An interesting Apple patent filing submitted in October 2010 (before the original iPad was unveiled) but only just published, appears to show the future of multitouch and it’s a major leap from the simple pinch and spread motions we’re currently used to.
The detailed document describes physical actions that could have us flicking and pouring files between our iPads and iPhones. If Apple puts these future multitouch plans into place, it could mean the death of the aging desktop metaphor…
Way back in 2007 when the original iPhone was launched Apple filed for a rather broad patent regarding capacitive multi-touch displays. Today that patent was approved. Patent experts agree its the wide scope may pose problems for major smartphone players such as HTC, Motorola, Samsung and even Nokia. If you’re a manufacturer hoping to release a smartphone with a capacitive multi-touch display there’s a good chance Apple will charge a fee to do so.
Apple submits a lot of patent applications. Mountains of paper work go from Cupertino to the US Patent & Trademark Office every year and it seems like almost every idea Apple idly toys with gets picked up and analysed with the false assumption that it will end up in some future product.
Companies apply for patents for a variety of reasons including to store up a stash of them to use in lawsuits like the current Apple/Samsung brouhaha. Not every sketch or schematic will one day take physical form.
Apple’s stronghold on the iPhone ecosystem could be mounting, at least if the company’s latest patent filing comes to fruition. In a move which looks to establish the Cupertino-based company as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), it is not outside the realm of possibility your next iPhone could be powered by the Apple cellular network — worldwide virtual network comprised of at least three traditional carriers.
Straight from the file marked “Barking Mad Plans” comes this tale of Sony considering a PlayStation Move dock for the PSP. A recently uncovered patent, filed back in November 2009, shows a peripheral for the PSP with a built-in camera to use PlayStation Move controllers with the docked device. Do these plans still have any life in them?
Apple has snagged another NFC patent for an RFID reader incorporated into the screen of a portable touchscreen device which obviously once again points to the potential for an iPhone 5 NFC future.
The new Apple patent, entitled “Touch Screen RFID Tag Reader” lays out a plan for “the efficient incorporation of RFID circuitry within touch sensor panel circuitry”. In layman’s terms? It would allow you to put your phone against a reader to share and retrieve information…
There’s been lots of unsubstantiated iPhone 5 delay chatter but not much talk about what iPhone 5 features we might see. Now a new Apple patent has teased a potentially game changing innovation that could arrive in iPhone 5. The Apple smart bezel patent reveals a way of adding a cool secondary display with controls appearing when required in the bezel of the device. Here’s why that matters…
