After letting the initial dust Apple kicked towards HTC settle, my iPhone-toting compatriot Rene (I think you guys know him or something) and I had a discussion about the patent lawsuit and Apple in general. It was kicked off by this video dug up by the fine chaps at Gizmodo, and it made me realize, at least from my perspective atop my pile of defective Palm Pre phones, that Apple has changed as a company over the past year. Now before you go thinking that I'm so Apple-hating bozo from Cincinnati, be warned that I do like Apple products: I've been using and loving a MacBook Pro of one variety or another for the last six years, upgrade to the next version of OS X the day it's available, and own both an Airport Extreme and an Apple TV. But I'm worried that Apple's recent successes may be leading to a dark place. And that place is the land where innovation is forgotten.

Apple's attack on HTC underscores two things for me. One: user interface patents are silly. It's like patenting the chair and saying nobody else can make chairs and they'll have to figure out different ways for people to sit. And no, couches and benches aren't cool, they're just big chairs. Two: Apple seems to have forgotten how to innovate and sees lawsuits as the only way to protect their business model.

It seems mighty silly to me to think that Apple is worried about HTC knocking off the iPhone as king of the smartphone hill. The iPhone is still relatively fresh (two and a half years on market) and the smartphone market itself is rapidly expanding. As Palm CEO Job Rubinstein says: there's plenty of room for several large players. And I think I'd like it that way. Not just so Palm can stay around, but because having several large players ensures that there are multiple parties spurring innovation in each other and that the failing of one doesn't result in the complete and utter dominance of the only other platform. In this case, the smartphone market is more like the automobile industry and less like the Windows-Mac duopoly that is desktop computing.

Either way, my fear is that Apple is instead going to rely on these sort of lawsuits as a way to maintain their fledgling dominance of the smartphone market. But it's only going to result in really bad PR for Apple. The only claims that they can make are claims in principle that HTC is violating their patents, while HTC can argue in principle that those patents are a silly thing anyway. Apple certainly can't argue that HTC's alleged patent violations are cutting into Apple's ridiculous profit margin – the people that buy Android or Windows phones aren't the type that are out to buy an iPhone anyway, and it's not like there's a person on the planet that hasn't heard of the iPhone.

But as I think of it, this whole lawsuit feels indicative of a new mindset at Apple. It's been a large, but unnoticed, shift in the way they do business. Apple has move away from being the underdog innovator to being a defensive maintainer. Look back at the products Apple has unveiled in the past year and tell me what's truly innovative:

• 3rd gen iPod Shuffle? We moved the controls to the earbuds just because. It doesn't make any sense, but we'll do it anyway.

• iPhone 3GS? Make it faster and give it more memory. Pack it all into the same package as before and let's call it a day. Wait, no, let's call it the 3GS – it's much more hip that way.

• iPhone OS 3.0? MMS and tethering! And a whole tone of new APIs for unexplored niche products, just because we can. The iPhone user experience? No need to change that. It works, and it can't possibly be made better.

• New MacBook Pros? We're going to revolutionize the laptop computer by adding, wait for it, SD card readers! Yeah, that's awesome and totally unlike anything anybody's ever done before. We even did a study to see if that's what people wanted. What they don't want is Blu-ray or HDMI. Those are bags 'o hurt, I say. People want iTunes.

• New iMac? Make it bigger and use a better screen. Also, a screen this big doesn't need Blu-ray either. It's far too good for that. Use iTunes instead; who even wants the option of 1080p video off a disc? Pfft.

• Magic Mouse? Okay, I'll give Apple this one, adding multi-touch gestures to the mouse is a really different move. But if the mouse is the only cool thing you've done…

• iPad? It's magical, it's amazing, it's beautiful, it's a giant iPod Touch and fails to provide and real innovation above and beyond what you can already do on an iPhone and evel loses several features, it's the iPad! (the tech media goes wild, soils themselves, and then thinks about how silly and underwhelming the whole thing is when they've got new pants).

Don't get me wrong, I still love my MBP (ExpressCard slot and all) and OS X. But Apple's competitors are threatening to out-innovate Apple at every turn. Android 2.0 (with HTC's help) and Palm webOS have far outpaced the iPhone OS user experience, so much so that the only thing the iPhone has going for it is all the apps and iTunes (which itself in need of something more than major innovation). Windows Phone 7 Series has turned my idea of how a mobile OS should work completely on its head, and honestly, Windows 7 ain't that bad. I no longer dread booting up Parallels.

Now, we may very well be in a lull when it comes to Apple's innovative progress, but these are the kind of lulls that can kill a company. Technological development is moving faster than ever and the multi-year lulls that struck Palm circa 2006 and Apple circa 1994 are the kind of lulls that can kill a company today. The market has changed so dramatically that even with arguably the most innovative mobile OS out there Palm is struggling to recover from a few years of uninspired products.

This new defensive, offensive, and numbers-touting (look at how many apps we have!) Apple worries me. Apple's innovations have kicked the industry in the head multiple times before, but now it looks like the tables have been turned.

Of course, I could be completely wrong and be blown out of the water by iPhone OS 4.0 and OS X 10.7. But the bitter pill that the iPad, and now this lawsuit, have left me with has me concerned for Apple's foresight. Maybe they've gotten too big and lost touch with what made Apple the success that it is today. But in the end, getting all defensive and trying to sue their way out of a problem is only going to hurt Apple and the industry as a whole.

Derek Kessler is editor of TiPb’s sibling site, PreCentral.net.

Guest Editorial: Forget about innovation is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

The Examiner is claiming Apple will be training Apple Retail Store staff on the iPad starting March 10 followed by TV commercials to air starting March 15 (focusing on iBooks), and will likely be made available for sale March 26. (With overnight campers being rewarded with a “special gift”).

The sources are said to be “insiders” and a SoCal Apple Store Manager who wishes (obviously) to remain anonymous.

9to5Mac thinks the commercial might be the top secret little number shot back in August.

Sound reasonable? Anyone breaking out the camping gear? (Or are you watching, waiting, and considering gen 2 instead )

(And is this more reason than ever to get in on TiPb’s countdown to iPad give-away?)

Rumor: iPad Training March 10, Commercial March 15, Release March 26? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Lots of movement on the Apple jobs (as in employment, not Steve) front lately, so here’s a look at the recent loss of a music exec to Thumbplay, the gain of a security chief from Mozilla (and before that Microsoft), and they’re hiring a Mobile Advertising team and an iBooks Store lead for Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Thumbplay, a company formerly noteworthy (or not) for ringtones is getting into mobile music says MediaMemo, hiring Pablo Calamera. MacRumors tells us Calamera was most recently Director of Apple’s Engineering division, overseeing MobileMe. (Yeah, the troubled-launch jokes write themselves, right?)

Apple gains a security chief from Mozilla in Window Snyder according to PCWorld. Prior to that she started the Blue Hat program at Microsoft which helped them engage with security researchers. Please let that be her roll at Apple. Anything that creates faster security responses, actually.

Mobile Advertising, meanwhile, is being staffed up beyond even the Quatro Wireless purchase says Silicon Alley Insider. An iPhone advertising SDK manager is being sought and a team is being built.

Also being sought after is a manager for the iBooks Store says MacRumors, specifically one for Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Does that mean those countries will be getting iBooks as well at some point? We certainly hope so!

Any other insightful Apple job postings out there? Let us know!

Apple Jobs: Online Engineer Lost to Thumbplay , Security Gained from Mozilla/Microsoft, Mobile Advertising Wants SDK Manager, iBooks Store Wants Canada and AsiaPac is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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While precious little new information is coming to light about Apple’s just-announced lawsuit against HTC, a lot more specu-nalysis has been hitting the blogsphere, ranging from “Apple is seeking a cross-license to get HTC’s patents” (shades of the accusations facing Nokia about their lawsuit against Apple), to “Steve Jobs feels personally betrayed by Eric Schmidt and is using HTC to get at Google’s Android”.

• Niley Patel over at Engadget has done his usual, spectacular job digging through the patents in question and surfacing what looks to be behind them. 10 are for US court, 10 for the ITC. He also points out that these lawsuits can be settled tomorrow or can drag out 10 years.

• Jesus Diaz of Gizmodo tackles the love affair and nasty breakup between Apple and Google, positing that after Apple made Google CEO Eric Schmidt a board member, and Google saw the iPhone dominating mobile web browsing, they “betrayed” Apple to try and seize that market for themselves. Having lost out to Microsoft in the Mac vs. Windows last-generation war, Giz thinks Apple has $40 billion ways to try and make sure the same doesn’t happen to the iPhone in the upcoming next-generation mobile platform war.

• John Gruber, the Daring Fireball, repeats his “if you can’t beat ‘em, sue ‘em” quip from when Nokia sued Apple, and thinks Apple is making a “terrible mistake” suing HTC. He also despises the idea of UI patents.

• Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch think Apple is suing HTC for the same reason Nokia sued Apple: to get a cross-license on patents. What could HTC have that Apple would want? (Aside from 480p screens, but it’s mostly TiPb who wants those…!)

• Our own editor-in-chief Dieter Bohn, writing for PreCentral.net, thinks that if Apple is engaged now with Nokia and HTC — who have significant patent portfolios all their own — maybe the threat of mutually assured destruction is no longer enough to keep Palm out of the patent pugilism. That does raise the question of who is next?

The US Patent Office seems to be granting everything up to and including Facebook’s recent win for ridiculously broad “the feed”. So we’re guessing we’ll be seeing more rather than less of these lawsuits as time goes on (unless there’s some unlikely software patent-shaking decision spillover from the Supreme Court over Bilsky…)

For most of us, however, just like Nokia vs. Apple, it will remain a spectator sport. About all we can do is pass the patent popcorn and watch. First round no-contest, or 10 slobberknocker, we’ll have to wait and see…

More on Apple vs. HTC (Read: Android?) Patent Lawsuit is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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So I have before me the new iSkin solo FX SE for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS [$29.95 - TiPb Store Link]. What does this new iSkin line of flexible cases offer?

We’ll take a look (and tell you about the give away!) after the break!

The first thing I wanted to know was, what is special about the iSkin solo FX SE in comparison to the regular iSKin solo? The iSkin solo FX SE keeps is the same great form and feeling as the iSkin solo but instead of being plain, the SE has a circular pattern emblazoned on the back for added dimension, and a frosted finish.

What’s Included

The iSkin solo FX SE also comes with two screen protectors instead of one: a mirrored screen protector and a bonus anti-glare clear screen protector (my choice was based purely on narcissism).

The case is composed of a flexible silicon base which is infused with Microban. What exactly is Microban? I had not clue, so I looked it up. Turns out that Microban is an antimicrobial protection agent which impedes the formation of microbes, mold and some kinds of algae. Why would you want that in a case ? Well, considering that a phone is probably the dirtiest thing you own (for some, maybe not…), it helps protect the case from stains, odors and product break down. Really cool for an iPhone case. Just imagine if they had full body suits made of this stuff!

On second thought, lets not… Ok, back, sorry.

Usability

You wont have to worry about reception issues as there are no metallic components in the case. The flexibility makes it easy to place on and off your iPhone without worry of scratches, and it has all the usual openings for easy access to all of your iPhone’s jacks and buttons, with the exception of the volume button and top start button, which are protected by a thin layer of Microban.

This case will not protect your phone from massive drops but the rubbery finish does offer a good amount of compression for its thickness. It will protect your iPhone from the everyday scratches and scrapes that can occur in briefcases, pockets, or purses. The case is easy to grip in your hands yet that same soft-touch finish can make it hard to get out of a tight pocket. (Though if you worry about your iPhone being pick-pocketed, then this is the case for you!)

Another mixed blessing, the side edges of the case goes up higher than the bezel of the iPhone, this offers more protection but it also means that you cannot swipe your fingers off the edge of the iPhone without hitting the case .

Conclusion

The iSkin Solo FX SE is a wonderful case for those who want to add a bit of texture and grip to your iPhone. If you want a case that will survive being sumo dropped…

…then this case may not be for you (we’ll review the sumo-proof option next time) but if you want a light streamlined case with a nice look, then iSkin is a great choice, and you can get it for $29.95 from the TiPb iPhone Accessory Store.

Give Away (and iPad Give Away Qualification)

Now what we have all been waiting for, the give-away!

The TiPb Store is giving away three (3) iSkin Solo FX SE cases, one each in black/gray, clear, and pink. To enter:

1. head on over to YouTube:
2. Subscribe to the TiPb YouTube channel
3. Leave a comment on our iSkin Solo FX SE video and include which color you’re entering to win (black, clear, or pink).

Only one comment per user, so pick your color carefully! We’ll choose three lucky recipients, one for each color, at random.

The give-away starts now and ends Friday, March 12, 2010 at 12pm PT.

iPad Give Away

Oh yes, everyone who enters this give away is also automagically entered into TiPb’s big iPad give-away (just read them details to make sure you’re eligible), so now you have even more reason to go subscribe and comment now!

YouTube Video Link

The iSkin solo FX SE was provided for review by TiPb's iPhone accessory store.

iSkin solo FX SE for iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS (iPad Give-Away Qualifier!) is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

If you are the owner of a hackivated iPhone today seems to be your lucky day as Push Doctor for push notifications has arrived via Cydia. Push Doctor supplies you with true activation certificates so unlike other workarounds, certificates are always unique.

Push Doctor is completely free and can be found on the NERV repository (http://www.cmdshft.ipwn.me/apt/) which you must add in Cydia. Keep in mind you will not see any application on your Springboard as all it will do is add certificates to your device. If you do give this a try remember to be patient as the server has been getting hammered all morning and push notifications may not work right away. So if you get any sort of error on install, simply try again at a later time.

Let us know how it’s working for you in the comments below!

[Via cmdshft]

Free Push Notifications with Push Doctor on your Hackivated iPhone is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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In today’s From the Forums we’d like to introduce to you our new forum look and layout.

First, you may have noticed our little name switch to TiPb and domain switch to tipb.com. Likewise, you can now find our forums at http://forum.tipb.com!

Second, with some new great Apple devices right around the corner it was time to change things up a little bit — to help everyone find what they need faster and better.

Third, we’re doing a ton of great give-aways lately, and a lot of them happen right in the TiPb forums (like $260 worth of PowerMat last week, 10 Appigo Todo promo codes right now, not to mention our big iPad give-away coming up!).

Becoming a member is a simple process that will only take a few moments of your time, so if you have not already already done so, head on over and register now!

• iPhone Forum: This is the place to go if you are in need of help, how-to guides, and any news and rumors regarding anything iPhone related.

• iPad Forum: Visit this forum to converse about all things iPad including release news and feature rumorse.

• iPhone Jailbreak and Unlock: This forum is dedicated to all of your iPhone or iPod touch jailbreaking and unlocking needs.

• iPhone Apps and Games: Discuss iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch native App Store apps and games, and Web Apps. Share tips, tricks, and reviews.

• Jailbreak Apps, Games, and Themes: Here is the place to chat about jailbreak apps, games, and themes for your iPhone and iPod touch.

Now that’s not all, feel free to browse our other forums to find one that interests you! See you in the forums!

Introducing the All New TiPb Forums! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Apple announced today that they are suing Windows Phone and Android hardware manufacturer, and Sense UI developer, HTC for patent infringement. The suit, filed in US District Court in Delaware, alleges violation of “20 Apple patents related to the iPhone's user interface, underlying architecture and hardware”. Says Apple CEO Steve Jobs:

"We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."

This harkens back to Steve Jobs’ original introduction of the iPhone at Macworld 2007 when, as a keynote bullet point, he stated emphatically about the iPhone — “boy did we patent it.”

HTC, who produces the Android G1, MyTouch, and Hero and the Nexus One hardware for Google, and a variety of Windows Phones including the Touch Pro 2 and HD2 has built their own multitouch solutions, even when Google was reticent to implement the technology themselves. Curiously, Apple has yet to go after Palm, perhaps due to Palm’s equally impressive mobile patent portfolio. Likewise, does going after HTC allow Apple to go after Android and Windows Phone without taking on Google and Microsoft?

More on this as it develops. Also keep an eye on our sibling sites, Android Central for more from the HTC angle.

UPDATE 2: Android Central brings us an HTC response:

We only learned of Apple’s actions based on your stories and Apple’s press release. We have not been served yet so we are in no position to comment on the claims. We respect and value patent rights but we are committed to defending our own innovations. We have been innovating and patenting our own technology for 13 years.

UPDATE 1: Gizmodo has the full list:

• The '331 Patent, entitled “Time-Based, Non-Constant Translation Of User Interface Objects Between States,” was duly and legally issued on April 22, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
• The '949 Patent, entitled “Touch Screen Device, Method, And Graphical User Interface For Determining Commands By Applying Heuristics,” was duly and legally issued on January 20, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '949 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit B.
• The '849 Patent, entitled “Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image,” was duly and legally issued on February 2, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '849 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit C.
• The '381 Patent, entitled “List Scrolling And Document Translation, Scaling, And Rotation On A Touch-Screen Display,” was duly and legally issued on December 23, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '381 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit D.
• The '726 Patent, entitled “System And Method For Managing Power Conditions Within A Digital Camera Device,” was duly and legally issued on July 6, 1999 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '726 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit E.
• The '076 Patent, entitled “Automated Response To And Sensing Of User Activity In Portable Devices,” was duly and legally issued on December 15, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '076 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit F.
• The '105 Patent, entitled “GMSK Signal Processors For Improved Communications Capacity And Quality,” was duly and legally issued on December 8, 1998 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '105 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit G.
• The '453 Patent, entitled “Conserving Power By Reducing Voltage Supplied To An Instruction-Processing Portion Of A Processor,” was duly and legally issued on June 3, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '453 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit H.
• The '599 Patent, entitled “Object-Oriented Graphic System,” was duly and legally issued on October 3, 1995 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '599 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit I.
• The '354 Patent, entitled “Object-Oriented Event Notification System With Listener Registration Of Both Interests And Methods,” was duly and legally issued on July 23, 2002 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '354 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit J.

Yikes. Apple is asking for permanent injunction and triple damages. Some of those also read so broad that I don’t feel safe even making gestures in traffic any more!

What do you think? Is Apple right to sue? Is this their attempt to stop what happened with the Mac from happening to the iPhone? And why HTC in particular?

UPDATED: Apple Sues HTC for Patent Infringement is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Y Combinator’s sixth request for startups (RFS) is more than a little provocative, stating that they think Apple’s upcoming iPad is meant to be a Windows [and Mac OS X?] killer:

Most people think the important thing about the iPad is its form factor: that it's fundamentally a tablet computer. We think Apple has bigger ambitions. We think the iPad is meant to be a Windows killer. Or more precisely, a Windows transcender. We think Apple foresees a future in which the iPad is the default way people do what they now do with computers (and some other new things).

They think that while developers won’t like Apple’s control, users will love the price and that it “just works”. Further, the opportunity is there for devs (and their investors, ‘natch) to provide the apps people will want — and more interestingly — create apps no one has even thought of yet. (To do for the iPad what spreadsheets and web browsers did for the desktop).

Oh, and then there’s business:

One particularly interesting subproblem is how to introduce iPads into big companies. This will probably have to be done by stealth initially, as happened with microcomputers. They’ll have to be introduced as something individuals use, and which doesn’t really count as a computer and thus can’t be vetoed by the IT department. Don’t worry about this; it’s just a little tablet computer.

Y Combinator does seed funding for startups, so they’re going to be putting people’s money where their mouths are on this. While there’s likely a good deal of purposeful hyperbole injected in the “Windows killer” line, could there also be some truth in it?

[Y Combinator via Daring Fireball]

Y Combinator: We Think the iPad is Meant to be a Windows Killer is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Live from Macworld 2010, Rene and Leanna talk to Kai Yu of Beejive about BeejiveIM [$9.99 - iTunes link] for the iPhone… and iPad, as well as multitasking and push notifications.

YouTube Video link

TiPb Apps 3.2 — BeejiveIM for iPhone (Macworld 2010) is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog