Mobile Patent Wars: when law kills innovation

There is so much talk about Patent Wars that all has been said and said again. 

You want to make some some audience? That's the topic to pick! You want to start a fight with you Android/Apple fanatic friends? Go for it! You want to get rich without inventing anything? Patent something embarrassingly stupid and then sue everyone! 

Headlines are everywhere: Apple is winning this injunction against Samsung to ban import of that phone from those countries, two weeks after Samsung is suing back and making Apple publish a sorry statement on their website. Meanwhile HTC, that already pays Microsoft patents to produce Android phones, settles a cross licensing with Cupertino whose economic part is somehow unclear, Google acquires Motorola to get more patents, Apple teams up with archenemy Microsoft against Google to get some others. In the last rumors Apple and Google could bid together to get 1000 patents from the ashes of Kodak.

The weekly WrapUp - 09 Dec 12

Here we are again with a new WrapUp.

• Facebook might be interested in Whatsapp. According to the latest rumors Zuck could buy himself a new messaging app with a very big user base to expand the company efforts in the mobile space. Starting to be concerned about the privacy of your Whatsapp messages? If the deal is real, you should!

The weekly WrapUp - 02 Dec 12

After a short hiatus (sorry, work keeps me very busy!) we are back for a new edition of WrapUp. Here's the most interesting news of the week:

• Rumors of a cheap iPhone are here... again! According to the analysts Apple could create a cheap model exclusive to the emerging market, where they failed to gain a big market share due to the premium price of the device. As you know Cupertino strategy and low prices don't match but we are talking of a 3 billion people market: it could be worth some thought.. 

The weekly WrapUp - 18 Nov 12

Here we are for the second week of the WrapUp. So, what happened this week?

• Steven Sinofsky left Microsoft: the head of Windows 8 officially left the company this week. Reasons are not totally clear but most of the speculation points to clash of personality with some other Microsft Executives and Ballmer himself. After something like that happened in Cupertino it seems that shipping a major product for Microsoft or Apple could cost your job.

Android event recap.. give me mobility, productivity, internationality!

Despite the event cancellation this Monday, Google announced with less fanfare all their new Android stuff. A new OS version, two new devices and a refreshed one, more Google Now, availability of some services in new countries and media deals.

The devices

The nexus family has now 3 members: the new flagship smartphone, the Nexus 4, a refreshed Nexus 7 and the new flagship 10" tab, the Nexus 10. I'm not going to dive into the impressive specs as you can find plenty of information online. I must say that the pricing is everything we customers can expect and, that alone, is a key to a success similar to the one of the Nexus 7 (as Asus just confirmed).

The only week point I can find in the devices is what I called "mobility" in the title. First the Nexus 10 doesn't have any 3G/4G version and that's plainly a shame!

Some exciting weeks to come

Seems like the big guys are getting ready for a holiday season announcement battle:

• Apple, October 23: iPad Mini and maybe something more. Rumors hint at a minor iPad refresh and maybe some Retina MacBook Pro 13"
• Microsoft, October 26: Windows 8 and Surface
• Google, October 29: Nexus G, refresh of the Nexus 7 plus a possible Nexus 10 and Android 4.2 announcement
• Microsoft, October 29: Windows Phone 8 and devices

 All together that's huge news that could really change some of the mobile market in the months to come. In the next series of posts We'll dive in these announcements and add some thoughts on what they may mean for us.