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I am always analyzing to see what the crowd got wrong. Figuring out early that the prevailing wisdom is wrong is one of the cornerstones of my investment methodology.
Since I often write unpopular views, receiving hate email goes with the territory. Some of the emails in response to slide-to-unlock feature in mobile phones in the article Apple To Make Billions On Google’s Android were particularly vicious.
‘I am a patent attorney specializing in software utility patents. I have won a number of disputes over patents similar to slide to unlock. No court will ever uphold this patent. You f* idiot, you know nothing. Stop writing. You are an engineer who knows nothing about patents. If you ever write about patents again, I am …..'
Apple (AAPL) had just kicked Google’s (GOOG) $12.5 billion dollar boy, Motorola Mobility (MMI), right where it hurts winning a major legal battle.
Google is paying about $12.5 billion to buy Motorola Mobility. According to Google, it has bought Motorola Mobility for its 17,000 patents. Google has been bolstering its patent portfolio as it battles Apple in the mobile markets.
In Germany, Munich Regional Court has ruled that Motorola’s phones infringe Apple’s slide-to-unlock patent
This is a major victory for Apple. Apple can use this decision against all Android vendors.
It is likely that I will get more hate email from fans of Google claiming that Google can get around it. Technically, it is simple to get around this patent by using a different kind of motion to unlock a phone. However, consumers have gotten used to a simple slide from left to right. A slide from left to right is intuitive for consumers who use languages that are written from left to right such as English.
As it stands now different Android vendors may develop different schemes to unlock the phones. When shopping for a phone, the first thing the consumer does is to unlock the phone. Imagine a typical consumer in a phone store getting frustrated at not being able to unlock a phone with a simple left right motion. Imagine a sales person helping the consumer with a circular motion to unlock the phone. Then imagine the consumer picking up a different brand of Android phone and having to learn yet another kind of motion to unlock the phone. Imagine all of this happening while the shopper is standing next to a beautiful display of iPhones.
I wonder if the self-professed patent experts who sent me hate email will now do mea culpa.
About Me: I am an engineer and nuclear physicist by background. I have founded two Inc. 500 companies, and have been involved in over 50 entrepreneurial ventures. I am the Chief Investment Officer at The Arora Report, which publishes four newsletters to help investors profit from change. Please feel free to write me at Nigam@TheAroraReport.com.
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Full disclosure: I, my hedge fund, and Arora Report subscribers are long Apple. Subscribers to ZYX Buy Change Alert were given a signal to take partial profits on Apple when it was trading at $525.
