HTC sues Apple for patent infringement… again [updated]

HTC filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court of Delaware alleging that Cupertino-based Apple Inc. is infringing on three of its patents. The patents are related to Apple’s iPhone, iPad and Mac computers, and HTC is seeking triple damages for willful infringement and compensatory damages. The two companies have been locked in legal battles for months, but we’re a little surprised at HTC’s move given the company recently said it was disappointed in “Apple’s constant attempts at litigations instead of competing fairly in the market.” Apple first sued HTC for patent infringement in March and a judge with the United States International Trade Commission found HTC guilty of infringing on two of Apple’s patents in July. HTC said that it will appeal the ITC ruling and has argued that it has a strong case against the iPhone maker.

UPDATE: HTC’s press release is now included after the break.

Sprint extends 4G coverage to wholesale

Sprint’s 4G service is taking a turn for the wholesale — the company announced this week that it will be offering up some 4G-packing products to resellers. The list of available products includes the EVO Shift-esque HTC Detail and a data card from Sierra Wireless. More products are expected in the coming months. The model is not a new one for Sprint — the company already offers rebrandable 3G products for companies. At present, Sprint’s 4G coverage is available in 71 markets across the US.

 

More info in the press release below.

Google slams Apple and Microsoft, claims 'hostile, organized campaign' against Android waged through 'bogus patents' (update: Microsoft responds!)

By Donald Melanson posted Aug 3rd 2011 5:16PM

It, as they say, is on. Google’s Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond, made an appearance on the company’s official blog today with a post not-so-subtly-titled “When patents attack Android,” which directly addresses what he calls a “hostile, organized campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and other companies, waged through bogus patents.” Drummond then goes on to cite a number of examples of this “organized campaign” from those trying to “strangle” Android, including Apple and Microsoft teaming up to buy Novell and Nortel’s old patents “to make sure Google didn’t get them,” Microsoft seeking $15 licensing fees for each Android device, and lawsuits against the likes of Barnes & Noble, HTC, Motorola, and Samsung.According to Drummond, those efforts amount to a “tax” that makes Android devices more expensive for consumers and manufacturers alike, and that “instead of competing by building new features or devices, they are fighting through litigation.” He further goes on to bemoan the “anti-competitive strategy” that’s “escalating the cost of patents way beyond what they’re really worth,” and closes things out by noting that he’s encouraged by Justice Department investigations into the aforementioned Novell and Nortel patent issues. Hit the source link to read the full post yourself.Update: And now, shots have been fired from both sides. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s General Counsel, has shot off the following tweet: “Google says we bought Novell patents to keep them from Google. Really? We asked them to bid jointly with us. They said no.” We’re guessing the truth lies somewhere in between, as it always does.

Update 2: Hoo boy! The hits just keep coming’ out of Redmond. Frank Shaw, lead corporate communications for Microsoft has just tweeted an image of an email between Brad Smith and Kent Walker (Google’s General Counsel) that appears to corroborate the claims that Microsoft wanted to team up with El Goog.

Official Google Blog

via: Engadget

T-Mobile's You Fix gives budget-minded Brits a new approach to pay-as-you-go

If you’re a Londoner who’s struggling to live within your means, T-Mobile is hoping its latest You Fix plans are the solution to your budgetary woes. The Magenta-clad carrier’s UK arm promotes You Fix as the ultimate hybrid of pay monthly and pay-as-you-go. Customers sign a 12 month commitment to one of three plans that range between £15.50 ($25) and £26 ($42) per month, and the most expensive plan brings 300 minutes and texts. Once the allotment is met, consumers can top off their accounts based on T-Mobile’s traditional PAYG rates, or bide their time until the new month rolls around. Additionally, You Fix’ers may choose between one of seven free add-ons each month, including options to add data or unlimited texts. Subsidized phones are also on the menu, with the BlackBerry Curve 8520, HTC Wildfire S, and Samsung Galaxy Gio leading the pack. Looking to save a few quid?

Check the full schedule of plans in the PR beyond the break.

Sprint now selling 4G WiMAX to wholesale customers

Sprint announced on Tuesday that it is now selling access to its 4G WiMAX network, currently available in 71 markets across the United States, to its wholesale customers. Typically the carrier only sells its 3G network to wholesaler customers and it is now the first U.S. carrier to sell 4G wholesale. Sprint said that it will offer its customers the Sierra Wireless 250U 3G/4G data card as well as the HTC Detail 4G handset and the EVO Shift 4G. Mitel is among the first of Sprint’s wholesale customers to deploy a 4G network.

 

Read on for the full press release from Sprint.

Nielsen: Apple top U.S. smartphone vendor, Android top OS in Q2

Android continued on its warpath this past quarter, once again showing gains as it retained its position as top smartphone platform in the United States. Nielsen on Thursday issued its second-quarter smartphone market share data for the U.S., and Android finds itself atop the list again with 39% of the market. IOS remains in the No. 2 spot with 28% and RIM slid to 20% in the second quarter. Windows Mobile and Windows Phone combined to take 9% of the market, while webOS and Palm OS combined to account for just 2% of the market. Nokia’s Symbian OS also held a 2% share in the June quarter. On the list of top vendors last quarter, Apple held its lead by a wide margin with 28% of the total U.S. market. HTC devices accounted for 14% of Android market and 6% of the Windows Phone/Windows Mobile market, making it the nation’s top vendor in both categories and No. 2 overall. Samsung owned 8% of the Android market and 2% of the Windows Phone/Windows Mobile market in the U.S. last quarter, while Motorola topped Samsung’s Android share with 11% to slide into the No. 2 spot among Android device manufacturers.

Read

BGR

Judge finds HTC guilty of infringing two Apple patents; could mean trouble for Android [updated]

A judge with the U.S. International Trade Commission on Friday ruled that HTC’s Android phones infringe on two of ten Apple patents covered in a complaint filed by the Cupertino-based company last year. “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement at that time. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.” The ITC’s decision is an initial determination however, and it will now need to be reviewed by a six-member Commission. Apple’s complaint in this case covered a total of ten patents, and the two HTC has been determined to be infringing are numbered 5,946,647 and 6,343,263. These patents cover a “system and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data,” and a “real-time signal processing system for serially transmitted data,” respectively. Both patents are said to be hugely important to the core Android OS, and if upheld, the ruling could be incredibly damaging to the rest of Google’s Android partners. Apple is also in the process of suing Motorola and other Android partners for infringing on these and other patents. HTC has already stated that it plans to appeal the ITC’s determination, telling reporters it will “vigorously fight” the ruling. A final determination in the case is due on December 6th, 2011.

UPDATE: HTC has issued a response to the ITC’s judgement, which can now be read below in its entirety.

16 Year Old Shares Vision of Future BlackBerry OS Concept

Luis pointed out a thread in our forums where Bongs shared some really slick concept designs of his vision for BlackBerry and what he calls OS8. The designs are really slick and go right along with the eye candy combined with usability approach we are all hoping RIM brings soon just like they did with the PlayBook. I absolutely love the homescreen redesign idea with widgets and a few other updates but they need to be slick like HTC does. It is also cool how he has melded OS 6 with the BlackBerry PlayBook in that design.

RIM, Motorola won’t benefit from coming smartphone boom, analyst claims

Smartphone sales will continue to surge in 2011 and through 2012, but RIM and Motorola won’t reap the benefits according to Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder Garcha. Apple, Samsung and HTC will be the big winners as global smartphone sales grow by a whopping 62% in 2011 to 482 million units. In 2012, Garcha sees the market growing 36% further to 656 million units. Despite the impending boom, the analyst cut his rating on RIM from Neutral from Outperform, and he sliced his target on shares of RIM stock from $70 to $30. Motorola faired even worse in Garcha’s note as he cut his rating from Outperform to Underperform and lowered his target from $31 to $19. Why do Apple, Samsung and HTC stand to be the big winners over the next 18 months? According to Garcha, they come out on top when measured by the analyst’s nine key metrics: software, services, cloud, product, brand, distribution, tablet convergence, IPR, and chipset efficiency.

Read

via:BGR

T-Mobile's 4G Network has Download Speeds that Might Break the Sound Barrier

T-Mobile BlackBerry users should be proud to hear that, T-Mobile’s 4G download speeds are faster than ever!!!! …wait 4G? What’s that? Oh Yeah! Thats the network that all these devices work on, except BlackBerry! Maybe RIM should get on this!

Still, this is very cool for T-Mobile customers. The 9900 should be a great phone on the T-Mo network. For AT&T customers this is also good news, seeing how T-Mobiles network and AT&T’s network will be merging very soon.

T-Mobile has seen average download speeds approaching 10Mbps with peak speeds of 27Mbps on the T-Mobile Rocket 3.0 laptop stick (the company’s first 42Mbps device). T-Mobile expects more than 150 million American’s to have access to these increased 4G speeds by mid-2011, which is right around the corner.

Currently T-Mobile customers can choose from more than a dozen 4G devices, including:

• 4G Smartphones: the Galaxy S™ 4G, the T-Mobile® myTouch® 4G, the T-Mobile® G2® with Google™, the T-Mobile Sidekick® 4G™, the T-Mobile® G2x®™ with Google™, HTC Sensation™ 4G and the upcoming BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900.
• 4G Tablets: the Dell™ Streak™ 7 and the T-Mobile® G-Slate™ with Google™ by LG.
• 4G Laptop Sticks: the T-Mobile Rocket® 3.0, T-Mobile’s first HSPA+ 42-capable device, the Rocket™ 2.0, T-Mobile’s first HSPA+ 21-capable device, the T-Mobile Jet® 2.0 and the prepaid T-Mobile Rocket 4G.
• 4G Netbook & Mobile Hotspot: the Dell™ Inspiron™ Mini 10 4G netbook and the T-Mobile 4G Mobile Hotspot

T-Mobile’s 4G network (HSPA+ 21) already reaches more than 200 million Americans in 184 markets.

• Read More from T-Mobile’s Press Release

via:bbos