If you read any other tech blogs (which you of course don’t, you loyal things you), you’ve probably heard all about Apple’s lawsuit against HTC.
I’m not a lawyer, but just to bullet point it – Apple is saying HTC is infringing on several Of their patents. What’s so fascinating (aside from just the drama) is that the patents are not only insanely broad (as many conceptual patents can be), not only do they sometimes apply to just about any OS (phone or desktop) currently in use (and some classics as well), but a ton of the patented behaviors are things that happen on the OS level, not the hardware level.
This has led many pundits to posit that Apple is really targeting Google via HTC. Google’s already come out with a statement saying they support their partners, so they’re certainly not ignoring it. Still, I believe there’s more to it than just coming at Google sideways…
If Apple wanted a proxy war with Google, it seems to me it would be much easier to go after largely cash-strapped Motorola, makers of the one Android phone actually *advertised* as an iPhone Killer to the general public. HTC is a much larger company, and it does more than just Android phones -which I think is part of the issue.
I’m not saying Apple *isn’t* doing this because of Google, but I also think there’s a good reason they’re choosing to do so via HTC. People have been looking for an iPhone killer for years now, and while Google’s OS is a step towards it in general, it’s the design geniuses at HTC who are most likely to implement it.
HTC’s “Sense” (formerly SenseUI, formerly TouchFLO, formerly HTC Home) can be found atop Android, Windows Mobile, and has proven so popular that HTC has even made a version to run atop a “dumb phone”. Sense is such a great layer over the OS that it’s basically a separate GUI. You can do almost every basic thing in Sense and never have to look at the “guts” of your phone OS. Combine that with the fact that HTC as a company also manufactures handsets for other companies, coupled with their steadily growing market share and visibility, garnish it with the availability on every major US carrier and it really makes sense for Apple to go at them over Google: They’re the ones who are in a real position to leverage Google’s OS into a place where it can threaten iPhone Sales. You can pick up any HTC Phone, on any network, and get the same basic experience. Your average user won’t likely notice if they’re running 1.4, 1.6, 2.0 or 2.1 – they’ll see Sense and be able to use the phone in a slick fashion, just like their old phone.
Compare that to Apple’s iPhone – you have a choice of one network, two models, and while the user experience is consistent between them, if you’re coming from another Smartphone you don’t have a standard, familiar Sense-like interface. You have to learn how to use it (horrors).
So yeah, I think HTC’s a pretty obvious target, even without Android in the mix. Apple’s found a bit of rolled up newspaper to use on the dog nipping at their heels. Which actually leads to my next point – I don’t think even Apple thinks they can “win” this case. I think the goal is to tie up money and time with legal fees, and bleed HTC as much as they can. Reason being, so *much* Prior Art exists with some of these patents. Take a look at Engadget’s breakdown of some of the patents (from an *actual lawyer). Just the unlock function alone has been implemented so many times since way before the patent was granted (last month? What the heck?). I also think that a few of these patents are for technology that existed on my first Treo, if not on my Visorphone (and the patents predate it, but Apple never seemed to get around to suing Handspring or Palm).
Finally, I have to freely confess that I’m going to enjoy watching this.
