Backed up by the HTC suit, Apple is now instating rules among smartphone manufacturers

Mar 10, 2010 13:36 GMT  ·  By

In January 2010, within high-ranking discussions among phone manufacturers, Apple expressed its discontentment regarding the violation of its iPhone-related intellectual property. In this report, Apple points out to its recent lawsuit against HTC, serving as a back-up to express the company’s position.

Fortune marked on its official site the main features in this regard, driven by Oppenhiemer & Co analyst Yair Reiner. “Starting in January, Apple launched a series of C-Level discussions with tier-1 handset makers to underscore its growing displeasure at seeing its iPhone-related IP [intellectual property] infringed. The lawsuit filed against HTC thus appears to be Apple's way of putting a public, lawyered-up exclamation point on a series of blunt conversations that have been occurring behind closed doors.” Reiner educes.

In addition, Fortune stresses Reiner’s description of how the events evolved. The issue started with Apple’s official promise to strongly defend its phone intellectual property, back in January 2009, and ended with the company’s decision to press its position. Multi-tasking was at the center of the quarrel. For a while, the major handset manufacturers steered clear of multi-touch, as Reiner writes. But things have changed with the unveiling of two multi-touch smartphones: the Motorola Droid and the HTC Eris.

Reiner believes that, “Our checks also suggest that these warning shots are meaningfully disrupting the development roadmaps for would-be iPhone killers. Rival software and hardware teams are going back to the drawing board to look for work-arounds. Lawyers are redoubling efforts to gauge potential defensive and offensive responses. And strategy teams are working to chart OS strategies that are better hedged.”

As companies started utilizing Google’s Android operating system, which is thought to be Apple’s real target, the conflict escalated, Reiner points out. This seems to coincide with Microsoft’s tactical move. The Redmond, Washington mammoth announced the promotion of its Windows Phone operating system together with the pattern portfolio. Microsoft’s move indicates that it is willing to stand closely to its partner handset manufacturers in any intellectual-property dispute.