Nokia is taking Apple to courtroom , alleging that the iPhone infringes on 10 different engineering science patents owned by Nokia . Nokia is entitled to protect its investments in inquiry and development and its intellectual prop , but there is intellect to be skeptical of Nokia ’s timing and motives .
Nokia arrogate that there are 40 other tech companies that are paying for the lawfully - licensed employment of these 10 patents and it want Apple to do the same . Piper Jaffray psychoanalyst Gene Munster believes that Nokia may be seeking a royalty on iPhone sales amounting to 1 to 2 percent for each twist . base on the number of iPhones sold thus far , that could amount to around $ 400 million plus the continuing royal line on future iPhone sales .
Ironically , Nokia did n’t like it when the lawsuit filing shoe was on the other foot . Qualcomm sued Nokia over patent infringementrelated to GSM , EDGE , CDMA , WCDMA , HSDPA , OFDM , WiMax , and LTE technologies — many of the same technologies Nokia is now litigate Apple for allegedly impinge . A settlement was eventually reached costing Nokia $ 2.5 billion and carry out a 15 - year arrangement between the two to cross - license technologies and play nicely together .
Technology patents are often notoriously shadowy and thing get viscid when companies hold nuanced patents related to modest tweak in commonly used technologies that are virtually cosmopolitan in the industry . Patents for things like GSM , CDMA , or LTE could potentially be applied in litigation against just about any handset producer .
Nokia is the big dog on the block . It holds a commanding portion of the ball-shaped smart headphone operating system market — about duple that of second piazza contender RIM . Apple is a distant third with the iPhone and could soon drop to fourth with the detonation of Android - based devices .
Nokia also holds a important vantage in terms of the entire phone number of smart phones sold , and since smart phones are a small section of the larger mobile phone industriousness Nokia also sells substantially more twist than Apple overall . However , similar to thedifference between Acer and Dell , Nokia gimmick are generally less expensive with lower profit border . Bottom ancestry : Apple may sell fewer devices , but it makes more per gimmick and is pretty much even with Nokia in term of its share of smart phone profits .
Nokia did achieve asignificant acquisition with its Microsoft alliance , enable it to integrate Office Mobile and other Microsoft technologies and providing Nokia with a stiff challenge for RIM BlackBerry devices in the endeavour . But , Nokia has not had a equipment with as much as excitement as the iPhone , or even theMotorola CliqorVerizon Droid(also from Motorola ) for some time .
With Apple announcing phonograph record iPhone sales and record quarterly profit , take Apple stock to an all - time high , the failure to negotiate a settlement is probably all the more bitter to Nokia . If Nokia is going to lose grocery store share to the iPhone it may as well cash in in on its rational place rights if it can and make a few bucks in the outgrowth .
[ Tony Bradley is an information security and unified communication expert with more than a ten of enterprise IT experience . He tweets as@PCSecurityNewsand supply tips , advice and reviews on information security and unified communication theory technologies onhis site . ]
