 |
Dayton Business Journal...
Google: Apple,
Microsoft join to fight Android
by DBJ Staff
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Google Inc. claims three of its chief rivals in the smartphone market
have joined forces to use litigation to fight its popular Android
operating system.
The Internet giant claims Apple Inc. , Microsoft Corp. and Oracle
Corp.are using “bogus patents” to wage what it called an “organized,
hostile campaign” against Android, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Journal said Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond wrote in a
company blog about the frustrations of battling the three rivals,
saying “Instead of competing by building new features or devices, they
are fighting through litigation.”
He also wrote that Google was considering its options to stop the three
rivals trying to “strangle” Android, and that the U.S. Department of
Justice was looking into some of Google’s claims.
Note: Click “view photo gallery” link above photo to see some products
involved in the dispute.
Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported that Drummond also made reference to
Microsoft and Apple joining together to buy certain patents as an
example of an organized campaign against Android. However, the report
also said Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith denied that allegation,
and even said his company originally wanted to work with Google in
buying the patents.
Google’s Android operating system continues to dominate the smartphone
industry, and recently has gained an even bigger lead in market share
over its key rivals.
A July report from comScore says Google’s Android grew market share 5.1
percentage points from February to May, giving it 38.1 percent of the
market.
That is much faster growth than Apple’s iOS, which powers the popular
iPhone and iPad devices. The comScore report says Apple grew 1.4
percentage points to 26.6 percent of the market during the same time
period.
Research in Motion Ltd. ‘s Blackberry devices were third and Microsoft
was fourth.
However, Apple still dominates in the mobile tablet device market,
where Android has not been able to make as big of gains as in
smartphones. And even more competition is on the way as new tablets by
Dell Inc. , Amazon.com Inc. and Hewlett-Packard have launched or are
expected to soon.
As more smartphones and tablets have entered the market, the business
community has been quick to embrace technology. In less than a year
after rolling out the iPad, 9 percent of business owners overall said
they were using them, according to a study.
In that survey, conducted by The Business Journals and released in
April, the results indicated small and midsize business owners are more
connected than ever to technology, significantly boosting the time
spent on the Internet, their use of social networks, and their adoption
of new tech tools.
This includes companies all over the Dayton region, including a law
firm that outfits all lawyers with iPads.
The survey also revealed that 37 percent of business owners used a
smartphone or PDA, up from 27 percent in the previous study.
Those numbers are an indication of just how fast the smartphone and
mobile tablet market is growing and why the giants of the industry are
battling over the lucrative market share.
Read it with links at Dayton Business Journal
|
