BOSTON – Apple filed two lawsuits against Motorola and Motorola Mobility late Friday in a US federal court, claiming violations of its patents in multiple Motorola cell phones, including the Droid line.

According to the Oct. 29 filings in the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin — first reported by the blog PatentlyApple — Apple is accusing Motorola of infringing on six patents, three of them focused on touchscreens. The products that it claims include the infringing technology are Motorola’s Droid, Droid 2, Droid X, Cliq, Cliq XT, BackFlip, Devour A555, Devour i1, and Charm.

Earlier this month, Motorola Mobility filed suit against Apple asking the US District Court in Delaware for a declaratory judgment that Apple had no rights to sue it for infringing 12 patents that it said Apple has asserted in targeting Android-phone maker HTC. None of those 12 patents are being invoked by Apple in its suit filed Friday. Motorola also filed two patent infringement lawsuits against Apple charging violations in the iPad, iTouch and iPhone products.

Apple is seeking a jury trial and compensatory damages.

SAN FRANCISCO – Apple’s iTunes software offers a great way to manage the media content you’d like to get on and off of your iPhone, most of the time. But there are times when you may not want to use iTunes to transfer files to and from your iPhone–like when you’re using a computer other than the one with which you typically sync your phone, for example. It’s times like these when Xilisoft’s iPhone Transfer app ($20, free demo with limitations) can come in very handy.

Once installed, iPhone Transfer will detect when an iPhone is connected to your Windows PC. It automatically finds all of the iPhone-compatible music, video, and photo files on the phone, and presents them to you in neatly arranged lists. Note that iPhone Transfer will not display any audio or video files that cannot be played on your iPhone in their current format. If you’d like to transfer these kinds of files (such as videos downloaded from a torrent site or ripped from a DVD), you should opt for Xilisoft’s $50 iPhone Magic app.

You can check which files you’d like to sync to your computer, and then point iPhone Transfer to a destination folder. You also have the option to export the files directly to your iTunes library, which can be handy if you want to use Apple’s software to manage them or to transfer them to another mobile device. The syncing process can be a bit slow if you’re transferring multiple video files, but I was able to transfer a single 22-minute episode of a TV show in just under 2 minutes. The syncing process worked seamlessly in all of my tests.

iPhone Transfer lets you create and edit music playlists and photo albums on your iPhone, and also allows you to search through files. The app’s menus are easy to browse, making this functionality simple to use.

If you’d like to transfer files that are on your computer to your iPhone, Xilisoft’s app works in that direction, too. iPhone Transfer opens a Windows Explorer-like window that lets you navigate to the files you want on your phone; you then click “Open” and the files are sent over.

The app also allows you to treat your iPhone as a portable hard disk, browsing through all of its files using the Windows Explorer interface. This can be a handy way to see what is actually stored on your iPhone–and what might be eating up an unexpected amount of storage space.

The $20 app allows unlimited transfer, but Xilisoft’s free demo allows you to transfer up to 100 files. After that, the free version limits you to one file transfer at a time. Xilisoft iPhone Transfer works with all models of the iPhone, from the first generation device through the iPhone 4, as well as the iPod Touch.

SAN FRANCISCO – On Monday morning, Microsoft officially announced Windows Phone 7, a long-overdue reboot of the company’s smartphone OS that offers some compelling features to Office junkies, Xbox gamers, and anything-but-iPhone customers.

With Microsoft launching a full broadside–ten phones by a variety of manufacturers on dozens of carriers–it’s another example of Apple seeing stepped-up competition in the mobile arena. And Cupertino may be in a far less advantageous position than it was just a couple years ago, especially when it comes to dealing with the carriers, who now have no shortage of other smartphone platforms to turn to.

When Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, smartphone design had grown largely stagnant. It was hard to argue with Apple CEO Steve Jobs’s proclamation that the iPhone was five years ahead of the competition–and this was before you could whip out the “there’s an app for that” card. The iPhone was both a line in the sand for good mobile phone design, and a battle cry for the little guy turning the tables on the carriers: It featured no AT&T branding, came preloaded with none of the usual carrier bloatware, and even got AT&T to change its network to handle new phone features like Visual Voicemail.

But it isn’t 2007 anymore. The iPhone revolution has been quickly mimicked by Android, yielding a seemingly unending barrage of new phones, available among all major U.S. carriers. Though it’s not actually the most popular mobile OS yet, there’s no denying that Android has some serious steam behind it. When you add in the likes of Windows Phone 7 and BlackBerry OS 6, the fight for the mobile space only becomes more contentious. Times have changed, and lots of smartphones have caught up to Apple–or, at the least, gotten close enough to tip the scales for millions of potential customers.

Steve Jobs said at the company’s September music event that Apple has sold 120 million iOS devices in four years, and the iPhone makes up the better half of that number. But Google announced that it was selling “about 100,000″ Android devices a day in June; in August, that jumped to 200,000 a day–that’s a 100 percent increase in sales in just two months, and that was during the iPhone 4′s launch.

In order to keep its early lead, Apple could very well be the one forced to swerve. Talk is swirling once again of the iPhone leaping to another carrier in the U.S. However, when that happens–note that I didn’t say ”if”–something’s gotta give in this million-dollar game of chicken: either Apple will have to relinquish some of its control over the iPhone’s experience, or a massive carrier like Verizon or Sprint will have to make the same concessions that AT&T did in 2007.

Plus, the competition has been more than happy to bend to the carriers’ whims. Lots of Android phones feature carrier bloatware that cannot be uninstalled. During its Windows Phone 7 unveiling, Microsoft announced a game that will be exclusive to AT&T devices at launch. Until recently, Verizon had exclusive rights for the Skype app for Android phones. And many of these handsets feature carrier co-branding, often on the device itself, and sometimes in the OS or apps too.

All of this adds up to creating a less-than-desirable position for Apple at the bargaining table with the carriers. The iPhone is an undeniably hot item, but it becomes an issue of balancing how badly the carriers want to put up with Apple–forking over the power and control they have long been accustomed to–with how badly Apple needs an alternative carrier to AT&T.

With Android’s incredible growth rate, Microsoft’s shot at getting back in the game, and RIM building new software for phones and a new tablet, I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple conceded in order to break free from AT&T. As Jobs has stated in the past, working in the ph

SAN FRANCISCO – Apple app overlords on Tuesday permitted Google to offer its Google Goggles visual search application to iPhone users via the App Store. For the iPhone masses unfamiliar with Google Goggles, this app is a very ambitious attempt by the search giant that allows you to – instead of typing your search terms – take a photo of the object you want to look up. Google then analyzes your photo and, providing it can recognize what you’re taking a picture of, spits back appropriate information.

It sounds amazing. And it kinda is, but Google Goggles has big limitations as I found when I tested the application out on my iPhone 4.

Is a Picture Really Worth a 1000 Words?

Depending on the object you take a photo of, Google Goggles will give you different options–if it’s a book, it will give you information on how to purchase it; if it’s a landmark, it will give you information on the location; if it’s a business card, it will let you put the information into your contacts.

In theory, it’s a pretty handy feature. However, people, animals, and cars are not recognizable (as it warns you in the instructions), but landmarks, books, contact info, artwork, wine, text, and logos are. This is a little annoying, simply because it’s unlikely that I’ll come into contact with objects in any of those categories (save for artwork and maybe landmarks) where there will not be text that I could theoretically use to search.
A visual search more similar to the music search “Shazam” (which allows you to identify songs, even if there are no words you can use to “look it up”) would be much more desirable.

Testing

It had no trouble with books–I used it to identify Flatterland by Ian Stewart and Professional Blackjack by Stanford Wong.

It also had no trouble identifying my Diet Coke can, providing the photo was not taken at an artistic angle. When I took a photo of the Diet Coke at a straight up-and-down angle, it found the logo (“Diet Coke”), but when I tilted the camera to the side just a little, it couldn’t find it.

Well, books and logos can be easily identified by the text within them, so let’s try something a little tougher. I don’t have any famous artwork lying around my office, so I looked up this photo of Caravaggio’s Judith Beheading Holofernes on my computer. Google Goggles managed to identify the painting accurately, even though taking a photo of a computer screen with my iPhone meant that the picture was washed out and detail-less. Impressive.

So it looks like Google Goggles for the iPhone, which is now available via the Google Mobile iPhone app, is actually quite good at doing what it says it does. Unfortunately, it still can’t identify people, animals, or cars (I tried to identify my very distinctive clownfish–didn’t work), but they’re definitely getting there.

In other news, it looks like Google and Apple are finally making up–first, an official Google Voice app finally makes its way into the App Store, and now Google Goggles (a feature which Google debuted for its own mobile operating system, Android, nearly a year ago).

BEIJING – The Apple Peel 520, a Chinese-developed product that drew the media’s attention for being able to turn an iPod Touch into an iPhone-like device, is coming to America.

The add-on device, which just went on sale in China, has been billed as a more affordable option for users wanting to get their hands on an iPhone, but lack the budget. The Apple Peel is a protective case equipped with a dock connector, battery and SIM card, that slips on to an iPod Touch. Once connected and properly installed, the device will allow the iPod Touch to make phone calls and send text messages.

Earlier this month, solar technology company GoSolarUSAsigned an agreement with the Chinese developer of the Apple Peel, Yoison Technology, to develop the device, file it for a U.S. patent and distribute it in America. The first demonstration models of the Apple Peel will arrive in America this week, GoSolarUSA said in a statement on Monday.

“As soon as they arrive, we’ll begin distributing demonstration models to retail buyers across the country,” said GoSolarUSA CEO Tyson Rohde in a statement. “The amount of interest in this product that we’ve received from distributors has been staggering.”

The Apple Peel features five hours of talk time and 120 hours of standby use on its battery. GoSolarUSA has yet to offer a retail price for the add-on. But Yoison Technology is selling the device in China for 520 Yuan ($US77).

Yoison could not be reached for comment. But the company plans on releasing 2,000 Apple Peels this month in China, according to Yoison’s online auction site. Other knock-off versions of the device are already being sold online in China.

The release comes after Apple launched its iPhone 4 in China last week. The smartphone is so popular that its already in short supply among retail outlets selling the device. Purchasing an iPhone 4 without a contract in China is slightly more expensive than it is in America. The 16GB model costs 4,999 yuan ($744), while the 32GB model costs 5,999 yuan ($893).

The shortage of iPhone 4s and the high price are reasons why the Apple Peel may find a strong following in China. Prices for Apple’s latest iPod Touch range from 1,798 yuan ($269) for the 8GB model up to 3,198 yuan ($478) for the 64 GB model.

How the Apple Peel will fare in the Chinese market will depend partly on how consumers perceive the price gap, said Flora Wu, an analyst with Beijing-based consulting firm BDA. “The iPhone 4 will decrease in price over time, and so if the price gap is small, the incentive won’t be as big.”

But the Apple Peel is a notable example of “reverse innovation,” in which Chinese developers have found ways to tweak products from foreign countries and make them more suitable for the domestic market, Wu said.

“I think there will be a market for the device,” she added. “But the market potential will depend on the price gap and how well the user experience is.”

SAN FRANCISCO – First there were rumors that Microsoft planned to mandate that wireless carriers provide free tethering with Windows Phone 7 devices. Then, a Microsoft source denied that, claiming that it would be up to the individual carriers to determine how to charge for tethering. But, today Microsoft revealed that–in fact–the Windows Phone 7 platform will not even be capable of tethering when it launches.

Contrary to being a cause for alarm or concern, or some sort of sign that the Windows Phone 7 OS is not ready for prime time, the news is more or less irrelevant. More powerful and capable smartphones, combined with the rise of tablets and the greed of wireless carriers has rendered the concept of tethering somewhat obsolete.

For years, the Apple iPhone has been technically capable of tethering from both a hardware and software perspective, but AT&T–the exclusive wireless carrier of the iPhone in the United States–would not allow it. AT&T finally introduced the tethering option earlier this year, but with a passive aggressive pricing model that suggests that AT&T still hasn’t fully embraced the concept.

After pulling the plug on its unlimited data plans, AT&T implemented a tethering option for $20, which requires that the user also subscribe to the 2Gb data plan for $25 per month. The tethering fee covers only the privilege of sharing that 2Gb of data, and does not include any additional allocation of bandwidth. So, users that previously had unlimited data for $30 a month can now look forward to spending 50 percent more money to share a relative pittance of 2Gb across two device. Thanks AT&T.

Verizon recently announced its intention to implement tiered pricing in place of unlimited data plans as well. Like AT&T, Verizon also has a habit of restricting the native abilities of its top-end smartphones to ensure it can nickel and dime customers for every last byte of data.

Even Sprint, which still offers unlimited data plans and allows devices like the EVO 4G to operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot, hinted that it will explore the possibility of adopting a tiered data pricing structure. With wireless providers intent on charging as much as possible for every byte consumed by every device that accesses its broadband network, the concept of tethering doesn’t seem all that appealing.

Portable mobile broadband hotspots like the Virgin Mobile MiFi or the Clearwire Puck offer unlimited data connectivity for up to five devices simultaneously without the burden of being shackled to a contractual obligation. The advent of white space Wi-Fi–coming soon thanks to a recent FCC vote–may make broadband data from wireless providers entirely obsolete.

So, don’t bother losing any sleep or shedding any tears over the lack of tethering in Windows Phone 7. That feature, or the lack thereof, will have no bearing at all on the ultimate success or failure of Microsoft’s re-engineered mobile platform.

The new device is in essence a scaled-up version of Samsung’s Galaxy S smartphone (as the iPad is to the iPhone/iPod Touch), featuring a seven-inch TFT display. It is perhaps the most credible Android alternative to the iPad launched so far – although an honorable mention must go to the smaller Dell Streak.

Samsung’s credentials as the creator of a true iPad alternative are strong. Along with HTC and Motorola, Samsung has in recent times been among the most successful vendors in taking on Apple in the smartphone desirability stakes, aping Apple both in leaning towards the quality end of the market in terms of hardware and materials and, quite obviously to those who’ve used a Galaxy S, in terms of the overall user experience.

Applying this same thinking to the Galaxy Tab – including adding typical Samsung bells and whistles such as support for the geek-friendly DivX/XviD, Ogg, and FLAC media formats – should therefore provide the basis of a tablet that should be able to compete with the iPad on similar terms. With its little brother the Galaxy S smartphone already selling well (over 1 million units to date) and demand for the iPad running high (although Apple has not issued any further shipment data since the device passed the 3 million mark in June), it is not unreasonable to expect the scaled-up version to also ship in significant volume. But will it?

How well the Galaxy Tab sells will tell us a great deal about the likely future development of the still embryonic tablet market. Many questions remain.

For instance, can Android tablets (or other OS tablets such as the heavily rumored “BlackPad” from RIM) help build a bigger market for tablets and/or take market share from Apple as they jointly begin to erode the market for PCs and netbooks as part of a revolution in personal computing? Will high-end versions compete effectively with the iPad or will the presumed mass market be content with low-cost Android tablets? Or has the iPad already corralled the market for a device category that is neither one thing nor the other and which lacks a clear purchasing motivation, except for a dedicated hardcore of Apple aficionados?

Answers to these questions will only really start to be answered later in the year, by which time the Galaxy Tab, Dell Streak, and iPad will have been joined by an array of variations on the tablet theme, by multiple vendors, and right across the price spectrum.

However, with design and manufacturing of these devices well progressed – and vendor commitment becoming clear – it is now possible to make some educated guesses as to the market shape ahead. For instance, in the initial phase we now expect considerable substitution of netbooks for tablets, but not much impact on the market for dedicated e-readers such as Amazon’s Kindle – at least not in the near term.

These scenarios and insights will be formalized in a new forecast Ovum is developing around such devices for publication during 4Q10. In the meantime, devices such as Samsung’s Galaxy Tab are providing the perfect litmus test for the tablet market’s prospects.

Ovum’s primary activity is providing value-added advisory services and consulting to retained and project clients. The company acts as a well-respected and trusted source of industry data, knowledge and expertise on the commercial impact of technology, regulatory and market changes. Ovum engages in continuous research and industry analysis to determine market dynamics in its specialist sectors.

Ovum has developed long-standing relationships with many of its corporate clients, which include major international blue-chip companies such as Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T, BT, Cable & Wireless, Cisco Systems, Deutsche Telekom, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Telstra and Vodafone.

Ovum is part of the Datamonitor Group.

SAN FRANCISCO – The redesigned iPod Touch stole the show at Apple’s fall music event, but the Cupertino company may have a bigger trick up its sleeve in the coming months: an updated iPad.

The tablet may be refreshed with a built-in video camera and support for FaceTime by the first quarter of next year, according to Apple Insider. A “person with proven knowledge of Apple’s future product plans” told the website that the device is already in the advanced testing stages and Apple may plan to push the launch through before the holiday season.

If you’re like me, the holiday season starts the day before Black Friday. That gives Apple 75 days to get its act together.

Adding cameras to the iPad makes sense, especially considering many critics are praising the redesigned iPod Touch for FaceTime inclusion and making it more iPhone-like than ever.

The only problem is timing. It seems a little off, since Apple typically sticks to a yearly schedule for product upgrades. Most people, including folks at research firm iSuppli expected an upgrade in April 2011 — a year after the initial iPad launch.

New hardware could fall in line with the release of iOS 4.2 in November (a little late for the start of the holiday season, if you ask me). Steve Jobs announced the future upgrade at the fall music event on September 1. He said it will bring new features to the iPad, including file-sharing, multitasking (finally), and HDR photos. A new iPad model could explain how the device would feature photos since all the current models are camera-less.

This could also make the iPad more accessible to businesses. Apple already announced wireless printing in iOS 4.2, so adding FaceTime could appeal to people who telecommute or travel frequently.

Whether or not we see a camera-equipped iPad before the year’s end, it’s probably inevitable that we’ll see one by the end of 2011.

It only makes sense when you consider the iPad’s popularity and that Apple is trying to make FaceTime an open industry standard. Neglecting to put the video chat software on one of your most popular products would be bad joojoo.

SAN FRANCISCO – This week, research firm Gartner announced that by year’s end Google’s Android will rocket past both Apple’s iOS and Research in Motion’s Blackberry in popularity.

While the report that Google’s smartphone OS will claim 17.7 percent of worldwide sales by the end of 2010–an astounding leap from the 3.9 percent it had at the same time last year–has grabbed headlines, Android’s speedy ascent should come as little surprise. Its multivendor business model brings iPhone-like capabilities to a variety of smartphone models and wireless carriers, allowing consumers myriad choices for their mobile experience.

In addition to its broader selection of devices and carriers, Android’s open platform offers customizable features and a breadth of applications for each manufacturer, carrier, and user to tailor the OS to their individual needs. This versatility clearly makes it an attractive option for those who don’t want to be locked into Apple’s walled garden, particularly corporate customers seeking a platform they can readily tailor to their business environment.

That versatility should help Android continue to make inroads in the business world. And though Android in its earliest incarnation had been commonly dismissed as an option for business professionals, Android 2.2 has made strides in its enterprise applications, bringing beefed up Exchange support and stronger security features, including the ability for IT administrators to remotely control passwords and wipe devices.

Despite these developments, Android still has a way to go before it’s an ideal tool for every business. It still lacks a decent option to encrypt removable media cards, which will certainly blacklist if for businesses trafficking sensitive data. And in its present version, it can’t yet match the administration features of the BlackBerry. Meanwhile, RIM’s roll out of BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express–a free, slimmed-down version on its lauded mobile administration system squarely targeted at small businesses that allows them to deploy up to 75 BlackBerry devices without any additional software or user license fees–indicates that the BlackBerry won’t easily be toppled from its perch as the go-to mobile device for businesses.

And, of course, the Android Market still lags far behind Apple’s App Store in its selection of downloadable software.
Still, Android’s popularity will undoubtedly continue to grow and a rumored 3.0 version to arrive later this year will likely bring more significant improvements. But it’s going to need an even more sophisticated suite of enterprise tools if Android devices are going to be embraced as a corporate as well as consumer smartphone.