HTC to remove feature that infringes Apple patent

HTC, Asia's second-biggest maker of smart phones, can tweak the technology in its handsets to avoid a U.S. trade agency ban. Dealing with the threat from Apple's and Samsung Electronics' new devices may prove tougher.

The U.S. International Trade Commission said Monday that, beginning in April, it would ban the sale of HTC phones that infringed an Apple patent on so-called data detection, such as touching a phone number or an address in an e-mail to dial or find the address on a map. HTC responded by saying it will remove the offending features from its phones.

Keeping the handsets on the market solves HTC's immediate challenge after becoming the top selling vendor in the United States. Samsung's Galaxy Nexus and Apple's faster, Siri-enabled iPhone hit the market within the past quarter, posing a new threat to HTC's place in the $262 billion global mobile-phone market. The Taiwanese company is forecast to post its slowest annual sales growth and first profit decline since the 2009 economic crisis.

"Things were going great at HTC two years ago, their products were so successful, and they were the hottest company in mobile phones," said Will Stofega, an analyst at researcher IDC. "They didn't keep the momentum going, and now we're seeing products that haven't wowed audiences as much."

HTC's revenue will climb 11 percent next year and profit will drop 6.7 percent, according to analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg, marking its worst financial performance since the 2009 global economic crisis. HTC's revenue climbed fiftyfold from 2000 to 2010, according to Bloomberg data.

Last month, stiff competition prompted HTC to cut its sales guidance for this quarter by 20 percent. That announcement, on Nov. 23, prompted the stock to drop by its daily 7 percent limit in Taipei for two consecutive days, worsening the year-to-date loss to 45 percent.

At least six brokers downgraded HTC since the revised guidance, with more analysts recommending investors sell HTC than buy for the first time in at least two years.

The ITC, the agency empowered to block imports of products that infringe the patents, found in Apple's favor for one of four patents the Cupertino company alleged HTC breached. Apple's patent covered a feature in which the phone recognizes a telephone number so it can be stored in directories or called without dialing.

The result, while less than Apple sought, marks its first victory in patent cases and strengthens the argument that Google's Android "ripped off the iPhone," as the company's late founder, Steve Jobs, once claimed. The ruling is the first definitive decision in the dozens of patent cases that began to proliferate last year as smart-phone makers battle over a market that Strategy Analytics Inc. said increased 44 percent last quarter from a year earlier to 117 million phones worldwide.

Apple also has civil patent infringement cases against HTC and Samsung. Both Asian rivals have also filed their own retaliatory actions to the ITC and in U.S courts. The Android operating system has led the global market since last year, climbing to 48 percent of all smart phones in the second quarter of this year and ahead of 19 percent for Apple's iOS platform, according to British researcher Canalys.

Market data provided by Bloomberg News

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Apple is Granted 12 Design Patents in China and More

On December 23, 2011, Apple filed for the trademark and icon for "Available on the App Store" under applications 302118690 in China and 010520054 in Europe. Apple has filed their trademark under three International Classes covering such things as advertising and marketing services, downloadable computer software accessible via the internet and software for gaming and virtual reality. Additionally, Apple has been granted twelve design patents in China covering the iPad dock and many iPad 2 components.



International Class 009: Apparatus for recording, transmission or reproduction of sound or images; calculating machines, data processing equipment and computers; computer gaming machines; telecommunications apparatus and instruments; tablet computers; digital music and/or video players; personal digital assistants, electronic organizers, electronic notepads; computer software; downloadable computer software accessible via the internet and wireless devices; software for portable electronic devices; software for mobile telephones; computer and electronic games.



International Class 035: Advertising; advertising and marketing services; promotion services; promoting the goods and services of others; retail store services featuring computer software provided via the internet and other computer and electronic communication networks; retail store services featuring computer software for use on handheld mobile digital electronic devices and other consumer electronics; retail store featuring computer, electronic and entertainment products; retail store and online store services featuring computer, electronic and entertainment products provided via the Internet and other computer, electronic and communications networks; subscription services, namely, providing subscriptions to text, data, image, audio, video, and multimedia content, provided via the Internet and other electronic and communications networks.



International Class 042: Design and development of computer hardware and software; installation, updating, maintenance and repair of computer software; computer programming; support and consultation services for developing computer systems, databases and applications; information relating to computer hardware or software provided on-line from a global computer network or the Internet; design and development of computer game software and virtual reality software; design and development of networks; development of computer codes; development of computer languages; development of computer software application solutions; website development services.
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Hedge funds are bullish on Apple these days

Of 350 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 125 are long on Apple

Source: Insider Monkey

Apple is a perennial favorite among hedge funds, and a recent survey of insiders and hedge fund managers suggest that it may be more popular than ever among the folks with the power to move the market up or down.

In a list of companies with recent insider trades posted on Seeking Alpha by Insider Monkey, a free (after registration) site that lists the holdings 350 hedge funds, Apple was No. 1 among the hedge funds with bullish positions. No. 2, Qualcomm (QCOM) wasn't even close.

Here, in full, is Insider Monkey's entry on Apple:

Apple Inc (AAPL) is the most popular stock among hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey. There are 125 hedge funds reported to own AAPL at the end of September. For example, Ken Griffin's Citadel Investment Group had $928 million invested in AAPL shares as of September 30. The stock was also purchased by one insider over the past month. On November 29, Robert Iger bought 1370 shares at $374.4856 and another 1300 shares at $375.3292. Now the stock is trading at $396.19. AAPL has a market cap of $368B and a P/E ratio of 14.31. It returned 20.14% since the beginning of this year.
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Apple Has More Online Shoppers Than Walmart

Apple got more traffic online last month than Walmart Stores. In fact, Apple is the only retailer other than Amazon and eBay in the top 15 most-visited websites in the U.S. in November, according to ComScore.

How is it possible that the technology maker can trump the world's-largest retailer online? Because of iTunes. The digital-content store made up about 30% of Apple's more than 79 million in U.S. unique visitors last month. Apple gets almost as many web visitors as the largest newspaper site, that of The New York Times.

Huge iTunes traffic is good news for publishers looking to sell their products online. Digital content, which includes books, music and TV shows, is the fastest-growing e-commerce category by sales this holiday shopping season, ComScore has found. Overall e-commerce sales are up about 15% from last year, but digital-content sales growth is double that.

More content is downloaded on Christmas Day than any other day of the year. It has been named "Download Day," because consumers load up new gadgets, which this year are likely to include Apple iPhones and iPads as well as Amazon Kindle Fires. The week between Christmas and New Year continues to be the heaviest download period of the year.

Apple was the No. 13 web property ranked by U.S. unique visitors in November. Amazon is the biggest retailer by this measure, at No. 5. Ebay ranks No. 15, and Walmart No. 18.
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