Apple Sues HTC

This week Apple filed a patent infringement lawsuit against HTC over some twenty patents that are aimed at the line of Android phones the company makes.  Apple has yet to sue Google, Motorola, Samsung, LG, Asus, Dell, or any of the other Android device developers but one gets the idea that at the moment Apple is more concerned with slowing down Android than anything else.  Here's a link to a Google News feed of all the news stories on this so far.

Over the past few years Apple, and probably Steve Jobs, have taken a more "strident" tone in the competitive tech space that seems counter to the image that the company was founded upon.  I know that it has started to turn me off to the company and their products.  Based on a reading of various tech news and blog sites I'm not the only feeling this way.  Something that Apple needs to be worried about is the world of public perception.

For over a decade Apple enjoyed an almost mythical fan base that practically worshiped their products.  For a long time I counted myself as an Apple "Fanboy" for the simple reason they were innovative and offered a better computing experience compared to that from Microsoft.  Their hardware was top notch and Mac OS X was the best personal computing platform since it came out in 2000 making the premium one paid for Apple hardware worth it.  Further many people rooted for Apple as they took on the Microsoft giant!  Always hovering in the single digit PC user base they were the classic underdog, and we Americans always love the underdog.

Over the last ten years though some things started to change.

When Steve Jobs introduced the first iPod in October 2001 it singled a change in Apple that would turn out to be bigger than the introduction of the iMac in 1998.  Traditionally a computer and OS company Apple was entering into the consumer electronic space in a game changing way.  Once the iTunes music store launched with its 99 cent music downloads they began to cement their position as THE go to place for digital music downloads.  Everyone can probably agree that it took everyone else the better part of ten years to offer compelling and competitive products.  The introduction of the iPhone in 2007 was yet another iconic launch into the consumer electronic space quickly coming to dominate the nascent smartphone space with everyone else looking to bring to market the "iPhone Killer".

Along the way Apple seems to have lost itself in the process.  Once the company that railed against such large monolithic entities, with Microsoft being the main culprit, they now find themselves in a reverse role being the first to drag out the lawyers.  This HTC lawsuit is just the latest, and most visible, example of this new mentality.

Here's the problem for Apple.

Unlike in the past there are now compelling products from other companies that can fill the space that Apple currently enjoys.  The recently launched Windows 7 PC operating system is the best thing to come out of Redmond, Washington.  Ever.  This OS is probably the most stable, feature filled OS out there next to Mac OS X.  It's not perfect but it does get the job done.  Another innovation from Microsoft is their line of Zune portable media players and the Zune Marketplace.  Sure, it took three generations for Microsoft to "get it right" but there is no doubt that at this point the Zune has become a compelling product/ecosystem, especially the $14.95 "all you can listen to" subscription service that also gives you three free DRM free tracks per month.  The recently announced Windows Phone 7 that completely revamps the Windows Mobile nightmare of past also includes Zune capabilities.  Indeed, Microsoft has stated that every single Windows Phone 7 device will also be a Zune device.  That right there is a pretty darn compelling lure!

Throw in the Android phone operating system from Google and how they are continuing to find ways to innovate this platform and we have what many consider to be the main threat to iPhone dominance over the next five years.  Apple is putting the iPhone OS into the iPad for tablet computing.  Well, Android has been showing up in tablet computers for two years now and their are some pretty compelling products coming down the pipeline. 

Will it work for Apple?  Probably not.  Google also sits on a nice, tidy little cash war chest and has already stated that they are standing behind their hardware partners in this coming fight.  And Google has much deeper pockets than Apple for something like this.  Instead of Apple versus Microsoft it looks to be Apple versus Google through their proxies.  And lets not forget Microsoft in all this.  This is a company that is undergoing a very significant change in the post Bill Gates era in that they are developing some nice products in a timely fashion and no longer seem to be the slow behemoth of past.  Apple and Microsoft seem to be both out to bring Google down a few pegs and if the two of them working together doesn't make your hair stand on end I don't know what would in the tech sector.  No doubt about it, this is a big mess waiting to unfold over the next couple of years.

My guess is that the HTC lawsuit is more designed about publicity AND scaring other device manufacturers in to second guessing their support of Android and that makes it a sad day for Apple and fans of the company.

HTC Announcements

HTC held their "big" event at the Mobile World Congress this morning and all I can say is, huh?  Either they decided to downplay a lot of stuff or the online tech rumor mills were way off base as far as what to expect from the company.  Underwhelming is the word that comes to mind.

Three new devices were announced:  the HTC Legend, HTC Desire, and HTC HD Mini.

According the the folks from HTC, "HTC Desire has been accepted by almost every key carrier in every key country we work with".  No word on which carriers, meaning will it be a GSM only show or will it be available in both GSM and CDMA flavors?  That's the question I hope gets answered sometime today at MWC.  Of the three the Desire looks to be "best of breed".

The other big thing from the HTC even is that Sense has been revamped to allow pinch and zoom on all screens offering up something very similar to the card view of WebOS.

The big disappointment for me is a lack of any sort of news or announcements about the HTC Supersonic.

Le sigh.

Drool Factor Phone

I've raved enough recently about my Palm Pre and it's true I am a lot happier with the phone than I was just thirty days ago.  However, I'm also a bit of a tech geek and I've had my radar up and running for some time now for the next "must have" gadget.

Well, this one just might be it.

It seems that a new phone from HTC is on the horizon, the HTC Supersonic.  If the reports are to be believed, and there has been a growing amount of evidence that something like this was coming, then this will probably be my next phone purchase.  One thing I have been adamant about is my desire for a 4G WiMax phone.  Throw in a 4.3 inch capacitive touch screen along with Android 2.1 and I'm hooked.  I'd prefer an AMOLED screen but I can make some compromises along the way for something like this.

Now, if Palm and/or Sprint make some noise on the WebOS front next month at the Mobile World Congress in Spain that intrigues me then I'll stay firmly in the Palm camp.  But it would have to be something along the lines of a much larger screen, more memory, faster processor, an on-screen keyboard, and a 4G WiMax radio for data.  Somehow I just don't see Palm doing that.  Then again, who knows what Sprint and it's hardware partners are planning to showcase next month?

Waiting for all this is just tearing on my nerves!

Upgrades

Hi, my name is Mike and I'm a smartphone junkie.

There, I've made my first step on the road to recovery.

Okay, who am I kidding?  I always seem to be looking for the next great smartphone!

Thanks to a recent app in the Palm App Catalog Ive gotten my ebook reading on again without causing my phone to crash and spend five minutes rebooting.  This is a good thing as I was just about at my wits end trying to deal with that little thing and was seriously looking at buying another smartphone RIGHT NOW and to hell with my two month budget, it was that frustrating.  As you may have gathered from my posts ebook reading is one of the top two things I use my smartphone for on a day to day basis with the other being mobile internet access via the excellent browser on the Palm Pre (the best mobile web experience I've ever had).  However, web browsing tends to kill a phone battery pretty quick so I tend to limit that to a quick check of a few sites unless I need it for something else.  Now that I have that little ebook reading issue fixed I'm content to wait another couple of months until my equipment upgrade from Sprint in February.

Or maybe not.

Seems that there is a really nice new Android powered phone in the works from HTC, the HTC Passion.

Now this phone has me drooling big time!  A 1Ghz Snapdragon CPU with plenty of memory and a nice 3.7 inch AMOLED capacitive touch screen and running Android 2.0 (or higher).  From what I can tell this is the Android version of the HTC HD2 and that's just fine by me!  I was already thinking that if the HD2 came out for Sprint here in the states I'd swallow my pride and consider rejoining the Windows Mobile crowd once more but if there is an Android phone coming with that same hardware setup then I'm all on board with that idea!