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 - 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.

The Surface RT reviews round up

If you read my other posts, you may understand that the Microsoft experiment has me quite intrigued. I will have to change one of my PCs quite soon so I'm doing some research. I'd like to jump on the tablet/hybrid wagon and, for now, both Android and iOS are out of the question as they can't substitute a full laptop yet.

The fact that the Surface was produced by Microsoft itself along the software makes it one of the most interesting choices, so I did a tour of the reviews around the net about to decide if it's time to buy it or to wait for the full Windows 8 version. Just for clarity, prior to the readings the opinion was to wait. Did I change my mind?

Windows 8 and Microsoft master plan

It's just some hours to the release of Windows 8: Microsoft's biggest revision of Windows since Windows.

After a long development and testing, in which Redmond asked as never before for the users' feedback, the newest Redmond creature is ready for prime time.

As I said Windows 8 is the biggest change in the OS since its start and it's an huge gamble on Microsoft's part. Microsoft has been long accused of lack of innovation but it's something that comes naturally when you have a huge and heterogeneous consumer base. The average Windows user is a quite basic one and a drastic change in the OS would mean confusion and frustration so Microsoft always opted for a gradual change of their flagship product. Why a sudden change of mind?

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.