Competition for the Apple iPhone is rising. While Apple revealed yestreday that till date it has sold 17 million iPhone’s it also sent out a warning to its competitors. Apple COO Tim Cook said during a conference call:
We are watching the landscape. We like competition as long as they don’t rip off our IP. And if they do, we will go after anyone who does.
Apple has a patented multi-touch screen for the iPhone and off late many competitors (Blackberry, Samsung, LG, Palm, Nokia) have managed something similar (a full touch screen+gestures). Though Tim didn’t name any particular company, it was clearly said that they would do all that they can to safeguard their technology (patents / intellectual property).
Given the new multitouch world and super smartphones ruling our pockets, 1000’s of patents are at play by mobile companies. Apple is perhaps a new entrant into a established market and it has quite managed to disrupt the market with the iPhone. A single lawsuit can open a can of worms with patent suits flying all around the world. We hope Apple and others concentrate on innovation, rather than patent fights.
We also see this threat as a direct response to the Palm PRE (yet to be released). Apparently Palm’s executive chairman Jon Rubinstein was former product chief @ Apple. This makes things lot more tricky, imagine Apple claiming that Palm crossed the IP boundry while developing the PRE! Things really seem to be heating up in Steve Jobs absense…
Via TechCrunch / Engadget