Apple Targeted for Another Patent Payout, BlackBerry 10 Phones Launch Jan. 10
In today’s mobile news roundup: VirnetX files new lawsuit against Apple; BlackBerry 10 smartphones to launch on January 30; Surface RT off to a modest start; and HTC and Apple finally ended patent dispute with a 10-year contract.
VirnetX files new lawsuit against Apple
Fresh from their win against Apple, VirnetX Holding Corp. filed a new case against the iPhone maker alleging that the iPad Mini, fourth-generation iPad, iPhone 5, fifth-generation iPod Touch and all Macs equipped with OS X 10.8 or Mountain Lion, violated the same patents. The patents in question are related to FaceTime, iMessage, Apple’s video chat application, and SMS text-replacement.
The Texas jury from the first case sided with VirnetX, stating that Apple did infringe their patents. U.S. District Court Judge Leonard Davis ordered Apple to pay VirnetX $368.2 million. Judge Davis ordered the two parties to meet on December 14, 2012 in meeting preceded by a mediator in the hopes of settling the dispute without having to go on trial.
In other Apple news, the company is said to be paying Samsung 20 percent more for processors used in their iDevices. Samsung increased the price of their processors and Apple has no choice but to pay more, since Samsung is currently the only company capable of producing the amount of processors they need. Apple is said to be in search of other suppliers that can accommodate their needs.
BlackBerry 10 smartphones to launch on January 10
After a very long wait, Research in Motion finally announced when their BlackBerry 10 will be available. According to RIM, BlackBerry 10 smartphones will be released on January 30 via multiple global events. RIM will be launching two device, one is a full touch-screen device and the other which will feature their signature QWERTY keypad. RIM will also unveil more details regarding the BB10 platform.
“Thanks to our strong partnerships with global carriers and a growing ecosystem of developers, we believe our customers will have the best experience possible with BlackBerry 10,” CEO Thorsten Heins said in a statement today. “We are looking forward to getting BlackBerry 10 in the hands of our customers around the world.”
Surface RT off to a modest start
According to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, sales of the newly released Surface RT tablet is off to a “modest” start- meaning the sales of the tablet is quite low though the demand for the tablet seems high as the device was listed as out of stock for more than a week. Ballmer stated that the “modest” sales of the Surface RT is due to the fact that it is only available in Microsoft’s online store and a few retail stores.
HTC and Apple finally ended patent dispute with a 10-year contract
In a very surprising move, Apple dropped all their lawsuits against HTC worldwide as the two companies entered a 10-year patent licensing agreement. Both companies are quite pleased with the agreement since it didn’t end up with HTC paying Apple a huge amount and neither of them spending hours in court with either of them ending up filing for an appeal. So what does this deal with HTC mean? Will Apple soon settle their dispute with Samsung too?
Click here to read SiliconANGLE’s John Casaretto’s coverage.
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