After a round of saber rattling that left Palm and Apple hurling threats of patent infringement lawsuits, the Sunnyvale, Calif. company Wednesday attempted to smooth any ruffled feathers.
Palm had “no issues with Apple” patents and is “very respectful of other companies” patent portfolios, Palm chief Ed Colligan told an audience at the Thomas Weisel Technology & Telecom Conference.
The comments follow a week of verbal sparring between Palm and Apple over the upcoming introduction of the Pre, a touch-screen handset from the Treo maker.
Interim Apple CEO Tim Cook had hinted to reporters the Cupertino, Calif.-based company would use “whatever weapons we have at our disposal” to protect iPhone patents. Palm responded by saying it was “confident” the Pre could withstand such a challenge – and mentioned the company owned several foundational cell phone patents of its own.
Colligan also told the conference that it will introduce a webOS app store for over-the-air downloads through Sprint. However, the Palm chief said Pre users won’t be tethered to only Palm’s store, a seeming dig at Apple’s App Store.
Sprint apparently won’t be the exclusive Pre carrier. The handset, set to launch the first half of 2009, will also be available through “additional carrier partners” in early 2010, reports said.
