Apple’s patent settlement with smartphone rival HTCcame as a welcome surprise to the technology industry – and not just because it landed in the middle of the weekend.
Before his death, Apple chief Steve Jobs declared “thermonuclear war” on Google’s Android operating system, in which Apple’s case against HTC was among the first skirmishes. That his successor, Tim Cook, has achieved a long-term detente with one of Android’s biggest customers could be seen as providing hope that an end is in sight to this war on many fronts.
Many executives – and judges – have bemoaned the hundreds of patent cases that have become a costly and time-consuming distraction for every major technology company.