I was talking with Fabien today and he mentioned that Apple will be investigated by the FTC for possibly "using its position in the mobile software market to harm competitors" according to CNET on Friday. Apparently, Apple is targeting developers using programs which also allow development of apps that work with Adobe's Flash.
Additionally, Apple is also targeting developers who wanted to use a mobile-advertising partner other than Apple. CNET wrote that:
The new rules blocked developers using other platforms that allow them to make one application that runs on multiple devices--for example, not just on Apple's iPhone, but on competitors' devices as well. Adobe's Flash platform and Novell's MonoTouch are both developer tools that fall into this category.
Then, earlier this week, Apple banned developers from using advertising in their iPhone applications that shares analytic data with "an advertising service provider owned by or affiliated with a developer or distributor of mobile devices, mobile operating systems or development environments other than Apple."
The ban on other advertisers by Apple is, in my opinion, clearly aimed at hurting Google and their recent acquistion of AdMob by forcing developers to take extra time to recreate their app for Android's OS.
This latest developmentmay not come as too much of a surprise to those of you that have been following the developments from Apple removing Adobe Flash support for their future devices, and instead pushing for HTML5. It has been a fairly ugly confrontation, and I anticipate that it will only get uglier.
AndroidGuys also noted that in Apple's case against HTC, HTC is now making claims that Apple is using some of HTC's patents without permission. HTC claims that Apple is infringing on five of HTC's patents, including "personalized software phone dialers, power-management technology, and a phone dialer with memory access" according to the article from AndroidGuys.
Where it all will end? When someone in the patent office decides that patents in the mobile device business arena need to be more carefully reviewed before acceptance, so that we don't have these numerous court cases and settlements that continue to plague the industry.
Other Sources: AndroidGuys
Image from Gizmodo
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