimony from Christopher Stringer, a veteran member of Apple's design team. Describing that team, Stringer says they are "a pretty maniacal group of people. We obsess over details." The team often discusses those ideas around a kitchen table, brainstorming design concepts before heading off to do some CAD mockups. According to Stringer, Apple's design process doesn't follow a linear idea-sketch-model-prototype path and, as the huge swath of prototypes proves, Apple isn't afraid to abandon a concept altogether if a better one comes along. Apple's Case Against Samsung in Three Pictures AllThingsD shows three photos Apple has entered into evidence to support its claim that Samsung has slavishly copied the iPhone's design. If you've seen any of those "Before the iPhone --> iPhone --> After the iPhone" images before, you'll find Apple's evidence very familiarly laid out. Apple's timeline shows that Samsung was in the Palm/Blackberry lookalike business during the early 2000s. The first few years after the iPhone was a time of transition for Samsung's designs, with several different form factors in play. In 2010, going by Apple's chart Samsung eventually said the heck with it and settled on a design stunningly similar to the iPhone -- designs that persist to the present day. Phil Schiller takes the stand in the Apple v. Samsung trial The Verge liveblogged Phil Schiller's testimony, and some of his remarks were revelatory. Schiller testified that each new model of iPhone has sold as many units as all the iPhones before it. That obviously includes the current iPhone 4S, the "disappointing" iPhone that multiple pundits insisted would be Apple's downfall last year. Fact-checking Schiller's statement proves he's right; the iPhone's growth has indeed been exponential so far. It may even be possible for the next iPhone to sell over 200 million units -- though don't count on it. If you do the math, you'll find that sort of growth isn't sustainable. Schiller called the iPad "a risk to our image" because the tablet category was essentially dead when the iPad was first introduced. Indeed, many people dismissed the iPad as frivolous and doomed to fail at its unveiling less than three years ago. Schiller also revealed that, contrary to previous statements, Apple does indeed engage in market research for its products via surveys and other methods. 85 percent of customers who purchased the iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 said the device's appearance was either important or very important to their decision to purchase it -- a key metric when attempting to prove that Samsung's similarly designed devices conceivably caused financial damages to Apple. "I was pretty shocked at the appearance of the Galaxy S phone and the extent to which it appeared to copy Apple's products," Schiller said. When he saw the Galaxy Tab and how similar it was to the iPad, he suddenly felt that Samsung intended to copy Apple's entire product line. Samsung's lawyer asked Schiller if Apple expected to change its design for the forthcoming "iPhone 5." To absolutely no one's surprise, Schiller declined to comment. Apple's Software Boss Reveals the Origin Story of iOS Senior VP of iOS software Scott Forstall took the stand after Schiller. He first described Apple's intentions for OS X, calling it "an operating system that could last for another 20 years." Looks like we can look forward to OS X Ocelot after all. The decision to develop the iPhone had a simple motivation: Apple's staff hated their cellphones. They'd already been working on the iPad project, so the team adapted the work it had done so far to a smaller product, which eventually became the iPhone. This team was segregated from the rest of Apple for years, and secrecy was paramount even by Apple's legendarily locked-down standards. Here's Apple's e-mail thread about a 7-inch iPad CNET shows off an email from Eddy Cue, described during Scott Forstall's court testimony, which shows Apple has indeed shown interest in developing a smaller version of the iPad. "I believe there will be a 7" market and we should do one," Cue said in a January 2011 email to Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, and Scott Forstall after using a Samsung Galaxy. "I expressed this to Steve several times since Thanksgiving and he seemed very receptive the last time," Cue said in the email, which contradicts claims Jobs made during an October 2010 financial call where he dissed the usability of smaller tablets. Cue found few usability problems: "I found email, books, facebook and video very compelling on a 7". Web browsing is definitely the weakest point, but still usable." Samsung presented this as evidence that Apple draws just as much "inspiration" from its competitors as Samsung has. Time will tell if Apple releases a smaller iPad that looks almost identical to the Galaxy Tab.
Apple exec talks about the iPhone's early days, the secrecy of 'Project Purple'
The back and forth of Apple and Samsung's spat can be tiring, it's true, but the legal debacle has its moments. Cupertino's Scott Forstall, for instance, took the stand on Friday to give some insights on the beginnings of what Apple called "Project Purple," and the secrecy that surrounded the first iPhone's development. "We're starting another project," Forstall would tell potential recruits to the project, "It's so secret I cannot tell you what the project is. You are going to have to give up nights and weekends for a couple years." These were the words that conscripted much of the team that would eventually build Apple's first phone. Forstall said that the engineers he recruited weren't told anything about the project or even who they would report to -- eventually, Apple locked down one of its Cupertino buildings, affectionately calling it the "purple dorm" for its vague pizza-like aroma. When Apple's attorney questioned the senior vice president of iOS software about how the Project Purple team drove innovation, Forstall went on to describe the challenge of building a touch-centric OS. "Everything we dealt with before was based on mouse and keyboard, and here we were changing the entire user interface to be based around touch. We had to rethink everything about what big controls would be knowing where you are in the document, knowing when you reach the list... Every single part of every device had to be rethought for doing touch." Samsung's legal team was more concerned with how Project Purple was inspired by competitor devices; Forstall responded by saying that Apple simply tested Purple's call performance against other devices, noting that "it's fine to benchmark for performance reasons, it's not OK to copy and rip something off." The comments are interesting, but they probably won't weight too heavily on the jury's final decision. Still, the stories are entertaining, and worth a read for those interested in the iPhone's origins. Even so, we'll be glad when the patent wars are finally over.
Apple SVP Eddy Cue wanted 7-inch iPad in 2011, internal email says
During today's proceedings at the Apple vs. Samsung patent infringement trial in Northern California, an internal Apple email came to light, where Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue suggested that the company manufacture a 7-inch tablet, anticipating a market for a smaller slate. The email reportedly dates back to January of 2011, and was sent to Scott Forstall, Tim Cook and Phil Schiller, according to The Next Web. AllThingsD added that the topic originated with an email from a reporter, who shared that they had switched to a 7-inch Samsung tablet from the iPad, because they found the smaller size of the Tab more appealing. Cue reportedly agreed with the findings, and made his own suggestion. That email hasn't led to a smaller form-factor iPad to date, but with rumors heating up around an upcoming "iPad Mini," it's possible that Apple's compact tablet could one day arrive. And Cue was right -- there's clearly demand for a 7-inch tablet. Update: Read the email for yourself after the break.
Opening statements delivered in Apple vs. Samsung trial
Apple and Samsung hit each other hard Tuesday during the opening statements of the patent trial between the companies, the Associated Press reported. Highlights of the first day's court session: Apple charged Samsung with choosing to copy the iPhone and iPad rather than innovate after the iPhone was announced in 2007. To counter Apple's argument, Samsung said it pours billions into research and development, pointing out that patents have been filed for rounded rectangle designs similar to Apple's. Apple designer Christopher Stringer testified about his role in creating the iPhone and iPad. Stringer has been with Apple for 17 years. After overcoming a number of obstacles to release both products, Stringer said he was upset to see Samsung's products on the market. "We've been ripped off. It's plain to see," he said. Stringer goes into detail with how products are developed, literally designing around a kitchen table. As the trial opened, a juror pleaded to be released after finding out that her employer would not continue to pay her salary while she served. The request was granted. Meanwhile, the Verge reports that Judge Lucy Koh is pretty angry with Samsung for sending the press evidence that didn't make it into the trial. Among that evidence was information showing Sony influences on iPhone prototypes. It's interesting to note as the trial moves ahead that Apple is essentially trying to avoid what happened to the Fender Stratocaster guitar, which was so influential on guitar designs that it transformed the industry -- but Fender did not pursue the copycats promptly, and by the time it did take up the cause decades later the design had already become synonymous with a generic guitar (as pointed out by Matt Panzarino). The trial will be on hiatus until Friday, when Apple senior vice president for marketing Phil Schiller is expected to testify. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Apple designer takes the witness stand in Samsung case, brings more iPhone / iPad prototypes along
Thought you'd seen all of the iPhones (and iPads)-that-never-were? If you did, then you were wrong as Apple industrial designer Christopher Stringer testified as a witness in the case vs. Samsung today, revealing many details about the company's design process. That included more pictures of phone and tablet prototypes being filed as evidence, while he reportedly also brought a few along for show and tell. The Verge has a few galleries of CAD shots and pictures of rejected designs, including more of the lozenge edged types we'd seen before, and iPads complete with a curved grip around the edge. AllThingsD chimes in with a few interesting tidbits from his testimony, including the revelation that Apple designers actually sit around a kitchen table to debate the progress of current projects, and explaining that earlier iPhone prototypes were labeled iPods either because they had not yet decided on a name, or were already trying to obscure iPhone identity from potential leaks. There's more info at the source links, take a careful look at the iThings around you and imagine what might have been.
Apple/Samsung suit begins today
The big patent infringement trial between Apple and Samsung kicks off today in a California court, as noted by The New York Times. With infringement claims pending against both companies, there's a lot at stake. As pointed out by Philip Elmer-DeWitt of Fortune's Apple 2.0, the trial can be summarized by the first few lines in each company's pre-trial brief. Apple: "Samsung is on trial because it made a deliberate decision to copy Apple's iPhone and iPad." Samsung: "In this lawsuit, Apple seeks to stifle legitimate competition and limit consumer choice to maintain its historically exorbitant profits." To help you get up-to-date on the long-standing dispute, The Verge has a detailed post describing both Samsung's case against Apple and Apple's case against Samsung. Written by Matt Macari and Nilay Patel, the post also tells you what to expect during the trial. You can also check out AllThingsD, which has a cheat sheet that spells out the major points of the legal battle; writer Ina Fried is covering the trial in person. [Via Fortune 2.0, The Verge and AllThingsD]
Apple reveals 'Purple' phone prototype in court filing, to prove it didn't copy Sony
The previous batch of sketches revealed during Apple v Samsung suggested the iPhone may have actually borrowed ideas from Sony, but a new filing goes back even further into history to show that's not the case. The Verge spotted that the latest raft of paperwork includes a "Purple" prototype [above left] that was made around August 2005 and bears several hallmarks of the iPhone that finally appeared. The Sony-styled prototypes came later, and were apparently just an "enjoyable side project." AllThingsD has also drawn together around 100 prototypes from Apple's deposition, which offers some interesting insights into what the iPhone could have looked like.
Apple v. Samsung court filings reveal Sony-inspired iPhone, kickstand-equipped iPad and other prototypes
There's no telling how much more we'll see once the big Apple vs. Samsung trial finally gets underway in a San Jose federal court next week, but today has already seen the release of a swath of new documents full of surprises. Most notably, that includes a range of previously unseen Apple prototype devices, including various renderings of both the iPhone and iPad. One standout is an iPhone 4-esque device that quite literally wears its Sony influence on its sleeve (in one instance with the logo changed to "Jony," a la Apple's Jony Ive). According to the filing, it was designed by Apple's Shin Nishibori, and was apparently up against another more metallic, iPod-style device at one point (ultimately winning out despite some protestation). But those are far from the only iPhone prototypes that have been revealed. There's also an elongated device identified by the codename N90, seemingly with a small screen and space for a keypad or input area of some sort below, plus a device with squared off corners somewhat reminiscent of the Motorola Photon 4G. Another prototype goes in the opposite direction, with sharp corners and a slightly rounded back. As for the iPad, we've gotten a look at some more recent prototypes than the early 2000-era model that surfaced earlier this month. While there's no stylus in sight, there are a couple of iPad prototypes with kickstands built into the back of the device, and a number of considerably different designs than what Apple ultimately settled on. Dive into the galleries below for a closer look at the whole lot. Michael Gorman contributed to this report. %Gallery-161208% %Gallery-161207%
RIM slapped with $147.2 million in damages from Mformation patent lawsuit (update: RIM response)
RIM just keeps taking hard knocks in the patent arena. Just days after Nokia had its turn piling on extra infringement claims, device management developer Mformation Technologies has won a hefty $147.2 million verdict against RIM for allegedly violating a remote management patent. The damages amount to $8 for every BlackBerry linked up to a BlackBerry Enterprise Server up to a certain point -- no small impact for a company whose lifeblood is business. About the only reprieve is an escape from future penalties, which would most certainly have soured the recovery efforts for a company already on the ropes. The crew from Waterloo hasn't yet responded to the verdict, but it's hard to picture the company leaving those kinds of damages to sit without an appeal. Update: RIM has issued a statement in response to the verdict, and it's unsurprisingly putting forward motions that it hopes would overturn the verdict. It's also keen to point out that issues like the obviousness of the patent haven't been settled, which it hopes would deflate Mformation's case.
UK hotel ditching paper bibles for Kindles, Rocky Raccoon to get acquainted with the benefits of e-ink
Maybe papercuts aren't a part of the creator's master plan, after all -- not at the Hotel Indigo's Newcastle location, at least, which is ditching the standard hardcover bible in favor of a Kindle edition. The hotel's GM says the move, which brings Amazon's e-reader to its 148 rooms, is keeping with the city's rich publishing history. The device will come pre-loaded with the bible, with other religious texts available for the download. Customers can also download non-religious texts, which will be added to their bill. The move is currently being assessed under a trial basis, which will be revisited on July 16th. No word on whether the promotion will be expanded to other hotels in the chain.
The Daily Grind: What's the difference between an MMO trial and F2P?
Back in olden times when I sampled my first MMO trial, free game try-outs were short affairs. You'd usually get to play for a week, and then you were done unless you subscribed (or forgot to strike your credit card info). But modern MMOs are abandoning time-limited trials with increasing frequency. Games like Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft, RIFT, and now Star Wars: The Old Republic all allow gamers to play indefinitely -- but only up to a certain level. The "endless trial" model has led to some debate among the Massively staffers as we try to suss out what, exactly, sets an endless trial apart from any other F2P game and how we ought to refer to these sorts of titles on the whole. It'd be easy to say the restricted level cap is the red flag, but if we latch on to that definition, then any free-to-play title with a level cap locked behind a paid expansion -- like Lord of the Rings Online -- could itself be deemed an endless trial, albeit one with a very high (but not max) level cap for free players. Chime in on our debate. What do you think represents the key difference between an MMO that's F2P and an MMO that merely features an endless trial? Is it level caps or content or something else entirely? Or is there not really any difference at all? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
South Korea forces Blizzard to give Diablo III refunds
After investigating numerous complaints that Blizzard wasn't granting refunds to dissatisfied South Korean Diablo III players, the government there demanded that the studio do so anyway. The South Korean consumer protection law ensures a refund if there's a problem with the product that isn't related to the customer. Many South Korean players were angered due to massive server crashes and high latency while playing Diablo III. The Wall Street Journal reports that 66% of Diablo III online traffic in Asia comes from the country. As for the refund itself, there are a few stipulations. It currently extends to players who haven't reached level 40. If eligible, the customer has to file for a refund between June 25th and July 3rd. Past that date, Blizzard said that it will offer refunds for any players under level 20 within 14 days of their purchasing the game. The studio is also extending an olive branch to upset gamers by handing out 30-day trials to StarCraft II.
Ask Massively: Shopping for new computers edition
I'm not having a great year for computers. Back in January, my much-loved netbook passed. I'd been having trouble with my desktop for quite some time after I bought it, and I'm pretty sure the processor is the root of the problems, but at this point it's just going to need a replacement. The plus side is that means that I have a large enough budget to afford a much better machine than I could when I bought this one, so it's almost a blessing in disguise. Of course, I'm writing this installment of Ask Massively on a computer, so clearly I'm capable of using such a device for important duties. Important duties like explaining why Final Fantasy XIV isn't offering players a free trial and why our comment system is experiencing a truly humbling bug. If you've got a question for a future installment, leave it in the comments below or mail it along to ask@massively.com. Questions may be edited slightly for clarity and/or brevity.
TERA adds free seven-day trials
En Masse Vice President of Publishing Chris Lee wants to extend you -- yes, you -- a personal offer to play TERA. Don't you feel special? You totally should. "We want to open up to new players curious about the game with a free one-week TERA trial, as we're confident if you play, you will stay," Lee said in a press release (again, just to you). Starting today, TERA now has two types of free ways for potential players to experience the game. As we've already reported, the first is the instant-streaming demo with pre-set characters. This second one is a proper trial: Players will get seven days to create their own characters and enjoy the world as much as they want during that time. There is a limit of eight characters on a single server for the trial, and without a subscription, players will be limited to a level 23 cap. En Masse is confident that trial players will convert to a subscription if given that one-week hit of the sweet life. The studio says that players are currently averaging four-and-a-half hours of game time per day. [Source: En Masse press release]
Exclusive City of Heroes dev diary: Design insights from the Magisterium trial
Today the war ends in City of Heroes. Today players are taking up arms (and mutated plant spores) in the final battle of the Praetorian War, and it will be a glorious eruption of particle effects and superheroic feats. The Magesterium incarnate trial is arguably the centerpiece of Issue 23, and Associate Designer Jeff Hamilton flew in to give us the skinny on this chaotic fight. You can get all the details on the Magisterium as well as an exclusive sneak peek at images from the fight, all after the jump!
Star Wars: The Old Republic developers detail 1.3, free trials, and free transfers
Have you been holding off on trying Star Wars: The Old Republic until the game offers a free trial? It looks like your wait is almost over. At the recent London Comic Con, the development team discussed the upcoming addition of a level-limited free trial. You'll be free to adventure up to a certain point, but to get the full game experience, you'll need to subscribe. That's the smallest part of the game's upcoming additions, however; the improvements for players who wish to play together include upcoming free server transfers as well as a substantial expansion of existing server caps. Patch 1.3 is also bringing the long-awaited group finder to the game to help get players away on party tasks in a timely fashion. Patch 1.3 won't just be about playing together, however, and the developers also spoke more on the addition of adaptive gear and new Legacy perks for characters. It's plenty to look forward to for players of the game, so if you haven't yet taken a peek at the upcoming changes, you may wish to do so. [Thanks to The_grand_nagus for the tip!]
France's Toulouse-Blagnac airport to conduct NFC field trials for BlackBerry smartphones
Navigating through airport security is hardly the most fanciful way of kicking off a vacation, but this summer, a handful of frequent fliers in France will take part in a field trial that aims to streamline the process and make it a bit more enjoyable. Fifty lucky travelers armed with BlackBerry smartphones will take part in a pilot study that tests the authentication technology recently developed by Orange and SITA. Upon their arrival at the Toulouse-Blagnac airport, the handset's NFC-capable SIM card will serve as an access pass to the car park, the premium access zone for departures and even the private lounge area. Smartphone integration will provide travelers with real-time flight information, and it's said that the handset will even remember the location of one's vehicle in the car park. As the system is hardware-based, the identity verification technology will even work when the smartphone is turned off. The Toulouse-Blagnac airport aims to have a broader NFC implementation available by 2013-2014, which may allow users to board flights and pay for goods with their mobile device. To learn more about the vision, you'll find the PR after the break.
