Apple wins comprehensive patent for iPhone, bares teeth at Palm

Thank god Apple received these patents and things. I'm really sick and tired of hearing about the Pre and seeing its ugly mobile phone design. Hope they get rid of the phone.

I've really enjoyed reading all the comments about how Apple is on the verge of failure with the iPhone platform. You guys really crack me up!

Protecting intellectual property is only a portion of the reason one might want comprehensive patents on a device, some of which may or may not be valid claims. The goal with a lattice of patents surrounding a particularly lucrative device is to create a litigious environment that makes competitors look, not at their own devices, but at their bank accounts. Palm may have a legitimate claim to some of these patent areas, but now Palm will have to go to court in order to establish that, pay Apple to gain access to their own innovations, or lump it and come up with some sort of gerrymandered solution to get around it. But which ever way they decide to go, the amount of money they have in their bank account will have more bearing on their choice that whether they have a legitimate claim to the intellectual property involved here. Apple, however, has a ton of cash, and they can drag out any litigation much longer (thus more expensively) than potentially Palm can afford. So who is right and who is wrong, who is fair and who is not, matters not a lot here. Apple is just throwing down the gauntlet, and Palm will have to decide whether it can afford to take it up or not.

Business is business, in other words. No fuzzy bunnies allowed.

Tech savvy or not, i think replaceable batteries or IM which is what multitasking is affecting right now is pretty basic to any user. I mean imagine you cant use BTooth for basic stuff, cant save docs from email, have to jailbreak to get some decent functionality... i almost said gimme a break a few times! Sure i love my iphone but i would love it do a little more than multitouch! I am not another one for that reason. Promise.

@ Kai Cherry:

Yes, its got more to do with not playing the game :) thats the reason i went on to say that Apple wont stay in business for long if they didnt get their act together fast, with competing products catching up in terms of quality/ fucntion/ stuff they cant play the multi-touch type cards for long. They need to realise that there is more to a "complete" product than a multi-touch. If they aim to play a role in the smartphone arena then they need to do better. In case they just want to play the ipod phone game then they might have some juice left. I have little doubt that hardcore Apple supporters/ fanboys will shun these products as long as the cool factor remains. Thats probably the Apple strategy, not going after too many things but working on a distinguishing feature (form for McB air, multi-touch for iphone), the only problem is sooner or later other products will find a way into this market...

Meh. Die, software patents, die. You're killing the industry I love.

Apple should have bought out Palm when Palm was in real trouble way back when Steve Jobs was still at NeXT...

I bet apple also patented MMS w/o even putting it in their phone too. Apple's oversights appall me. The pre would keep them in check and now, who knows...

When are you guys going to think BIG PICTURE.

Patent promote innovation.

Big Picture people. If patents didn't exist. Innovators would throw in the towel. When Palm copies Apple you selfishly cheer them on because of 'competition' (thinking they're drive the prices down).

But think. If there were no patents, the iPhone wouldn't exist. Hence the Pre wouldn't exist.

Amazing.

so in short, any touch screen phone with any hand movement can be sued by apple lol