Oracle sues Google over Android (With Sun Java) --- Yahoo! News
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oracle Corp sued Google Inc, alleging patent and copyright infringement in the development of the popular Android smartphone software.
The suit, filed on Thursday in California federal court, claims that Google "knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle's Java-related intellectual property" in developing Android, Oracle spokeswoman Karen Tillman said in a statement. "This lawsuit seeks appropriate remedies."
Oracle acquired Java through its $5.6 billion purchase of Sun Microsystems earlier this year. Analysts said the suit against Google could signal that Oracle intends to be more aggressive in seeking licensees for Java, a technology that is used in many types of Internet-based products.
Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison has said he views the Java software as a key asset, pointing to its use in a variety of electronic devices, from PCs to DVD players.
"Sun's corporate philosophy was obviously very different from Oracle's in terms of enforcing the Java patents," said Edward Reines, an IP litigator at Weil Gotshall who is involved in separate patent litigation against Oracle.
A Google spokesman said he could not comment on the lawsuit as the company had not had a chance to review it yet.
Analysts say Google's Android operating system uses portions of Java technology.
About 200,000 smartphones and other devices based on the Android operating system are sold each day, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said at an August 4 conference.
The case is Oracle of America Inc v Google Inc, in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California .
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Gary Hill and Anshuman Daga)
It was built by Dave Burke, Engineering Manager, in his spare time.
This is the Android's cloud-to-device messaging, so it can know what you're sending to your phone and will optimize what it's showing. For example, if you're watching YouTube, it'll send a YouTube link to your phone and will automatically start playing the video. Another is if you're reading a page on the browser, it'll load up that same page on the mobile browser.
Another example: Google Maps. Browse a location on Google Maps on the desktop and it'll bring up the same location on Google Maps on Android. The same thing works with driving directions. How about searching for business on your desktop and having to manually dial the number from your phone? This will take care of that too, and will immediately launch the dialer and dial up the business you just searched for.
It is now available for all users on Froyo, and will be open source so any developer can use it (it's built on Google developer tools). FoxToPhone, an extension that makes FireFox play nice with the ChromeToPhone app, is already available.
Google says they're "looking at" bringing this to the iPhone, but they haven't submitted any such app to the App Store, and won't go into any sort of detail (as expected). Seems unlikely!
Send an email to Jason Chen, the author of this post, at [email protected].
Faster iMacs, more powerful Mac Pros, larger Cinema Displays, a Magic Trackpad, and a nifty battery charger were among the Apple product announcements today. Here's a rundown of what you need to know:
Apple Wins Patents for 8 All-New iPod Designs Including a Nano Phone While Considering MagSafe for future iOS Devices
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 16 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. The first notables within this group includes one that relates to eight all-new iPod nano designs that definitely describe one of the designs as being a cell phone. The second patent uniquely covers Apple's MagSafe in connection with future iOS based devices like the iPad, iPhone and more.
Granted Patent: iPod Media Players & Nano Phone
Apple has been granted a patent for a series of eight unique iPods or "Media Players" – with one of them being considered for multi-purposes such as a storage device and/or a cellular phone. The exact patent verbiage states the following: "FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a handheld portable computing device in accordance with the present design. The handheld portable computing device can for example be a media player, media storage device, cellular phone." Apple's FIG 1 is noted below in another angle displayed in the patent as FIG. 2. The design has no hardware interface which is closer to today's iPhone. In contrast, Apple also presented a second iPhone Nano design as seen below in FIG. 22. Apple provides no explanation for the other versions of the iPod Nano designs.
The additional designs may simply have been provided so as to protect a spectrum of designs for future applications. Apple does state that the range of sizes cover the full spectrum from nano to what appears to be the iPod Classic. Apple has been working on a nano phone for some time now. Whether any of these nano-phones will ever surface in the marketplace is another matter.
Apple credits CEO Steve Jobs, Bartley Andre, Daniel Coster, Daniele De Iuliis, Richard Howarth, Jonathan Ive, Duncan Kerr, Shin Nishibori, Matthew Dean Rohrbach, Douglas Satzger, Calvin Seid, Christopher Stringer, Eugene Whang and Rico Zorkendorfer as the inventors of Granted PatentD620,488. It should be noted that while today's patent is claiming that the original filing date was January 2009, that is likely relating to their U.S. filing. The reality is that these designs were first published by the European Trademark Office in January 2006 and made public in the U.S. in July 5 2006.
Apple has also been granted Design Patents for the Apple Remote (D620,456) which was first granted a patent in April 2010, the iPhone's "shutter effect" (D620,496) and the Magsafe connector (D620,450) which may be extended to other Apple products as presented in another patent below.
Apple Considers Adding MagSafe to iOS Devices
Interestingly we find this morning that Apple has won a patent titled "System for coupling interfacing parts" which illustrates how Apple is considering adding a MagSafe Connector to iOS based devices (iPad, iPhone and iPod touch) as noted below.
Apple's patent FIG. 7 is a simplified diagram of at least a portion of an electronic device 50, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The electronic device 50 may, for example, be a portable device such as a laptop, tablet computer, cell phone, media player, or the like.
To clarify, the patent states that "The movable connector base also may include a connector region that contains a protruding member having one or more electrical contacts. In the illustrated embodiment, there are 5 contacts situated in a line. The pin layout may correspond to the pin layout of the MagSafe Power connector manufactured by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif."
This is repeated further into the patent: "In one particular embodiment, the connector may be a power connector such as the MagSafe power connector manufactured by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. The MagSafe power connector utilizes a magnetic attraction to help retain a corresponding connector thereto."
MagSafe is currently found on Apple's MacBook Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air notebook computers and also on Apple's LED Cinema Display. LEDs on both sides of MagSafe show green if the computer batteries are fully charged and amber if they are charging. Adding MagSafe to iOS devices
Apple credits Chris Ligtenberg, John DiFonzo, Brett Degner and John Brock as the inventors of Granted Patent7,762,817originally filed in Q3 2008.
Apple Granted Patents for Capacitive Sensing & the iPhone Antenna
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 16 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our first patent report published this morning we covered many yet to be released iPod designs that included one focused on a nano phone and got to see that Apple is considering MagSafe for iOS devices. The second wave of patents today cover a crucial touch related patent covering capacitive sensing which could fend off rivals trying to challenge Apple in court. Others patents today cover the technology behind the original iPhone antenna, power management in Airport devices and much more.
Granted Patent: Capacitive Sensing Arrangement
Apple has been granted a very strategic touch related patent that will assist their ongoing patent battles with all of their cell phone rivals. Today's granted patent covers apparatus and methods for simultaneously tracking multiple finger and palm contacts as hands approach, touch, and slide across a proximity-sensing, multi-touch surface. Identification and classification of intuitive hand configurations and motions enables unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation, and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device.
Apple credits Wayne Carl Westerman and John Elias as the inventors of Granted Patent7,764,274,originally filed in Q3 2006. For more details see the noted patent or review our November 2009 report which covers related subject matter.
Apple may have fluked out on the timing of their granted patent in light of Apple's new Magic Trackpad unveiled today. Some of the technology from this patent would have had to be implemented in the new Magic Trackpad. The new trackpad will have to distinguish between a palm resting on the trackpad and an actual user initiated gesture and so forth. In addition, Apple's patent would actually give us a peek into the other possibilities that the new Magic Trackpad could take on over time - such as the pen grip that this patent reveals. For simple signatures, the pen grip will allow to sign electronic documents without a stylus - even though the patent also supports a future stylus.
Granted Patent: The Original iPhone Broadband Antenna
Apple has been granted a patent for the iPhone's original broadband antenna and while it may not be the design that caused all the recent commotion lately relating to the iPhone 4, those interested in this field may still wish to review and/or judge Apple's technology presented in this patent.
Broadband antennas and handheld electronic devices with broadband antennas are provided. A handheld electronic device has integrated circuits, a display, and a battery mounted within its housing. The housing has a planar inner surface. A broadband antenna for the handheld electronic device has a ground element and a resonating element. The ground element and resonating element may have the same shape and may have the same size. The ground element and resonating element may lie in a common plane and be separated by a gap that lies in the common plane. The plane in which the ground element and resonating element lie may be parallel to the planar inner surface of the housing. Electronic components such as the integrated circuits, display, and battery can be mounted in the handheld device so that they do not overlap the gap between the ground element and the resonating element.
Apple's patent figure 1 is presenting a cell phone/iPhone. Yet the patent makes it clear that broadband antennas apply to all portable devices which may also be somewhat smaller devices. Examples of smaller portable devices include wrist-watch devices, pendant devices, headphone and earpiece devices, and other wearable and miniature devices.
Apple's patent FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of illustrative wireless circuitry for a handheld device such as the iPhone. In Apple's patent FIG. 5 we see a graph of their broadband antenna covering a potential frequency range of about 800 MHz to about 3000 MHz.
The patent's key graphic, according to the patent, is patent FIG. 22 which illustrates an overview of the antenna system. A battery (198 - which may include one or more individual battery cells), may be located so that it lies above resonating element 68 without extending beyond the edges of resonating element. An advantage of placing battery 188 in the location shown in FIG. 22 is that the FIG. 22 arrangement may allow the iPhone to be formed from a thinner case.
Apple credits Robert Hill and Rubenas Caballero the inventors of Granted Patent7,764,236originally filed in Q1 2007.
Granted Patent: Automatic Power Management for Airport Devices
Apple has been granted a patent relating to their Airport devices that is officially titled "Automatic power management of a network powered device."
Apple's patent abstract describes it this way: "A system delivers power to a powered device through a local area network using a power sourcing equipment to process data of an interconnected network and to receive power from a first power source coupled to the power sourcing equipment. The system may include a powered device coupled at a distance away from the power sourcing equipment through a local area network (LAN) to process the data of the interconnected network through the power sourcing equipment. The powered device may include a modular power over LAN circuit to enable power to the powered device through the LAN when the modular power over LAN circuit is coupled to the powered device. "
Apple credits Stephen Fenwick as the sole inventor of Granted Patent7,765,421,originally filed in Q2 2008.
Other Granted Patents (GP) Published Today
GP - 7,764,289 - Methods and Systems for Processing Objects in Memory
Embodiments of Apple's invention relate to computer graphics. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to objects in a video memory.
Aspects of Apple's patent cover OpenGL in addition to methods and apparatuses for creating and managing volatile graphics objects in video memory. An object is created and marked as volatile. The volatile object is stored in a video memory of a graphics subsystem. A volatile marking indicates that data for an object is not to be paged out from the video memory to make room for other data. The video memory space occupied by the volatile object is indicated as a volatile storage, in a data structure. Another object is written into at least a portion of the video memory space, which is occupied by the volatile object, without paging out data for the volatile object. In one embodiment, at least a portion of the volatile object is referenced or used while another object is formed. The volatile object may be discarded after being referenced or used to form another object.
GP - 7,765,326 - Intelligent Interaction between Media Player and Host Computer
Apple's patent covers improved techniques for interaction between a host computer (e.g., personal computer) and a media player. According to one aspect, interaction between a host computer and a media player, such as automatic synchronization of media contents stored on a media player with media contents stored on a host computer, can be restricted. According to another aspect, management of media items residing on a media player can be performed at and by a host computer for the media player. According to still another aspect, media content can be played by a media player in accordance with quality settings established for the media content at the host computer.
GP - 7,764,493 - Systems and Methods for Cooling Electronic Devices using Airflow Dividers
Apple's patent relates to systems and methods for cooling an electronic device such as the MacBook using airflow dividers.
Apple's Magic Trackpad Comes to Life + Mixed Take on New iMacs
On January 26, 2010 as the New Year just got underway, Patently Apple broke the news about a mysterious device simply called the "Magic Trackpad." Then in June we presented a special report titled The Next OS Revolution Countdown Begins where we discussed new UI possibilities that would be coming to market over the next few years and specifically pointed to a desktop keyboard/touchpad combination device that could bring multi-touch to the desktop. On July 20, the FCC revealed that Apple had asked for a six month confidentiality period concerning a Bluetooth Trackpad that had to come to market prior to August 10, 2010 when the confidentiality period would end. Today, Apple revealed the Magic Trackpad and it's really cool. At some point in time, if it proves to be a smash hit, Apple could provide us with an integrated design as our special report illustrated. Finally, today's report takes a look at Apple's refreshed iMacs and provides you with our first-take on these sexy new beasts.
The Multi-Touch Desktop Experience Begins
Apple's Magic Trackpad features the same sculpted aluminum design as the Apple Wireless Keyboard, and side by side the two sit flush at the same angle and height. Go from typing to gesturing in one motion, or do both at the same time. How perfect is that?
Apple states that swiping through pages online feels just like flipping through pages in a book or magazine – And inertial scrolling makes moving up and down a page more natural than ever. Magic Trackpad connects to your Mac via Bluetooth wireless technology. Use it in place of a mouse or in conjunction with one. The Magic Trackpad is now available at the incredibly low price of U.S. $69.
Some of the technology used in Apple's new Magic Trackpad is actually supported by one of Apple's newly granted patents today on capacitive sensing. Today's granted patent supports the use of gestures on a variety of larger surfaces while being able to distinguish specific gestures from that of a users hand simply resting on the Magic Trackpad. Better still, today's granted patent could actually provide us with a peek into future features that could be introduced at a later date - a feature such as the "Pen Grip" that the granted patent supports.
The iMac gets a Refresh
Of course to go along with your new Magic Trackpad are the refreshed iMacs that rolled out today. In general, Apple has added the Intel iCore i3 to the iMac so that all iMacs are now on the iCore Series of Intel processors.
New is Apple's optional Solid State Drive. Apple says that if you configure your iMac with both the solid-state drive and a Serial ATA hard drive, it will come pre-formatted with Mac OS X and all your applications on the solid-state drive. Then you can use the hard drive for videos, photos and other files. Nice – except for the fact that it will set you back a stiff $600 U.S.
New is the 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5750 Graphics card and unfortunately Apple doesn't give other iMac's the option to add that speedier card. Nope – you have to buy Apple's top of the line iMac for that feature - though it's included in the price.
Shockingly, you'll be forced to buy Apple's top tier iMac just to gain access to an i5 based processor. This isn't very competitive considering that Dell, for example, is currently selling an i5 based Tower desktop for about $999 (Canadian) which includes a 24" LCD display. So it was very disappointing to see that Apple didn't slip the i5 down the iMac line-up into at least the $1699 U.S. price slot. Hopefully we'll see the i5 take the two middle price slots in time for Christmas - where it should be.
Disappointingly Apple didn't get ahead of the curve in respect to USB 3.0 or faster Firewire as was rumored and hoped for. With the iPhone shifting to LTE next year, Apple should have pushed for the faster I/O now. Apple also continues to ignore Blu-ray which should at least be an option on their top iMac by now.
Is Intel's Sandy Bridge around the Corner?
Like always, if you need a Mac for back to school or your old one has come to the end of its life, then the new iMacs are a decent upgrade. On the other hand if you could wait it out, Apple should be taking the iMac to the next level with Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture sometime between Q4 2010 and the first half of 2011.
During Intel's financial conference this month, Paul Otellini hinted that Sandy Bridge, the next generation micro architecture could ship in systems in time for Christmas. They were supposed to be shipping the new processors to PC OEM's in Q4 for Q1 2011 systems. But Otellini stated that Intel has accelerated their 32mn Sandy Bridge schedule which would translate to at least shipping them out one quarter earlier.
Here's what Otellini stated: "In closing, I want to mention our upcoming product family codenamed Sandy Bridge. Last quarter I mentioned that we were broadly sampling this product to our customers. I'm more excited about Sandy Bridge than I have been on any product that the company has launched in a number of years.
Whether Apple will pass on Sandy Bridge based iMacs for this Christmas is unknown at this time. However, we may hear more about the timing of Sandy Bridge at Intel Developer Conference (IDF) starting on September 13, 2010 in San Francisco.
Sandy Bridge is promising to boost all things 3D and HD - with full support for Blu-ray (if that means anything to Apple). Intel provided us with hints during a keynote at CES 2010 that a 3D internet experience and other applications would require a minimum 4-core if not an 8-core Sandy Bridge based system.
If this interests you in any way and you're able to to put off an iMac purchase until then, by all means do so. On the other hand, if you're in need of a new iMac now - then Apple's sexy little iMac will be an excellent choice as always - especially if you venture into buying one with with the new Magic Trackpad.
Now it's your turn. What's your take on the new iMacs?
Sure, we've been hearing whispers that Apple's got a new Mac Pros and some updated iMacs waiting in the wings, but our friend John Gruber at Daring Fireball seems just a mite more confident about things -- in a post trumpeting the return of his podcast The Talk Show, John coyly says tomorrow "might hypothetically" bring new Mac Pros, speedbumped iMacs (we'd guess the Core i3 will make its OS X debut), and a new 27-inch 16:9 Cinema Display will all arrive tomorrow. John also says the Magic Trackpad might also arrive tomorrow, but he's calling that one a "double-hypothetical," so who knows -- we'd think anything more serious than hardware refreshes would warrant a Jobs introduction, but hey, maybe Steve's all talked out for the month. We'll see what happens -- stay tuned.
Colorware strikes again. This time the new Mac Mini get the rainbow treatment, with a full range of logo and body coloring options letting you beautify or putrefy as you please.
The service costs $250—almost half what it costs to Colorware an iPad—or $1000 if you want them to throw in the hardware as well. Honestly, the Mac Mini's up there on my list of gadgets that could use a little personality. Or a lot, of you've got a heavy hand with the fuchsia. [Colorware via Engadget]
WASHINGTON – Owners of the iPhone will be able to legally unlock their devices so they can run software applications that haven't been approved by Apple Inc., according to new government rules announced Monday.
The decision to allow the practice commonly known as "jailbreaking" is one of a handful of new exemptions from a 1998 federal law that prohibits people from bypassing technical measures that companies put on their products to prevent unauthorized use of copyright-protected material. The Library of Congress, which oversees the Copyright Office, reviews and authorizes exemptions every three years to ensure that the law does not prevent certain non-infringing uses of copyright-protected works.
For iPhone jailbreakers, the new rules effectively legitimize a practice that has been operating in a legal gray area by exempting it from liability. Apple claims that jailbreaking is an unauthorized modification of its software.
Mario Ciabarra, founder of Rock Your Phone, which calls itself an "independent iPhone application store," said the rules mark the first step toward opening the iPhone app market to competition and removing the "handcuffs" that Apple imposes on developers that want to reach users of the wildly popular device.
Unless users unlock their handsets, they can only download apps from Apple's iTunes store. Software developers must get such apps pre-approved by Apple, which sometimes demands changes or rejects programs for what developers say are vague reasons.
Ciabarra noted that Google Inc. has taken a different approach with its Android operating system, which is emerging as the biggest competitor to the iPhone. Google allows users of Android phones to download applications from outside the Android Market.
Although Apple has never prosecuted anyone for jailbreaking, it does use software upgrades to disable jailbroken phones, and the new government rules won't put a stop to that. That means owners of such phones might not be able to take advantage of software improvements, and they still run the risk of voiding their warranty.
Apple spokesman Natalie Kerris said Monday that the company is concerned about jailbreaking because the practice can make an iPhone unstable and unreliable.
"Apple's goal has always been to ensure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone, and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience," she said.
In addition to jailbreaking, other exemptions announced Monday would:
• allow owners of used cell phones to break access controls on their phones in order to switch wireless carriers.
• allow people to break technical protections on video games to investigate or correct security flaws.
• allow college professors, film students, documentary filmmakers and producers of noncommercial videos to break copy-protection measures on DVDs so they can embed clips for educational purposes, criticism or commentary.
• allow computer owners to bypass the need for external security devices called dongles if the dongle no longer works and cannot be replaced.
• allow blind people to break locks on electronic books so that they can use them with read-aloud software and similar aides.
Although the jailbreaking exemption is new, all the others are similar to the last set of exemptions, which were announced in November 2006. The new rules take effect Tuesday and are expected to last a few years.
The exceptions are a big victory for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which had urged the Library of Congress to legalize several of them, including the two regarding cell phones.
Jennifer Stisa Granick, EFF's civil liberties director, said the rules are based on an important principle: Consumers should be allowed to use and modify the devices that they purchase the way they want. "If you bought it, you own it," she said.
new imac models to bring usb 3.0, fw 1600/3200? [rumor]
According to AppleInsider, Apple has contacted retailers about impending shortages of the Apple iMac, suggesting that a new model may be forthcoming. This isn’t exactly news, because Apple’s desktop line really is due for an internal upgrade. The real tasty treat was shared by Hardmac. Not only did they say that the iMac (and the Mac Pro) would be seeing an “end of summer” update, they also said that the updates will include zippy USB 3.0 and FireWire 1600 or 3200 interfaces.
Although to be honest, I don’t think that the USB update is true, if only because USB 3.0 isn’t prevalent yet. Apple can just as easily add that in a year or two. An HDMI port would be more likely. And if anything, it’s the processors and GPU on the iMacs that need an update.
In the end, if you’re planning on buying an iMac in the coming weeks, keep these rumors in mind. Not necessarily what they say, but their timing. These two combined with the touchscreen iMac rumor are indicating that the iMac line will soon be refreshed, perhaps within a month or two. If you can hold off on purchasing an iMac then do so.
Bad news, Oracle. You've slipped to second place for the first time in years. The good news is that it's in Secunia's ranking of the top ten companies with the most software vulnerabilities, which is now topped by Apple -- Microsoft remains in third place, followed by HP and Adobe. According to Secunia, Apple's vulnerabilities are mostly not in OS X, but in Safari, iTunes and other applications. What's important to note, however, is that Secunia's definition of "vulnerability" doesn't simply include dangerous, exploitable vulnerabilities, so the rankings don't necessarily indicate which software is the most insecure from a user's point of view.
One vulnerability that is potentially serious, however, is an issue with Safari's AutoFill feature recently discovered by Jeremiah Grossman of WhiteHat Security. According to Grossman, a malicious website can exploit the feature to pull data from a user's address book without their knowledge, which has been demonstrated to take "mere seconds" by a bit of proof of concept code (you can try out yourself if you're feeling trusting). Grossman also says he's informed Apple of the vulnerability but hasn't received a response, and suggests that the only "fix" in the meantime is to turn off the AutoFill feature completely.
Update:AllThingsD has a statement from Apple on the AutoFill issue -- a spokesperson says "we take security and privacy very seriously," and that, "we're aware of the issue and working on a fix."
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Two months after Apple edged past Microsoft to become the world's most valuable tech company, it's approaching another milestone: Apple's quarterly sales could top Microsoft's, for the first time ever.
Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) on Tuesday yet again wowed investors by handily beating Wall Street's revenue estimates for the past quarter. By posting $15.7 billion in sales, Apple set itself up to beat its longtime rival. When Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) reports its earnings on Thursday for the quarter that recently ended, analysts predict Microsoft will say it took in "just" $15.3 billion in sales.
diggEmail Print CommentEven if Microsoft beats those estimates, Apple's sales will almost certainly pass Microsoft next time around. Apple told analysts it's on track to take in a whopping $18 billion in the three-month stretch that ends Sept. 30., which would easily be Apple's best quarter ever -- and the company's guidance is notoriously conservative.
So Apple is poised to dethrone Microsoft. Customers are spending more money on iPhones, Macs, iPods and iPads than they are on Windows licenses, Microsoft Office and Xboxes.
But does it matter? Are Microsoft and Apple even really rivals these days?
"The media loves to tell this story, but I don't think it's a particularly relevant comparison," said Barry Jaruzelski, management consultant at Booz & Co. "In the past seven or eight years, Apple went from a computer company to a cutting-edge consumer electronics business, and Microsoft is a platform software business."
Once known as Apple Computer Inc., Steve Jobs' company dropped the "computer" from its name and became simply Apple Inc. in 2007. Macintosh computer sales accounted for just over a quarter of Apple's revenue in the last three months, while 65% came from sales of iPhones, iPads and iPods. Music sales on iTunes made up 8% of the money Apple took in.
Though Apple certainly makes software, like its Mac operating system and iPhone iOS, it has essentially become a hardware business that is enabled by its software.
Its biggest competitors have become companies like Nokia (NOK), Research in Motion (RIMM) and Motorola (MOT, Fortune 500) in the smartphone market. Hewlett-Packard is a consumer-gadget giant and a looming tablet threat. And Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) is Apple's most formidable challenger in the mobile advertising market
By contrast, Microsoft is still predominately a software company and is heavily reliant on the success of PCs: Windows and Office generate more than half of the company's revenue and profit. Also, nearly three-quarters of Microsoft's customers are businesses, a space that Apple is only starting to make headway in.
Microsoft now competes more with Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500), SAP (SAP) and Adobe (ADBE) than Apple.
"Although it's fun to compare them, the reality is these are two ships that passed in the night," said Noah Kravitz, executive editor-in-chief at gadget news site PhoneDog.com.
The tech pages were all abuzz when Apple passed Microsoft in market capitalization in late May, but it still has a long way to go to get to where Microsoft once was.
With a market cap now hovering around $236 billion, Apple is the second-most valuable company in the U.S., behind only Exxon. But at the start of the decade, when its share price was more than quadruple what it is now, Microsoft's market cap was a stunning $550 billion.
And though Apple and Microsoft may be the kings of tech on the stock market, they don't come close to bringing in the kind of sales that some of their behemoth competitors do. HP (HPQ, Fortune 500), by far the largest tech company in the world, is expected to post $30 billion in revenue this quarter, and IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) is forecast to take in $24 billion.
Apple Wins Patents for Dashboard & Future iPad Feature
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 12 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today of which two were for design patents including one for Apple's 3G iPhone. The notables within the remainder of this group include one relating to Apple's OS X feature known as Dashboard and perhaps most importantly, Apple has won a strategically important multi-touch patent covering a visual expander that may be used in a future iteration of the iPad or other unique multi-touch application.
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