“Apple Inc. sued Qualcomm Inc. in a U.K. court, adding to lawsuits across the globe in a sprawling battle over patents and licensing fees between the iPhone developer and the largest designer of mobile phone chips,” Aoife White reports for Bloomberg.
“Apple is separately suing Qualcomm in California, accusing it of monopolizing the market for chips for wireless devices and withholding $1 billion in retaliation for cooperating with South Korean antitrust authorities,” White reports. “At the heart of the dispute between Apple and Qualcomm is a push by phone makers, with support of some regulators, to reduce the patent royalties Qualcomm charges.”
“In response to a request for comment on Thursday’s legal filing, Apple referred to a statement the company issued when it filed the U.S. suit on Jan. 20, saying Qualcomm has for many years ‘unfairly insisted on charging royalties for technologies they have nothing to do with,'” White reports. “The lawsuits add to a U.S. Federal Trade Commission antitrust suit against Qualcomm and investigations by the European Union and Taiwan. South Korea fined the company 1.03 trillion won ($902 million) in December over practices it said were monopolistic.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Literally billions of dollars are at stake in this dispute between Apple and Qualcomm.
In 2017, Qualcomm’s licensing scam — charging a percentage of the total cost of all components in the phone, even non-Qualcomm components — is ludicrous.
Qualcomm’s ridiculous licensing scheme simply has to go!
SEE ALSO:
Apple may have paid Qualcomm $40 per iPhone; accounting for 1/3rd of Qualcomm’s revenue – February 10, 2017
Conservative groups ask President Trump to terminate FCC lawsuit over Qualcomm patent licensing – January 27, 2016
Qualcomm CEO fires back at Apple: Bring it on – January 26, 2017
Apple sues Qualcomm in China seeking 1 billion yuan – January 25, 2017
Qualcomm comments on Apple’s lawsuits in China – January 25, 2017
Apple’s rebellion against the ‘Qualcomm Tax’ – January 24, 2017
Despite lawsuit, Qualcomm wants to keep doing business – January 24, 2017
Why Apple, the FTC, and others are attacking Qualcomm’s royalty model – January 24, 2017
Here are the most damning parts of Apple’s blockbuster lawsuit against Qualcomm – January 23, 2017
Apple’s legal assault on Qualcomm part of iPhone margin grab – January 23, 2017
Qualcomm says Apple’s claims are ‘baseless’ in response to Cupertino’s $1 billion lawsuit – January 21, 2017
Apple sues Qualcomm for $1 billion over onerous licensing practices – January 20, 2017
Qualcomm exec says FTC ‘rushed’ antitrust lawsuit before President-elect Trump’s inauguration – January 19, 2017
FTC alleges Qualcomm forced Apple into iPhone LTE chip deals – January 18, 2017
FTC charges Qualcomm with monopolizing key smartphone chip; alleges extracted exclusivity from Apple in exchange for reduced patent royalties – January 17, 2017
After eating Intel’s mobile lunch, Apple could next devour Qualcomm’s Baseband Processor business – January 20, 2015
Analyst: Apple’s going to dump Intel modems if they keep lagging Qualcomm – December 5, 2016
Yes, Apple is throttling download speeds for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus Verizon and Sprint versions – November 19, 2016
Apple’s modem choices may leave Verizon iPhone users feeling throttled – November 18, 2016
Tests show iPhone 7 Plus models with Qualcomm modem perform significantly better than those with Intel modem – October 20, 2016
Oliver – The troll is great in you.
I know you say Alcatel, but when I was at Carphone Warehouse, they were the cheapest least interesting devices on the shelf.
I find it interesting that Apple is going nuclear thermal against Qualcomm, more than Google/Samdung.
MDN where’s that popcorn you promised?
Is this is why we need those Intel modems ?
Oliver not only do your posts suck but your musical wasn’t very good either.
Here’s a thing, totally unrelated to this article. Maybe others here can sympathise.
I don’t know when it started to happen, but I’ve noticed that my interest in ‘all things Mac’ has dramatically waned over the last 12 months. I ask, why is this? I still use my MacMini everyday, I have an iPhone and two iPads in our house. So why the noticeable indifference to anything Apple?
I’d suggest that Apple has stopped being the Apple I have known, loved and admired. They are producing more products that don’t interest me. I have no interest in upgrading my iPhone SE, my iPad 2 is still trundling along and the MacMini (c2012) still does everything I ask, including some heavy lifting stuff like video conversions.
I used to feel Apple cared about every customer, now I don’t. I used to look forward to the latest ‘Mac’, now it seems ‘less for more’ is their mantra.
I don’t expect everyone to agree with all this, but I’m certain there that others do, What is your take?
Around here at MDN, those of us who work on Macs all day generally agree with you. You’ll see that in the previous article threads. There’s also a distinct ‘good enough’ quality to Apple offerings from last year, etc., that make even Apple fanatics happy with what they have. And yet! Apple continues to sell well to various markets, resulting in another record quarter at the end of 2016. So one person’s boredom may be another person’s inspiration.
The general consensus is that Apple has some catching up to do with current technology and needs a kick in the innovation backside.
Apple used to value the creative, technical and education markets. The attitude these days is “Fuck ‘Em, we care more about rental rap, wearables and chasing trends”.
Apple used to set the trend, define the market and make a dent in the universe. Apple now lags in almost every business it is in excepting the iPhone. While Apple has been playing around with the Apple TV, Roku has taken the lead on players, Amazon and Netflix on streaming content, Sling (Dish) ,PlayStation (Sony) and DirectTV (AT&T) on bundled streaming packages. Google is preparing to launch a streaming bundle with localized content in a phased market by market roll out. After Billions on investment they still lag in Streaming music and seem to have lost interest in the direct sale of content. Amazon is kicking their ass in Books, Google and Microsoft in the Education Market. Coursera and edX own the paid online Education space. Both Google and Facebook have kicked Apple’s ass in online ad placement. Avid has bought up most of the software creatives use while Apple conceded the pro editing market with the FCPX fiasco.
Other than in cell phones, exactly does Apple lead in by either market share or mind share?
Tim Cook inherited a company with no debt, growing like mad with clear skies ahead since then he has iterated the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. Other than that exactly what has he disrupted, redefined or taken from a competitor? Apple today is marked by headcount bloat, assumption of debt, tax dodging, playing in politics, ignoring Mac users and pissing money away buying a shitty headphone company. Nobody at Apple seems to have fire in the belly and an ass kicking is in order.
Nice little worthless rant, totally removed from actual reality of course but a nice example of Entitlement Crybaby Syndrome all the same.
What exactly is your beef? A MAC mini…creative? technical? FCPX?…you’re dreaming.
Speak for yourself bozo, you certainly don’t speak for my daughter who is very happy working for Apple UK.
Alcatel + Ubuntu? – that’s nuttier than my breakfast cereal.