The news that Apple is suing HTC for patent infringement reminds us of a quote by the great Jack Handey: "Even though he was an enemy of mine, I had to admit that what he had accomplished was a brilliant piece of strategy. First, he punched me. Then, he kicked me. Then, he punched me again."
Make no mistake, Apple's move is brilliant - and while HTC is the apparent target, the company being punched here is Google.
That's bad news for Google's Android partners, and potentially great news for Microsoft.
Instead of going after the cash rich and impressively lawyered Google, Apple is targeting one of its key hardware partners instead. That's smart, because by going after a relatively small target Apple stands a much better chance of getting what it wants, and of doing a lot of damage to Android.
Unless Apple gets comprehensively destroyed in court, it's hard to see how this can possibly end well for Google. If HTC settles out of court - the most likely scenario - then HTC's going to have to hand over a big pile of money to Apple and other Android manufacturers will probably have to do the same.
What happens next?
If HTC doesn't settle, Apple could persuade the court to halt shipments of HTC phones to the US until the case is decided - and while it's a pretty remote possibility, an Apple win could force HTC to cripple its Android models' interfaces. That means until the case is over, anyone making Android phones has very good reason to be nervous.
An out-of-court settlement or an in-court Apple win would destroy one of Android's two major selling points: unlike, say, Windows Mobile, hardware firms don't have to pay a per-phone royalty to use it.
The second major selling point is the power of the Google brand, but we think that's damaged, too: just as Google's various handset partners were bringing their Android-powered phones to market, Google completely overshadowed their efforts with the hype around the Nexus One.
To put it bluntly, the Nexus One demonstrated that just because you're making Android phones doesn't mean Google won't shaft you.
The thinking behind the suit
This is different to Apple suing Nokia: that was a straight tit-for-tat, you-sue-us-and-we'll-sue-you-back bit of corporate tomfoolery. We suspect that the HTC case is colder and more clinical than that, a classic case of revenge being best served cold.
Remember when Google's Eric Schmidt was on the Apple board, claiming that there was no conflict of interest because Google wasn't a competitor? Steve Jobs hasn't forgotten, and you can bet he's smirking.
He's not the only one, though. By chucking sugar in Android's petrol tank, sticking a potato in its exhaust pipe and letting down its tyres, Apple isn't just giving Google the finger: it's giving Microsoft some reasons to be cheerful, too.
Android manufacturers such as HTC and Motorola make Windows Mobile kit, too, and Microsoft just happens to have a new version coming up - a new version whose interface, significantly, isn't sue-ably similar to the iPhone's. So while Apple is using HTC to get at Google, it's indirectly assisting its arch-enemy, Microsoft.
When we looked into the Windows browser ballot yesterday, we were pretty sure that the tech industry couldn't get much weirder: after all, the EU was punishing a firm for anti-competitive behaviour by making it promote a firm it's investigating for - yes! - anti-competitive behaviour.
We were wrong, because that's nothing compared to this.
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Your comments (4) Click to add a new comment
kasino72
March 4th 2010
4. Haha, the bad word filter got me. Richard Dastardly just doesn't have the same ring to it...
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kasino72
March 4th 2010
3. Hi Northerngeek:
> Microsoft and Apple are competitors but ultimately they're great partners too, both need each other and they're healthy competitors, each has their strengths and weaknesses.
I agree, but I think they're partners in the way Penelope Pitstop and **** Dastardly are partners, or Tom and Jerry, or... :)
> Google just wants the whole pie
Oh, you could write millions of words on the book scanning thing alone. I do think Google tends to think that if it's good for Google, it's good for everyone.
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healeydave
March 3rd 2010
2. I feel the same way about google, I loved their search simplicity (non-crowded website) and that is why I started using them years ago when there were many other search engines but now they seem to want to poke their fingers into everything and use their power to try and take over.
They try to play the "open system" card to suck in the masses when in reality they have complete control and know exactly what they are doing.
I can't help thinking this is not going to be good in the long run, the larger they get and the more technologies they invade!
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northerngeek
March 3rd 2010
1. "So while Apple is using HTC to get at Google, it's indirectly assisting its arch-enemy, Microsoft."
That just plainly isn't true. Microsoft and Apple are competitors but ultimately they're great partners too, both need each other and they're healthy competitors, each has their strengths and weaknesses.
Google on the other hand would kill it's own metaphorical mother given a chance to get an extra user, their value on the stock market is hyperinflated and they're beginning to cling to every niche the internet has to offer in order to stop the inevitable sinking. I can't blame them but rather than think long term about partnering with others Google partners with no-one; sure they allow users to migrate but the plan at this point seems to be to take over everything so that there is nowhere to migrate too. Schmidt believes he's the greatest man on Earth and is out to prove he can out-Apple Apple and out-Microsoft MS. The Nexus One is just one example of them stabbing people in the back to get to the top, Google has stopped being a cute kid on the block and is becoming a bolschy teen/twentysomething...
Schmidt needs to learn that his competitors don't cooperate with others out of naievity, it's long survival. MS partners with manufacturers, Apple targets new industries to expand in (e.g. Music, Books) wheras Google just wants the whole pie (e.g. their book scanning).
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