Displaying items by tag: Apple

The Apple folks are all excited about today’s injunction awarded to them over Motorola Mobility over a patent that honestly should never have been awarded in the first place. There is a small catch though, Apple did win the injunction, but they have not been able to block sales of any devices as long as they remove the offending feature (the way the screen bounces at the end of the scroll when viewing pictures).

In a recent article I published about Apple being nervous over Windows 8 I made the statement that Apple has never released a developer preview like this before and also that Apple does not do public Betas. Both of these statements were read incorrectly and the flood of comments from Apple fans came in. There were lists of the times that Apple has pushed out Developer Previews as well as a list of the times they have released betas to the public. It has been entertaining, but I think we need some clarification on these two items and also why Apple is nervous about Windows 8.

Someone over at Proview in China has been doing some thinking and is now fighting Apple in a very interesting manner. Unless you have been living under a rock you are probably aware that Pro View and Apple are in a trademark battle over the iPad name in China. The back story is a little long, but if you are interested in the whole thing you can read it here, here, and here. For the rest of you it is important to know that Apple used a special group to hide their identity from Proview during the negotiations for the iPad trademark. The company’s name was IP Application Development Limited.

After our initial report of an Office suite from Microsoft developed for Apple’s iPad it seems the company is trying very hard to deny the rumors and speculation, while at the same time leaving their options open.  What is the real story? We are not entirely sure, but we are convinced that something is going on that will allow Office functionality on the iPad and other tablets in the works.

Microsoft is now joining the ranks of companies that are suing Motorola Mobility. This is not surprising and if you read between the lines of the complaints the filings you will see that these really have very little to do with Motorola at all (well ok, Motorola is not playing nice either). Unlike the complaints from Apple, Microsoft is claiming that Motorola (and hence Google) is trying to limit the use of the H.264 video standard.

When the iPad and indeed most tablets started to make an impact on the market there was one item that we talked about that was seriously overlooked and indeed is one of the things that is still lacking on in the ARM based tablet world. This is a productivity suite that is compatible with Microsoft’s Office (the unrecognized standard in productivity suites). Now some of you will argue about Open Office, Polaris office and the Apple fans will talk about Apple’s suite of products for the iPad (Pages, Numbers and Keynote which are currently the best out there). The problem is that no matter how much you dislike Microsoft it is a simple fact that it is the most commonly used office productivity suite out there.

So Microsoft is on a push to get out as much information as they can about Windows 8. This new operating system represents a massive change for Microsoft and not just in the way the new OS will function, but also in the manner they are interacting with the public. This is evident in almost everything they are doing, from the building Windows 8 Blog to the public statements, demos and interviews that are happening frequently.

Someone at either Apple or IP Applications (the company that Apple used to secure the Trademark name iPad from Proview) has leaked documents in evidence of their case against Proview. However, (and again after careful reading) we have found some very odd things with these documents. The first thing and one that cannot be overlooked is the release of privileged Client/Attorney emails. These were faxed to Postal Services Plus in San Anselmo, CA although the originating number has been removed from the fax (obviously to protect the guilty party here). But there is more going on here than at first meets the casual eye.

It seems that the press feels that Apple has won the war with Proview in China. There is much crowing about how Apple rightfully owns the trademark for the iPad in all countries including China. There is even a lengthy court document over at “AllThingsD” that covers it. There is, as there always is, a problem though. So many people are concerned with the aggressive tone of the judge that they are missing one very crucial fact.

We have talked about Apple’s business model and their corporate ethics before so when we found out that they are suing Eastman Kodak while they are in the midst of declaring bankruptcy we were not shocked or surprised. In fact if you look at Apple’s history they spend more time in court accusing other companies of breaking the laws than AMD did trying to fight Intel.