By Eva Dou
HTC Corp. ’s settlement with Apple Inc. indicates a potential shift in how the Cupertino, Calif.-based company is handling its global patent disputes with hardware manufacturers, analysts say.
Nomura analyst Aaron Jeng said Apple’s late founder and chief executive Steve Jobs ” had felt strongly about destroying his copycats,” but current CEO Tim Cook’s “thinking is slightly different. He appears to be less interested in spending so many resources on lawsuits.”
The settlement—announced over the weekend–may also suggest that Apple is narrowing its focus in the patent wars, some analysts said.
“Overall, the settlement indicates that Apple regards Samsung as the key competitor now. All others are not as important,” said KGI Securities analyst Richard Ko.
HTC’s share of the smartphone has slipped from more than 10% in the third quarter last year to just 4% in the third quarter of this year, according to market research firm IDC. Meanwhile, Samsung’s share of the smartphone market stood at 31.3% in the third quarter, ahead of Apple’s 15%.
Apple has become an epicenter of a global patent war among industry titans, including Samsung as well as Google Inc.'s Motorola handset unit. Apple was asked several times to attempt a settlement with Samsung during its high-profile case in a California court several months ago. The heads of both companies held talks, but were unable to reach a deal.
A Samsung spokesman declined to comment on its patent litigation with Apple on Monday.
Apple and HTC announced a broad ten-year licensing agreement that settled all of the lawsuits between the companies around the world. The two companies late Saturday said the agreement covered current and future patents for both firms. A person familiar with the situation said Monday that HTC will be paying royalty fees to Apple, without disclosing the amount.
Apple declined to comment Monday beyond the statement it made over the weekend on the settlement.
They are the epicenter of the global “software patent” war, a position which was, and still is, their own choice. Now they are paying for it by watching people dissociate themselves from their brand.
NO THIS IS A SCAM APLLE NEED LTE HTC HAS PATTENDS OF T AND ALOT OF THEM MOST LIKE IT THE DEAL HAS TO BE I LET YOU LIVE AND YOU GIVEME THE LTE PATTENDS FREE
goes through “patent wars.” Stop blaming Apple or acting like it is something special.
Google: “Wright Brothers” patent war
Apple did not just “become the epicenter of global patent war”: Apple instigated the global patent war, to throttle competition, while it has built its devices with hardware technology that it has never paid for.
Tim Cook is a much smarter CEO afterall. He is not a dogmatic and ego-maniac jerk.