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> About the only time these things diverge from the normal path, is when one side is suing to essentially put another out of business. And that's hardly the cas

> About the only time these things diverge from the normal path, is when one side is suing to essentially put another out of business. And that's hardly the case here. I'm not so sure about this. By going after the biggest Android manufacturer, youngest and smallest major smartphone manufacturer and a foreign company, It sort of seems that Apple does want to put HTC out of business, at least in this field.

cjlesh 16y ago
Is HTC the biggest Android manufacturer? In the US I think Motorola has sold more phones with Android than anyone else. I'm guessing Apple didn't sue Motorola because Motorola probably has a patent portfolio in the mobile phone space that is quite scary.
- ericz 16y ago
  Definitely Motorola has a more formidable patent portfolio but HTC has been selling Android phones way before Motorola. HTC is behind the G1, MyTouch, Sprint Hero, Droid Eris, Nexus One. Moto has Droid and Cliq, and now backflip but only Droid has much traction. Regardless symbolically HTC is also more symbolically representative of Android, they both produced the first Android phone and Google's own Nexus One. To me it seems like Apple is taking a jab at Android more so than HTC.
mbreese 16y ago
You can't look at the HTC suit without looking at it in the context of the Nokia suits. I doubt Apple has any interest in putting HTC out of business, but more likely this is a case of Apple trying to firm up its patent portfolio quickly to make the Nokia suits easier to manage.
megablast 16y ago
Maybe Apple just wanted to see what they would reply with? How they would react. Apple does have all these patents, though not as substantive as Nokia, from what I have read they mostly seem to be software. The only stupid way this would go is if some court did actually ban the import of a HTC/Nokia/Apple device. More likely, cross-licensing agreement between all parties involved, with Apple having to pay Nokia for the priveledge. I believe HTC already does this.
- rbanffy 16y ago
  > The only stupid way this would go is if some court did actually ban the import of a HTC/Nokia/Apple device I think that would be fun to watch
dfox 16y ago
I cannot see how HTC qualifies as youngest smart phone manufacturer (and I'm not sure about the smallest part either). HTC designs and manufactures PDAs and smart phones for at least 12 years (Compaq iPaq 3600, probably first really sucessful Windows Mobile PDA was designed and manufactured by HTC). But only recently they started to market their products directly. "quietly brilliant" may have something to do with this :)

cjlesh 16y ago

Is HTC the biggest Android manufacturer? In the US I think Motorola has sold more phones with Android than anyone else. I'm guessing Apple didn't sue Motorola because Motorola probably has a patent portfolio in the mobile phone space that is quite scary.

ericz 16y ago
Definitely Motorola has a more formidable patent portfolio but HTC has been selling Android phones way before Motorola. HTC is behind the G1, MyTouch, Sprint Hero, Droid Eris, Nexus One. Moto has Droid and Cliq, and now backflip but only Droid has much traction. Regardless symbolically HTC is also more symbolically representative of Android, they both produced the first Android phone and Google's own Nexus One. To me it seems like Apple is taking a jab at Android more so than HTC.

mbreese 16y ago

You can't look at the HTC suit without looking at it in the context of the Nokia suits. I doubt Apple has any interest in putting HTC out of business, but more likely this is a case of Apple trying to firm up its patent portfolio quickly to make the Nokia suits easier to manage.

megablast 16y ago

Maybe Apple just wanted to see what they would reply with? How they would react. Apple does have all these patents, though not as substantive as Nokia, from what I have read they mostly seem to be software. The only stupid way this would go is if some court did actually ban the import of a HTC/Nokia/Apple device. More likely, cross-licensing agreement between all parties involved, with Apple having to pay Nokia for the priveledge. I believe HTC already does this.

rbanffy 16y ago
> The only stupid way this would go is if some court did actually ban the import of a HTC/Nokia/Apple device I think that would be fun to watch

dfox 16y ago

I cannot see how HTC qualifies as youngest smart phone manufacturer (and I'm not sure about the smallest part either). HTC designs and manufactures PDAs and smart phones for at least 12 years (Compaq iPaq 3600, probably first really sucessful Windows Mobile PDA was designed and manufactured by HTC). But only recently they started to market their products directly. "quietly brilliant" may have something to do with this :)