“It may seem surprising to learn that archrivals Apple and Google have come to an agreement to dismiss their patent lawsuits related to smartphone technology,” Richard Saintvilus reports for TheStreet. “After all, Steve Jobs, Apple’s late co-founder and former CEO, once said he would Google’s Android operating system was a ‘stolen product’ and that he would ‘go thermonuclear war’ to destroy it.”
“The agreement suggests that the two companies will work together on (among other things) patent reform. But they also made it clear that they don’t plan on licensing their technologies to one other,” Saintvilus reports. “It wasn’t immediately clear why the two companies decided now was the time to end their feud, which has gone on since 2010, when what was then Motorola claimed that Apple infringed on its patent. Apple filed a countersuit. This became Google’s fight after Google picked up Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in 2012.”
“Google recently agreed to sell off Motorola’s phone business to Lenovo,” Saintvilus reports. “Although it planned to keep the bulk of the patents it inherited from Motorola. But it’s unclear which patents the search giant planned to keep. I don’t believe Lenovo, which has its own mobile ambitions, wants anything to do with Apple in court.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related article:
Apple and Google agree to drop some old Motorola patent infringement lawsuits – May 17, 2014
Time to get that Search service going Apple to defund & eliminate Google destroying good ideas in technology and creating bad ones. (Much as it’s important to take away the tech car keys from Microsoft.)
I’ve wondered for years why Apple doesn’t build its own search engine. I don’t subscribe to a Microsoft or Google style of “try to do everything”. But that seems like a good thing to do, if only to cripple one of the biggest thieves.
Simple, because they think it’s a HUGE distraction, and they wouldn’t be able to do something better than what Google has spent almost 15 years building. Yes Apple could dominate search on iOS Devices (though we’re getting into seriously Monopolistic territory)… but it just seems like a fool’s errand when Google is working so hard to make great services that iOS users can enjoy
Your statement reminds me of the ex-Palm CEO in denial saying (and I paraphrase) “Those Apple people aren’t just gonna walk in and take over the phone market, something we’ve been doing for years.” Of course the rumor is Apple is doing just that with Search and advancing the paradigm in ways Google hasn’t done. Leapfrogging is a good way to usurp and take over markets. And that’s the way it will probably happen, if it happens. Google services contain a price in taking data from users and I think Apple is more respectful.
“Of course the rumor is Apple is doing just that with Search and advancing the paradigm in ways Google hasn’t done” Woah. We don’t even have a service yet, and you’re using the term ‘leapfrog’? Wow. Like I said, Google’s been at this for almost 15 years.. Let’s be modest here…
You appear unable to think different. Is your work address in Mt View by any chance?
SMH
Wow like I said the Palm CEO thought a similar thing couldn’t be done to him and is now living in a very nice van down by a very nice river having been deposed. Google’s head start is irrelevant
It’s irrelevant?
Yep it’s irrelevant. Google can still be caught with their pants down too with a clever enough Search engine scheme or approach from Apple. Many companies have had head starts and lost their position. It’s been a major part of this discussion. Many of those DCW’s are still wondering what the heck happened to them and so fast. They were just so cock-sure they were untouchable. D’Oh!
Building a search engine to rival Google, Yahoo or Bing is not easy. Even if Apple succeeded in creating everything it needed for search, the only way search is really useful for the search engine company is to sell ads. That means an entirely new department, or dramatically expanding the iAds department, to handle search ad sales.
I suspect Apple just doesn’t want to get into it because running a search engine really doesn’t significantly change Apple’s customers’ computing experience. Sure, it might be a prettier layout, but how does Apple enter the search industry and dramatically change it (which is Apple’s business model)?
SIRI is Apple’s search… please wake up!!!!
Yeah, except for the part where it essentially runs on Google/Yahoo services.
Android itself is not in the clear with this.
I recall that in pre iPhone days Motorola developed a phone in collaboration with Apple, called Razr, which turned out to be a bit of a flop. That’s when Apple saw its future in mobile phones, I suspect.
Apple didn’t help develop the RAZR; that was all Moto. The only thing Apple and Moto did was an agreement to have iTunes pre-installed on Moto phones like the RAZR. But yes, they were pretty much a flop.
You are thinking of the ROKR which Apple was sort of involved with. That was how learned not to try to involve other companies in their products.
The phone you mentioned, the RAZR, was actually quite successful and didn’t seem like too bad of a phone until Apple announced the iPhone and showed us what a phone could be. After that, the RAZR stank.
Razr was a huge success. It was thin and elegant, for a flip phone. Many people coveted it. But that’s a long and over time ago.
Motorola ROKR was the phone.