Patent smackdown: Apple teams up with Microsoft to bid against Google and Android OEMs for Kodak’s patents

The patent arms race is reaching a feeding-frenzy stage. Over the past months, we’ve witnessed a series of high profile legal spats between the technology companies that make our beloved gadgets. A quick recap of the most visible battles includes the Oracle vs Google trial, the Samsung vs Apple global conflagration, the Microsoft vs Motorola case that caused the ban of all Motorola devices in Germany, and the Apple vs HTC debacle, which affected the availability of the One X and the EVO 4G LTE in the USA.
Tech corporations are suing each other like madmen, but unfortunately, their actions mostly affect consumers. We get fewer products on the market, and the products that are available are made dumber. The war is likely to continue for the foreseeable future and the players are accruing weapons at a staggering rate.
A new stash of patents is about to be sold to the highest bidder. On Monday, the patent portfolio of Eastman Kodak, the legendary photography company, will be sold in an auction. Two major forces emerge as potential winners – on one side, Apple allied with Microsoft and patent troll aggregation firm Intellectual Ventures. On the other side, Google got together with the biggest Android OEMs – Samsung, HTC, and LG – along with a patent troll of its own, the RPX Corporation.
The two consortiums will try to win the battle over Eastman Kodak’s 1100 patents, most related to photographic technology. Kodak has a great deal of intellectual property that could prove essential for anyone manufacturing a product that incorporates a digital camera. According to WSJ, alliances are still made and broken, and the situation is still in flux.
As a reminder, it wouldn’t be the first time Google would square off with the Apple-Microsoft team – last year, Google lost the auction for Nortel’s patent trove, which eventually went to the Apple-Microsoft consortium for $4.5 billion. It’s unclear how valuable Kodak’s portfolio is, but experts seem to agree that it is far less valuable than Nortel’s stash.
We’ll keep you posted on any new developments next week.

SOURCE:View the original article here

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Google may deliver broadband for cheap to your area

On the heels of the successful release of the much hailed Nexus 7, comes exciting news from Google: cheaper gigabit broadband coupled with TV. This may not seem like much, but to be honest, in the monopolized realm of US ISP’s, it’s big news. Google just launched its first rollout in the Midwest region and is using an old marketing trick of growing their customer base.
Remember the old Gmail and Google Wave invite?  They plan to use the same idea for this new service in order for it to “go viral”. Google is asking potential customers to tell their neighborhood (Google calls it a fiberhood) so as to minimize visits to your fiberhood and maximize customer base. This results in savings to the customer and thus potential profit to Google. The other great thing about Google’s network is its sturdy and reliable infrastructure: they build their own stuff. Instead of the usual rental broadband equipment (which can go stale in a matter of months) in this fast-paced industry, Google is making its own network on its own production merits, as it were. This can only spell success down the road.
An additional good item to note: Wi-Fi and TV set tops will probably get quick releases because they are Google-made  equipment on the home network. This is unlike the slow release syndrome we’ve seen from smartphone manufacturers.
Overall, this appears to be a giant leap of calculated risk on Google’s part, since they will be going up against other tech companies like Comcast and AT&T. Unlike those two, they will not be relying on the traditional buyout of lower end providers to extend their network, and possibly using dated hardware, and outdated field equipment to deliver promised gigabit speeds. If you are interested to know more details about the HDTV side, you can read up on Google Fiber TV.
If your city is selected, would you be a Google missionary so as to get gigabit goodness on all of your devices? Let us know in the comments below.

SOURCE:View the original article here

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Apple says Google told Samsung that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 looked too much like the iPad

The Apple vs Samsung patent-based U.S. case is set to start on July 30, but until then we already have various tidbits to show you from the cases each company will try to prove in court in this legal clash of the titans – and they surely have a complex relationship.
The two companies are fighting for market share and profits in the smartphone and tablet business, but they are also bound by a multi-billion dollar component supply partnership. Also important is the fact that they are facing each other off in more than 50 cases spread across 10 countries, and they’re all mobile-related.
Apple argues that Samsung Galaxy-branded smartphones and tablets are violating its iPhone and iPad patents and designs, while Samsung says that Apple is infringing with various iOS products its own 3G patents – which happen to be FRAND, or standard essential patents.
Apple has scored a few victories against Samsung in pre-trial rulings including a couple injunctions in the U.S. against the Galaxy Nexus and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 – albeit the Galaxy Nexus is still selling in the region after a second Samsung appeal succeeded to stay the initial decision, but also an adverse inference jury instruction. The company also won a few days ago a EU-wide injunction against Galaxy Tab 7.7 sales but also lost an injunction in the UK against the Galaxy Tab 10.1.
What’s worth remembering is that while all these verdicts came out in the last few weeks, Google decided to officially help Samsung in its fight against Apple, especially after the Galaxy Nexus sales ban was obtained in the U.S. by the iPhone maker.

But it turns out that Apple lawyers may also use Google against Samsung, at least according to Apple’s brief which mentions some Samsung interesting documents:

“Samsung’s documents show the similarity of Samsung’s products is no accident or, as Samsung would have it, a ‘natural evolution,’” Apple argues in its brief. “Rather, it results from Samsung’s deliberate plan to free-ride on the iPhone’s and iPad’s extraordinary success by copying their iconic designs and intuitive user interface. Apple will rely on Samsung’s own documents, which tell an unambiguous story.”

Apparently these documents reveal that the Search giant warned Samsung in the past that some of its Android products are too similar to the iPhone and iPad:

 In February 2010, Google told Samsung that Samsung’s “P1” and “P3” tablets (Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Tab 10.1) were “too similar” to the iPad and demanded “distinguishable design vis-à-vis the iPad for the P3.” In 2011, Samsung’s own Product Design Group noted that it is “regrettable” that the Galaxy S “looks similar” to older iPhone models. As part of a formal, Samsung-sponsored evaluation, famous designers warned Samsung that the Galaxy S “looked like it copied the iPhone too much,” and that “innovation is needed.” The designers explained that the appearance of the Galaxy S “[c]losely resembles the iPhone shape so as to have no distinguishable elements,” and “[a]ll you have to do is cover up the Samsung logo and it’s difficult to find anything different from the iPhone.”

These are all points that Apple will make in court, and we’re certainly interested what the jury will think.
This sort of evidence is all the more intriguing in this case as Judge Lucy Koh, who presides the U.S. case, famously asked Samsung counsel in one of the early U.S. face offs to recognize the Galaxy Tab from two tablets she was holding, one being an iPad. The lawyers were not able to identify the tablet of their client “from that distance” – or about 10 feet away – although they finally managed to provide the right answer.
We’ll be back with more news from this battle of giants in the near future.

SOURCE: View the original article here

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Kindle Fire sales forecast cut by analyst, no thanks to Google Nexus 7

The tech industry has its share of analysts and their predictions and forecasts, but it doesn’t mean that one should take every little finding as gospel – especially as things can always take a turn either for the best or worst. The latter can be applied to the Amazon Kindle Fire, as Cowen analyst Kevin Kopelman has changed the firm’s overly bullish stance on the tablet.
It looks like the Google Nexus 7 and the rumored iPad Mini will rain on Kindle Fire’s parade. While the fire won’t be extinguished entirely, the research firm’s sales forecast for the Kindle Fire has been dialed down. Instead of the predicted 14 million Kindle Fire sales for 2012, the figure is now set at 12 million units. With that said – it’d still be a respectable showing for an almost 1-year old device.
Things aren’t looking too bright either for the Kindle e-reader. Sales forecast for the device, where the number was initially expected to grow 30% in 2012, has also been revised. The e-reader is now predicted to grow at a 3% rate. The slowdown is attributed to several unfavorable circumstances, which include the removal of the device from Target stores, and Amazon’s preferential treatment of the Kindle Fire. Again, the number is nothing to sneeze at – as Amazon is still expected to sell about 15.9 Kindle e-reader units this year.
If it’s any consolation, Amazon is prepping up the release of several new Kindle Fire models this year – which should help the online retailer regain a solid footing in the tablet market.

Source: View the original article here

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Google updates Nexus 7 shipping timeframes for US, UK, Canada, and Australia

Here at Android Authority, we’ve talked a lot about the Google Nexus 7 tablet since its official unveiling at Google I/O in late June (in fact, we also talked about it before its unveiling as well).
We’ve pitched it against the Amazon Kindle Fire, its main competitor at the present, as well as against what rumors paint to be its future competitors (namely the Amazon Kindle Fire 2 and the Apple iPad Mini). But although we’ve deemed the Nexus 7 to be the best Android device you can purchase for $200, it looks like those interested to purchase have had numerous problems with actually getting the device in their (geeky) hands. Fortunately, Google has stepped up and clarified all availability questions in a post on the official Play website.
As a quick sum up before going into specifics for each country where the Nexus 7 is available for purchase, Google seems to have solved its availability issues. From the looks of it, all orders made next month should start shipping right away, or at least we can hope they will. In addition, Google mentions that when your order ships, you’ll receive a Google Play notification along with a tracking number for you shipment.

Nexus 7 US shipping timeframes

All US orders for a standalone 8GB Nexus 7 (meaning orders for the tablet without any accessories) have been shipped. In fact, the 8GB model now being listed as being “in stock” and future orders should be shipped immediately.
Those who have ordered a standalone 16GB Nexus 7 before July 11 should receive their shipment by the end of July 19. If you ordered starting with July 12, you should get your tablet by the end of next week.
Google also mentions that if you ordered a tablet with an accessory, the tablet will arrive first, with “the rest of your order on its way soon”.

 

Nexus 7 UK shipping timeframes

 
If you ordered a 8GB Nexus 7 from the UK, you’ll be glad to know that all Nexus 7 8GB orders should ship by July 20.


If you ordered a 16GB Nexus 7 before June 30, the device will also ship by July 20, with the remaining 16GB Nexus 7 orders poised to ship next week.

 

Nexus 7 Canada shipping timeframes

All Canadian-bound orders for the 8GB Nexus 7 have been shipped.
Orders for the 16GB model of the Google Nexus 7 should ship in 1-2 weeks.

 

Australia Nexus 7 shipping timeframes

Orders for both the 8GB and the 16GB variants of the Nexus 7 will be processed by the end of July 19 and should arrive in 3-5 days.

Source: View the original article here

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Google sends software update to Nexus 7 to enable Google Wallet

The privy few who own a Nexus 7 got a surprise from Google yesterday, as a new small-ish update was pushed to the tablet. Thankfully, it’s not that dumbed down search feature that other high-profile Android devices were getting, but it’s just a little something that allows you to tap, pay, and save with the Google Wallet app on your Nexus 7.
You don’t think Google has embedded an NFC chip in the 7-incher for kicks, do you? Well, with the activated Google Wallet feature, you can now pay for those potato chips by pulling out the Nexus 7 out of your bag and doing some wireless payment magic – unlike regular folks who have to open their wallet and use physical money. So last decade, right?
Since you are getting a $25 credit from Google, as part of the Nexus 7 package, why not head down to the nearest NFC-compatible convenience store and try the prepaid card out? Hopefully you won’t have problem finding one.
For those who have tested out purchasing things using their Nexus 7 — how was it like for you? Was it a hassle-free and convenient experience or the other way around?

Source: View the original article here

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