“Every once in a while I check out various databases around the world for new trademark and patent filings and every now and then I’m rewarded by finding something interesting or something that somehow slipped through the cracks,” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple.
“One of these surprises has once again surfaced and it’s an interesting one that touches on the subject of Liquidmetal,” Purcher reports. “The material’s extraordinary ability to bond contrasting materials together with stunning precision will no doubt provide Apple with the ability to create a series of future devices that will be seen as aesthetic wonders. And within this patent application we learn a few new twists about Liquidmetal. And to top it all off, Apple provides us with an interesting list of possible products that could be aesthetically and functionally enhanced by using this exotic material in the future.”
Purcher reports, “The following is stripped right from the patent without any modification whatsoever: ‘The embodiments herein can be valuable in the fabrication of electronic devices using a bulk metallic glass (BMG). An electronic device herein can refer to any electronic device known in the art. For example, it can be a telephone, such as a cell phone, and a land-line phone, or any communication device, such as a smart phone, including, for example an iPhone™, and an electronic email sending receiving device. It can be a part of a display, such as a digital display, a TV monitor, an electronic-book reader, a portable web-browser (e.g., iPad™), and a computer monitor. It can also be an entertainment device, including a portable DVD player, conventional DVD player, Blue-Ray [sic] disk player, video game console, music player, such as a portable music player (e.g., iPod™), etc. It can also be a part of a device that provides control, such as controlling the streaming of images, videos, sounds (e.g., Apple TV™), or it can be a remote control for an electronic device. It can be a part of a computer or its accessories, such as the hard drive tower housing or casing, laptop housing, laptop keyboard, laptop track pad, desktop keyboard, mouse, and speaker. The article can also be applied to a device such as a watch or a clock.'”
Tons more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Apple preparing to unleash a blizzard of new products, says source – April 24, 2013
Apple patent application reveals new machinery for creating Liquidmetal forms – January 31, 2013
Liquidmetal ships first amorphous alloy production parts – November 16, 2012
Liquidmetal Technologies Inc. and Materion announce sales channel collaboration – September 7, 2012
Futuristic Liquidmetal alloy could transform Apple products – August 15, 2012
Why did Apple lock in Liquidmetal for two more years? – June 25, 2012
New Apple agreement suggests Liquidmetal iPhone will arrive within two years – June 20, 2012
Apple extends Liquidmetal exclusivity deal through February 2014 – June 19, 2012
Why is Apple investing in equipment and machinery at an exponential rate? – May 23, 2012
Apple’s recent huge investments in plants and equipment for Liquidmetal use in iOS devices, Macs? – May 22, 2012
Apple patent app details new, possibly Liquidmetal-based speakerphone system for iOS devices – May 17, 2012
Apple and Liquidmetal: Don’t go by co-inventor’s word, he hasn’t worked for Liquidmetal since 2007 – May 6, 2012
Liquidmetal inventor: Apple will use it in a ‘breakthrough product’ that will be very difficult to copy – May 2, 2012
Whoa! This Liquidmetal iPhone 5 concept looks real – May 2, 2012
Check out these ultra-thin next-gen Liquidmetal iPhone artist’s concept images – May 1, 2012
Is Apple Inc.’s bet on Liquidmetal about to pay off? – April 30, 2012
Liquidmetal Technologies filing outlines its multimillion dollar agreement with Apple – March 31, 2012
Apple granted its first Liquidmetal patent – January 5, 2011
Apple patent application describes scratch-resistant stainless steel – October 29, 2010
Join the dots on six future Apple technologies – September 22, 2010
Apple already using Liquidmetal in their… – August 17, 2010
Inventor says Liquidmetal may be used for new iPhone antenna – August 13, 2010
How will Apple use their exclusive Liquidmetal alloy? – August 12, 2010
Apple’s exclusive Liquidmetal pact could see future Apple products encased in metallic glass – August 11, 2010
Apple inks deal for exclusive rights to custom, super-durable metal alloy – August 09, 2010
While the stock has taken a beating, it looks more and more as if Apple has been winding up for a fusillade of product introductions and/or upgrades. People should be patient as new technologies take a while to emerge in a mature form. With Liquid Metal, it would appear that it has more to do with numerous products to be than most thought. Patience will be rewarded, grasshopper.
The waiting might be very long or never end, because LM costs much higher than aluminium.
Also, no one should be mistaken about what LM is. Even though it is called sometimes “glass”, there is nothing transparent about it in working thickness. So the term only refers to amorphous atom structure of the material, which is similar to that of glass. “Amorphous” would be correct term from very beginning; “glass” was stuck just historically.
An iPod, a Phone, an Internet communicator.
How many of the items described in the patent could be rolled into one Incredible Device / System?
It basically says that they can use Liquidmetal for Everything.
And nothing will stop them. Just will take time.
Man, look at the volume of LQMT today! 😛
Wow.
Let all the naysayers say their nays. Let the stock continue to plummet, so that Apple can buy all that AAPL stock they’re planning to buy back at a bargain price. Then release the stable of new products and let the price rise from the ashes!
All this is impossible. According to analysts and Jim Cramer , Jony Ive has been throwing pool parties daily doing practically nothing. Their future depends now on netflix.
I see that you own netflix stock as nothing you say is relevant to this report. Your eyes should be plucked out and thrown into the sea as punishment. Okay, I’ll accept repentance.
Geez, it’s sarcasm man. Boy did he sucker you. You see the way he excluded Cramer from being excluded from the term ‘analyst’?
Sarcasm is quickly becoming a lost art. Or people are getting dumber.
I’m pretty sure Marks day job is to hang around Apple sites and be a critical of everyone and every thing. I’m guessing his pay stub has a Wall Street corporate logo on it, or maybe they just give him envelopes containing cash, so they can’t be connected to him.
Sarcasm pretty much has to be indicated overtly on a forum where some frequently regurgitate the blazingly stupid pronouncements of analcysts and knee-jerk Apple naysayers… or say something negative and off-the-wall just to be annoying.
Yeah, but a joke is not as funny if it needs explaining.
Sarcasm is no joke.
OK. Made me laugh this morning. 😉
I don’t understand.
I didn’t follow Cramer’s view on this so yes I missed the sarcasm. In hindsight I get it now. I’d say that I saw the light, but I was too busy plucking my eyes out 🙂
If he excluded him from being excluded, wouldn’t that mean he made sure he was included? 😉
There’s something wrong with owning Netflix stock? Who died and left you king? It’s actually possible to own more than one stock in one company you know. And my NFLX has done quite well lately. In case you hadn’t noticed. Perhaps you should check it out.
How is it possible that someone didn’t see that as sarcasm? Makes it even funnier. Yeah, ride that Netflix horse!
mm duh it is sarcasm 😀 I’m a bigger fanboy than you.
Coming to an Apple device near you soon.
If this is patented how on earth will Samdung ever copy it?
ScamScum would copy it if Apple ever contracted them to use the technology to make parts. Not Gonna Happen. ScrudScrap’s own fault for being such parasitic dicks. If only they could be a cooperative or competitive company instead of parasitic dicks. Also, Not Gonna Happen. I see no sign of them being on any learning curve from their bad boy blundering.
Samscum will probably just wait for Apple to do all the research on how to best and most effectively use LiquidMetal; that’ll probably take till the end of Apple’s exclusive usage period.
Then they’ll just copy it. But very slightly differently, of course, so they can crap on about how innovative they are.
The liquidmetal era for Apple will be amazing!
This is exactly why I didn’t panic when Apple went from around $200 to around $75 back when Steve was still around. And that’s why I haven’t panicked when Apple has gone from $710 to $389. I believe in Apple a lot more than these bozo Crammer type anal-ysts. Do they really think Apple is just sitting back and spending $5billion on a new campus and billions more on data centres for nothing?
Apple is the only company I’ve seen who’s sole focus is on helping consumers of all strips deal with information and communication and not stray from it as they grew.
Apple’s vertical integration is astonishing. I expect to see more coming, liquid metal or not.
Apple is still very small, mark my words.
Apple is still very small, mark my words.
KEWLEST prophetic statement of the year so far. WOW. 5 gold stars.
Then again, lord help us if Apple turns out to be the equivalent of ‘Weyland-Yutani’. One psychopathic CEO can spoilt the barrel. No company should grow that big. Apple requires competition!
Typo Police: “SPOIL the barrel…”
An iWatch case made of liquidmetal? Interesting possibilities out there. Right now liquidmetal is like unobtainium, but time will tell.
Maybe iWatch will be just that: I watch a TV. I watch Netflix. Who says iWatch will be a time keeping device?
It just seems pathetic how all you guys cling to rumors year in and year out. Liquidmetal… a rumor that’s been around for how many years? iWatch. iMacPad…
You’re all so malleable and easy to manipulate… you’ll hang in until the very end because of your delusional beliefs. That’s what it is to be a fanboy.
And I’m a fanboy myself but I just don’t sit around waiting for all this stuff. There’s more to live for.
Yeah, and why not?
Let some people have their fun, that’s all it is. the world is already gray enough. 🙂
Peace, bro!
The first iPhone patents surfaced sometime between 1999 and 2001. When did we get the iPhone in our hands? 2007. So getting a sophisticated product off the ground takes time. People like you don’t have patience. So what has that to do with the real world?
Those of us who understand that revolutionary products take time to come to market love to read about this stuff that Apple presents in patents. We remember the iPhone patents and we were rewarded with the iPhone and iPad for that matter that sprang from the same patents. Reading about the future has its moments.
Ya we all know it takes years for leapfrog products to get developed.
In this case it’s a material change that won’t result in a new paradigm of computing, just like sapphire crystal on an iPhone front face won’t terraform a planet.
There’s a time to be excited and a time to be delusional about the impact of said advancements. You have mastered being in a delusional state most of the time.
“You’re all so malleable and easy to manipulate”
… so you’re saying WE’RE Liquidmetal?
sdgh: You’re one of the more abusing trolls fur shur.
“You’re all so malleable and easy to manipulate…” in a thread about Liquidmetal. Maybe your subconscious is trying to break free from your rather dim conscious mind.
As as per usual: You can’t got a clue about Apple fanboys. I’ve pointed out to you exactly why you’re clueless on this subject and you refuse to care. But for everyone reading this who has half a brain in their head:
There are no more discerning electronics/computer fanatics than Apple fanatics. We never give Apple a break when they screw up. We also know quality when we see it, which is precisely why we’re Apple fanatics. These facts are played out here at MDN every single day, if you bother to read the comments. Thank you for reading!
Typo Police. Please read: “sfgh:…”
It’s tea time. Coffee rejuvenation of cerebral activities is required.
Shut up.
Hey you.
Behave, will ya.
No one here has to shut up or anything cos YOU wanna say so.
Hey, I took the time to spell your anonymous coward nick right! That’s worth a point at least!
Let me reiterate: I’m an Apple nut. All my gear is Apple. And we make software for iOS and OS X.
I enjoy MDN because it aggregates solid news of the day on Apple.
What else I find interesting is the hopeless fanboy crowd and how delusional you all are. Not everyone here is a hopeless fanboy, but many are.
You get emotional about a brand and you don’t even know why. You refuse to believe anything contrary to your belief about a particular brand: Apple.
Let me get this out of the way. Sapphire Crystal. Liquidmetal. App Stores. Smartphones… none of this stuff was invented by Apple, and not by a longshot. Yes, I give Apple credit for innovating and entering markets with products that are usually better than the rest…
But what will happen is, as soon as Apple uses something like Sapphire Crystal for the front face of their iPhone you’ll all think they invented the shit and nobody else should use it. My 20 year old watch has a Sapphire Crystal face on it. There’s also been Nokia smartphones in the past, although very niche, that have used Sapphire Crystal.
Omega has been using liquidmetal in some of their watches for well over a year now… but you’ll all think Apple invented this shit too. And that they should have a monopoly on it and that nobody should be allowed to use liquidmetal to make things.
The reality is, Apple doesn’t invent a lot of this stuff and they don’t care about you… they care about your wallet. Just keep being delusional and spend your money with them and that’s what they want.
As soon as somebody makes a better product that I need, I’ll buy it. I buy Apple because they make the best computer products in my opinion. But I don’t really give a shit about them because I know they don’t give a shit about me other than my money.
Remember this video fanboys… Apple wasn’t first:
You’re an idiot. Apple licensed the technology for computers. So for computers, Apple will have the rights to creating original designs.
You say you’re an Apple nut and yet get deranged in your views of Apple being greedy and spew out the same shit that Android and Samsung assholes do on a daily basis. You’re plainly an crazed Samsonite/Androider and it’s so cool to see you freak out over Apple fans who appreciate Apple’s innovations. Read it and weep you silly boy.
You’re the idiot freaking out. Apple isn’t the first or going to be the first to use liquidmetal in computer products/accessories.
SanDisk has used it as a main material in a few consumer products already as an example.
The MS Surface used liquidmetal for its case.
Apple apparently has a license from one company to use “LiquidMetal”, a specific mix of alloys optimized for the liquidmetal manufacturing process, but there are other companies who also have liquidmetal material for license.
Liquidmetal is simply a process for anyone to use. It’s the mix of alloys that ends up being somewhat unique. MS used magnesium but LiquidMetal… the guys Apple uses, use a better mix that’s cheaper to manufacture and apply. But their both melting metal and forming cases rather than casting, which is the main point.
I’m just pre-empting you fanboys because as soon as a competitor starts using liquidmetal for smartphones, if indeed they do it after Apple, you’ll say they all copied Apple and should be shot. The reality is that Apple is just a company licensing this material from another company. And that the technology to produce it and manufacture it has been evolving at its own pace. And if they use it on the iPad they wouldn’t be first on a tablet.
In other words, liquidmetal is a commodity you bafoon, and is already being used in consumer tech products.
Dude, you can’t fix stupid. The maniacal Apple fanbois that regulalry pollute this site are beyond help. They are not just ignorant, but willfully ignorant.
MacFreek:
You said it man. But I’ve decided to make it my mission over the next few weeks to exploit the ignorance and try to calm down all these fanboys and make them realize that there is indeed people, companies, and a world out there beyond their basements and Apple.
Wow, this sounds promissing. I wonder how far away fuel cells are for the iPhone.
People and companies have been experimenting with fuel cells in mobile computers for well over a decade. As far back as the mid-90s from what I recall. It seems like a deadend. I’ve seen diesel, propane, gasoline… you name it. But it’s just a rabbit hole because it’s more reliance on oil and the PR and marketing nightmare any tech company would face using this shit to power their mobile gear would be neckbreaking.
The industry never got the smartphone right until Apple introduced it in 2007. The industry made dumb phones that were also butt ugly. Apple reinvented the smartphone to be smart whether you like to hear it not “sfgh.”
If Apple so chooses to use fuel cells it’ll be because they reinvented the way they work in mobile devices. It’s not about being first all the time. It’s about being better.
So who gives a crap about the views of stupid Android hack. You don’t own a Mac and that’s obvious. Who are you kidding.
Oh god here we go.
I can see the marketing.
“iPhone 12, now with propane fuel cells. Last 5 times longer than traditional cell phone batteries. 5 times the fun.
Portable propane tank not included.”
Then the accessory makers will flock to make neatly colored portable propane tanks to refuel your iPhone. One is a flat whisky style flask you can keep in your pocket!
You haven’t thought this through, idiot.
Gee, I always wanted an iPhone that bounces for over a minute.
LOL! Yeah I wonder what “applications” this is useful for. That video lost me there in this respect.
PatentlyApple’s site has a different video that MDN’s that shows how liquidmetal is used to create a unique bezel for a watch as an example that’s worth checking out. It helped me understand how liquidmetal can be used in a future Apple product.
iPhone bumper case.
I think the video is to show the resiliency of the product.
Watch the video with the sound on next time. The bouncing was about kinetic energy and how Liquid Metal retains it longer. A battery made of LM (if possible) would hold a charge longer tgan other metals.
If Omega created a super design for a watch, I could only imagine what Apple’s Ive will do with it on next generation products and new devices. Apple licensed the technology and new equipment has to be put into place to make a mass production product with this material. But once Apple starts using it, they’ll likely try to integrate it into a series of products.
Waterproof and fuel cell. You could put an iDevice in water to charge it. Talk about a game changer. This would make it practical in developing countries, war zones, or anywhere without a good power system. It might be expensive, but it will always work. Environmentalist, less air pollution. They could use it to power the Mother Ship and server farms. And stock. People not having to use as much power could send oil co.s stock down. This would take away the other most valuable company competition. The LM deal does not talk about cars, that would be a huge change.
Fascinating, but how exactly will Apple market the iBouncing Balls?
Don’t you mean, ‘iBalls’?
“When we designed the iBall we wanted to make one that worked for everyone. We three-dimensionally scanned hundreds of testicles and looked for a commonality. From that we were able to determine a common volume. This was out starting point to create a form to fit a broad range of testicles.
Imagine an iPhone that’s just a simple slab of metal, the screen just appears on whatever side is facing up…
THAT would be awesome!
If it comes to pass don’t say you weren’t forewarned 1000 dollars buys 12,000 shares, remember when Apple was selling at 19 dollars a share? The high water mark for lqmt is 22 dollars a share.
So the article refers to Bulk Metal Glass (BMG)… So that means BMG is like transparent aluminum? :-p