hurricanemaxi
Joined: 10 Aug 2011
Posts: 120
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 Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 6:32 pm Post subject: Apple’s Claim Against Android Awaits ITC Ruling |
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For two years, Apple Inc. (AAPL) has told the world that phones running on Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android operating system are iPhone rip-offs. Now Apple is about to learn whether a U.S. trade agency thinks its claims have merit.
The International Trade Commission is set to rule Dec. 14 in a patent complaint lodged by Apple against rival smartphone maker HTC Corp. (2498) The decision, postponed from the original date of tomorrow, would mark the first final verdict from any judicial entity in Apple’s global patent war against HTC and fellow Android-phone makers Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.
A ruling for Apple may lead to a ban on U.S. imports of HTC devices, derailing the Taoyuan, Taiwan-based company’s trajectory from a small contract manufacturer founded in 1997 to the biggest U.S. smartphone seller in the third quarter. A victory for HTC may help it secure favorable terms in any settlement with Apple.
“In the past two years, HTC has emerged essentially from obscurity by promoting their own brand and high-end phones, and they’ve largely been able to do this by leveraging Android,” said Alex Spektor, an analyst with Strategy Analytics Inc.
HTC generated about $5 billion in U.S. sales last year, according to a separate patent complaint it filed at the trade agency against Cupertino, California-based Apple. That’s more than half of HTC’s $9.1 billion (NT$275 billion) in global 2010 sales.
HTC Shares Fall
HTC sold 24 percent of the smartphones in the U.S. during the third quarter, ahead of Samsung’s 21 percent and Apple’s 20 percent, Canalys reported Oct. 31. The Android platform accounts for almost 70 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, the Palo Alto, California-based researcher said. There were 120.4 million smartphones worldwide in the third quarter, a 49 percent jump from the year-ago period, Canalys said.
Investors, speculating that HTC might lose the case, sent HTC to a 17-month low ahead of the ruling. HTC declined by its 7 percent daily limit to close at NT$448.50 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, the lowest since July 2010. Apple rose $5.49, or 1.4 percent, to $395.19 at 12:23 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.
HTC’s Android phones, introduced in 2008, infuriated Steve Jobs, according to Walter Isaacson’s biography of the late Apple founder. Jobs made it his mission “to destroy Android,” which he said “ripped off the iPhone, wholesale,” according to the book.
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