The iPod may become a rarity in the U.S. Image: strollers/Flickr/CC BY-SA

Court disputes over intellectual property continue between Korean-based Samsung and Apple, Inc. The disputes are surrounding patents for the iPod, iPad and iPhone devices. The suits could have a far-reaching affect on American consumers.

Samsung petitions ITC

Samsung, the world’s largest maker of computer memory chips, filed a suit yesterday in the High Court in London to block iPhones, iPads and iPods — manufactured in the U.K. — from being imported into the U.S. On June 28, the Korean firm also asked the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to block importation of the devices. Samsung asserts that the Apple products contain components which violate their patents.

Apple has a suit of their own

Two months ago Apple filed a suit of their own against Samsung in a California federal court. Apple claims that Samsung slavishly copied the look, feel and design of their iPhone, iPad and iPod devices. Apple further claimed harassment by the Korean firm, which is allegedly demanding to see prototypes of the new iPad 3 and iPhone 5.

An ironic dispute

This is the most recent round in an ongoing dispute between the two electronics giants. Samsung has previously sued Apple in Seoul, San Francisco, Tokyo  and Mannheim, Germany. The ongoing spat is ironic, since the companies rely so heavily upon one another. Samsung is Apple’s chief supplier of memory chips.

Both court battles could take several months to settle. Should Samsung succeed, the iPod could become a rare and much-sought-after collector’s item in the U.S.

Disputes are nothing new

Disputes of this kind are nothing new. In 2006, the American wireless firm Qualcomm petitioned the ITC to block the import of products from Finnish corporation Nokia over patent infringements. The ITC disapproved the request, but Nokia was concerned enough to pay Qualcomm a settlement in 2008 to avoid a lawsuit over the same issues.

Apple also asked the ITC to block the U.S. importation of Nokia phones last year. Yet just last month, Apple decided to pay Nokia around $1 billion for the rights to use its patents.

Importation has been blocked in the past

The ITC did agree to block the importation of a phone containing Qualcomm chips in 2007. California-based Broadcom petitioned the block, claiming patent violations. A federal court eventually overturned the decision. Verizon Wireless, whose phones use Qualcomm chips, feared the decision would greatly harm their business at the time.

Sources

Daily Finance
Bloomberg

Salt Lake City, Utah, is going to be installing payment systems throughout the city that can take payment from customers using their smartphones. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Salt Lake City, Utah, will soon begin experimenting with a wireless payment system in conjunction with three wireless networks. The system, called Isis, is set to debut in 2012 and will use cellular phones to wire payments from a person’s credit or debit line with a bank.

Cell phone credit card technology takes another step forward

Several months ago, the iPhone was equipped with near field communication (NFC) technology to be used as a wireless payment system. A computer chip is installed in an iPhone that can be picked up by a reader system. The bank account or credit card account connected to the chip’s owner is then charged by merchants. One merely needs to wave their iPhone with the NFC chip, and a deduction is made from the appropriate account. Many believe this will be a great leap forward in financial technology. Because so many phones have internet access, people can already use a smartphone to do banking transfers, balance their checkbook or get online personal loans.

Wireless payment network to debut in Salt Lake

Salt Lake City, Utah, will be equipped with an NFC system, according to NPR. The public transportation system will have NFC readers and fares can be paid by waving a phone by the NFC reader. Three major wireless carriers — AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless — are forming a partnership venture with the city using Isis, the NFC system that those carriers are using.  Those carriers still have to come out with NFC equipped phones besides the iPhone. Sprint, according to BusinessWeek, is still developing its own NFC technology.

Tech not widespread enough

Critics have observed that NFC technology is not widespread enough to turn Salt Lake into the “place where you can leave your wallet at home,” as the ad campaign on the Isis company website contends. However, smartphones are beginning to become far cheaper to buy and payment technology is moving toward wireless systems.

Sources

NPR

BusinessWeek

Isis corporate site

The Verizon MiFi device creates the link that makes a Verizon iPad possible. Image: scriptingnews / Flickr / CC-BY-SA

Verizon Wireless today announced that on Oct. 28 the Apple iPad will be available in its stores. Though the Verizon iPad will not use the 3G cellular network, it will be bundled with cell-network Wi-Fi to provide internet access. This workaround, long touted by iPad users who are also Verizon customers, will be sold for $629 plus access charges.

Verizon’s iPad network solution

The Verizon iPad will not use the CDMA network, despite many who were hoping this would be the first step to getting the iPhone on Verizon. Instead, Verizon Wireless will bundle the Wi-Fi iPad (usually sold for $499) with the Verizon “MiFi” device. The MiFi takes cellular network signals and transfers them into a local wireless network. Sold together, the MiFi and Wi-Fi iPad combination will be able to access Verizon Wireless’s 3G network. The monthly access charge will start at $20 for 1 gigabyte of data transfer.

Verizon iPad means more Verizon iPhone rumors

There has long been a rumor that Verizon wireless would start offering an iPhone. Neither company has officially announced a Verizon iPhone release date, and neither has confirmed any rumor up to this point. AT&T still carries the exclusive contract for the iPhone. AT&T will also be selling an iPad in store. The $629 price will be the same as Verizon, though the data access charges will be $25 for 2 gigabytes.

Creating your own Verizon iPhone

Though it is not yet legal to jailbreak an iPhone, it is possible to create a Verizon iPhone legally. An iPod touch is a Wi-Fi enabled device that does everything an iPhone does, except make phone calls. A Verizon MiFi device creates the mobile Wi-Fi hotspot needed to run it. The Google Voice app and functionality, loaded onto the iPod touch, turns your device into a cell phone. Access charges, depending on your data usage, could even be less than the standard iPhone — and you get Google Voice functionality that not even iPhones can offer.

Smartphones may be taking the place of credit and debit cards soon. (Photo Credit: CC BY/Edmund Jenks/Symbology)

Banks and credit card companies have made a great deal of money off consumers who have depended upon them for both impulse and emergency purchases via short term credit. However, there may soon be a way for consumers to escape the wheel of revolving interest debt if AT&T and Verizon Wireless have their way. According to Bloomberg, the swipe-and-pay “PayPass” technology used on some smartphones is ready for a revolutionary – many say evolutionary – step. Smartphone pay for purchases and bill pay may become a reality soon, making credit cards and even debit cards obsolete. Mobile billing via the wireless carriers would simply place charges on the consumer’s monthly wireless bill.

Smartphone pay threatening Visa, MasterCard

A proposed partnership between AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile would work through Discover Financial Services and the Barclays banking conglomerate. Consumers would be able to pay with a “contactless wave of a smartphone,” according to the Bloomberg report. Considering the growing popularity of smartphones in the United States, more than 1 billion plastic cards could be in danger of hitting the junk drawer if smartphone pay takes off as experts predict it will. Wireless technology consultant Richard Crone called the proposed payment technology a “game-changer” that will fit naturally into the mobile billing industry, as America’s carriers are “the biggest recurring billers in every market” and they are “experts at processing payments.”

What Visa and MasterCard stand to lose

Visa and MasterCard combined handled $2.45 trillion of U.S. consumer spending on general-purpose cards in 2009. That’s 82 percent of U.S. spending within that market, according to industry newsletter Nilson Report. That kind of dominance contributed to $3.54 billion operating income for Visa and $2.27 for MasterCard last year. ATM interchange fees (aka swipe fees) on debit card purchases also generate a significant amount of money for banks, as much as $40 billion per year. Smartphone pay won’t completely replace credit cards, as mobile billing won’t necessarily offer revolving credit, but debit cards in particular could be severely damaged. Short term credit such as payday loans could show  significant gains against credit cards, particularly through mobile applications.

Younger consumers leading the charge

A study by Boston-based consulting firm Mercatus LLC indicates that 80 percent of consumers between 18 and 34 years of age are ready to begin using smartphone pay and similar mobile financial services. There are retail barriers that must be overcome first, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, but there would also be incentives. According to Bloomberg, it costs retailers approximately $200 for each credit card reader. If smartphone pay becomes universal, that would save retailers money and only cost smartphone manufacturers another $10 to $15 per handset. Retailers would also likely be able to send rewards and other information directly to consumers via the smartphone pay interface.

Sources:

Bloomberg

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Your smartphone can also serve as a retail credit card terminal