Don’t expect another Nokia-like settlement in Apple’s current legal wrangles with HTC and Samsung. The Cupertino, Calif. tech giant could convert courtroom victories to market gains over Android worth more than $30 billion a year, argues one analyst.
“We anticipate that Apple will push its legal claims hard and unrelentingly,” writes Bernstein’s Toni Sacconaghi, cited by Fortune. Apple’s main goal: “to upend Android’s momentum by forcing a work around on key essential features which, if successful, could have huge, positive financial implications for Apple,” the analyst continues.
Just how huge? If Apple forces Android to rejigger its software, there could be a “10 percent shift in smartphone market share from Android to Apple,” according to Sacconaghi. In the U.S., the Android OS leads Apple’s iOS by 11 points, we reported Thursday.
Perhaps most striking is if Apple wins in court, the favorable legal decisions convert to more than $30 billion in additional yearly revenue for the company, the analyst writes. Little wonder Apple COO Tim Cook recently issued this warning: “We have a very simple view: we love competition, but we want people to invent their own stuff. And we’re going to make sure we defend our portfolio.”
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
28 responses to “Analyst: The Benefits of Suing Everyone Could Be “Huge” $30B Per Year Win For Apple”
Well, looks like we have an idiotic Analyst here.
They fail to realize IF apple starts suing everybody, well everybody will sue back! The problem is, A lot of these companies have larger patent portfolios then Apple. It would be suicidal for apple to sue them because well, if Apple throws several lawsuits at them, the companies could throw 10 times as much lawsuits back at them. Also to add to it, Google will start defending these Android manufactures.
If apple starts suing everybody, everybody will sue back and how in the world will apple be able to defend themselves when (literally) everybody is suing them? There is possibly no way, unless they want to put all their efforts in defending themselves!
And, the only people who will benefit from this, will be the lawyers.
Theft is theft. Apple pays big money to innovate their hardware and software and companies can’t just come along and “borrow” it without expecting to be held responsible for their actions. Paying legal fees to Apple and lawyers is STILL less expensive than coming up with new ideas on their own. So many Android and PC users hate on Apple but they sure buy a lot of the copy-cat products that their competitors make.
-Chris
http://friendsofmac.net
Soooo, Apple’s new market is the patent troll market?
I found this new apple blog and it great!
http://applefanboynews.com/
I hope this unlikely benefit happens sooner than later. It will be killing two birds with one stone.
First, it will shut up those jackass fund managers spouting their BS about Android being a huge threat to iPhone sales. Second, it will shift some market share from Android directly to iPhone sales, boosting profits and again help to shut up those jackass fund managers from braying about Android harming iPhone sales. Anything to smother Wall Street and idiot fund managers and stop them from constantly getting away with being lying and manipulating meatsacks.
Let those IP crooks try. Apple has enough reserve cash and varied product line to tie those companies up for years. It’s been said that Apple can run for about seven years without bringing in a penny on reserve cash alone. Let’s see those other companies try going a year or two like that. Apple will win by default.
I’d like to see about eight 10 lb. monkeys attempt to take down an 800 lb. gorilla and see who get seriously hurt. If those freakin’ copycat wannabes can’t use their own R&D for their product lines, they seriously deserve a lawsuit smackdown.
Apple could beat the ass off the android even without the damn suits ! but hey suits will be quicker death for the thieves and the sub std OS… so be it !
My dear friend, I’m sorry to inform you that, Apple is not the little innocent angel that you are lead to believe. ;o)
Apple is as much as a crook as, everybody else. Yes, as much as everybody else.
I love you’re description there, but it needs some fixing up. Lets keep those “8” 10 lb. monkeys. Except that about 1/3 to 1/2 of them are 800 lb. gorillas, instead of 10 lb monkeys. That 800 lb. gorilla? That is a 400-500 lb gorilla. That more is whats going on.
Yes, there are some companies apple can crush, but there are some apple shouldn’t be playing around with (Samsung is a prime example) because if Apple pushes Samsung buttons to much, samsung could easily squash Apple. Remember Samsung has a lot more patents than Apple. People have to realize that Apple’s patent portfolio is not as big as others, especially in the mobile phone industry.
It will be suicidal for Apple to do this. If Apple tries to sue everybody who is infringing on their IP’s and such, Apple will come out in the courtroom in a body bag. There is absolutely no way they will survie and the amount of money dosen’t matter.
everybody copies of everyone. Thats a fact of life. If you want to start suing everybody because you claim that they are copying off you, well everybody is going to sue back claiming that you are copying off them.
Again, the only people who benefit from this are the lawyers.
So if I follow your reasoning Apple is already infringing several patents and the third parties are just sitting idly by doing nothing. But you state this so they can copy any Apple product idea when they like – because if they get caught out they’ll sue Apple, so Apple should sit back down and shut up. A sort of mutually assured destruction by way of the courts.
Just how broken is the patent system in America? How can any company claim to be profitable when at any moment they are just a retro-active patent claim away from bankruptcy?
Sue back for what ??? You can’t just sue someone “back” because they sued you. There has to be a clear patent violation and even though others may have larger patent portfolios…they could have a billion patents, but they have to site specifically how Apple has unlawfully utilized their properties.
I think it’s pretty obvious when you look at just about everybody’s stuff out there, the name of the game is mimic Apple’s stuff which consistently edges them close to violating Apple patents, so the litigation ball is in Apple’s court.
The difference between Apple and a patent troll is, Apple actually invent stuff, produces it and market products. A patent troll just holds onto a bunch of paper locked up in a bank vault and does nothing meaningful with it but uses it to sue.
All this suing is stupid next Google is going to be suing Apple because iOS 5 uses widgets, pull down notifications, etc. Maybe Ford will sue other car companies for using 4 wheels.
competition and the issue of a sue is exciting. let it be, and may the best wins.
You have had the revelation that software bloggers have been preaching for years johnpross =D!! Patents are meant more to deter other companies from suing you. The rarest outcome of these patent claims is that one side wins and actually gets money. At the best, what Apple can hope for is that the courts force Samsung/HTC to delay their entry into the market. That in itself would be a victory for Apple. Lastly, yes, Apple is in fact infringing several patents of their competitors. The way these patents work, almost every company has patents they can sue everybody with. Heck, they could even sue you because your existence may be patented (sarcasm). The patent system is broken since any idea that seems remotely “technically advance” gets a thumbs-up and then 75% of those patents get a thumb-down in the court when used to sue others. You know that the patent office is broken when 75% of all patents are considered invalid.
The usual idea is that you would use NFC to set up the link between the two devices and then do an automatic hand over to a different protocol for doing the actual transfer of data – eg Bluetooth,iphone 5