HTC and Apple put their differences aside with a new patent deal.
Over the weekend the news broke that HTC and Apple have agree a ten-year licensing deal which will see both companies end their lawsuits against each other. Both companies cited their intentions to innovate instead of litigate from this point forward. The two companies put out press releases that look like this:
Initially details were short on where money was changing hands but Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu went on to say that 'multiple industry sources [believe] that HTC has agreed to pay Apple $6-$8 in licensing fees for each Android phone it sells. Wu estimates that could work out to be between $180-$280 million paid to Apple annually, given that HTC is expected to ship 30 million-35 million Android smartphones in 2013'. To be totally honest this seems like a cheap easy way for HTC to stay out of trouble. They aren't a company well known for having a big arsenal of patents but this is one way to end the problems other mobile manufacturers have been seeing lately!“HTC and Apple have reached a global settlement that includes the dismissal of all current lawsuits and a ten-year license agreement”.
“HTC is pleased to have resolved its dispute with Apple, so HTC can focus on innovation instead of litigation,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC.
“We are glad to have reached a settlement with HTC,” said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. “We will continue to stay laser focused on product innovation.”
Via Slashgear and Mashable.
In other news:
- RIM have scheduled the Blackberry 10 launch event for January 30th! The company says the event will take place at the same time the world over and we'll be getting to see two new devices. These will probably be the N and L-series device which we've seen leaked before! Via Blackberry Blog.
- Nokia's beautiful new Lumia 920 is available to residents of the UK sim-free, in case you don't fancy EE, from Clove. You can get it for £520 here.
- Google and Acer have announced a new Chromebook which will be available straight from Google tomorrow. It's the C7 and it'll set you back either $199 or £199. The main change with this model over Samsung's offering is that this one rocks and Intel chipset instead of an ARM one and before you ask yes you get your 2 years 200GB Google Drive allowance! You can find a lot more details here!
- Reuter's had said today that Microsoft regards their initial sales of Surface tablets as 'modest' thus far. Steve Ballmer said "We've had a modest start because Surface is only available on our online retail sites and a few Microsoft stores in the United States." We'll have to wait and see if he's right in the long run, after all the Surface tablets have been received very well so far!
- Last week there was a lot of hullabaloo about whether or not T-Mobile USA's version of the Nexus 4 would support Wifi calling. It turns out that it will NOT, sorry guys! Via CNET.
- Sammobile have got wind that Samsung will be able to use full HD AMOLED panels in their smartphones from next year. The previous suggestions were that HD LCD screens were more likely given how much easier they are to produce at the moment. The new AMOLED screens are reported to use 'FMM technology' and have a maximum pixel destiny of a staggering 440ppi, which would give a whole new meaning to Retina! Hopefully we'll see this in next years Galaxy S and Note! Via Sammobile.
- Samsung has reportedly started charging Apple 20% more for their A-series processors which power their iPad's and iPhones. The Verge said this is 'a major change in that relationship... [and] the Korean daily notes that this is the first time Samsung has sought to increase pricing on the processors that go inside Apple's mobile devices, and that Apple, faced with a lack of alternatives, has accepted Samsung's demands'. Given Apple's choice to take so much of their business else where in recent times perhaps this is Samsung's way of 'getting their own back, we're not so sure it was a smart move, especially given how sour the relationship is already between the two giants!
- There's been a few rumours flying around today that Apple may be preparing an iPhone 5 and yet another new iPad for the first half of 2013! We're going to take this one with a huge pinch of salt because Apple is well known for it's yearly release cycle and we can't see them breaking it. After all the iPad was only updated because of the new charging port which the iPhone 5 brought with it. We'll let you know if this one develops! Via PhoneArena.
- @EVLeaks has been at it again. This time they've got a snap of Verizon and Samsung's upcoming ATIV Odyssey! From what we can see it looks like another variant of Samsung's normal ATIV S. But, we'll have to wait and see!
Samsung ATIV Odyssey (SCH-I930) for Verizon twitter.com/evleaks/status…
— @evleaks (@evleaks) November 12, 2012
And finally, Nokia's new Lumia 920 got drop tested today. What are your predictions? We didn't have high hopes. Spoiler alert! We'd love to have seen what would have happened had it been dropped on the screen! Via GadJade.
