Apple Designs Solar-Powered iPhones & iPods

Apple may be planning to develop solar-powered iPhones, suggested in patent filings that describe putting solar cells on portable devices and on iPods.

This isn't the first attempt to bring solar power to iPhones. As you may remember, in May, Dexim brought us the DCA19 P-Flip, a solar-powered battery and dock for the iPhone 3G and 3GS. The most recent patent filed by Apple was on Touch Sensor Integrated Solar Panels on media players.

While the next couple of iPhones may not incorporate solar cells, given the recent patent applications by Apple, it's intuitive to realize that the company is looking to put more and more devices on solar power and eventually include iPhones. According to the patent application for solar cells on portable devices, Apple would completely cover the device in a thin film layer of solar cells, even the display.

According to Gizmodo, Motorola has considered fusing solar cells with LCDs. This would make your device even more efficient, because no matter which way you had it oriented in the sun, it would always be harnessing the power of the sun.

If Apple can cover your iPod or other devices completely in solar panels, then surely they can make a highly efficient solar powered phone. If not, you could always get a solar charging case.

[Patently Apple via Gizmodo]

Apple Designs Solar-Powered iPhones & iPods

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Apple Passes Microsoft as No. 1 in Tech

As reported by The New York Times, Wall Street has called the end of an era and the beginning of the next one: The most important technology product no longer sits on your desk but rather fits in your hand.

The moment came Wednesday when Apple, creator of iPods, iPhones and iPads, shot past Microsoft, the computer software giant, to become the world’s most valuable technology company.

This changing of the guard caps one of the most stunning turnarounds in business history for Apple, which had been given up for dead only a decade earlier, and its co-founder and visionary chief executive, Steven P. Jobs. The rapidly rising value attached to Apple by investors also heralds an important cultural shift: Consumer tastes have overtaken the needs of business as the leading force shaping technology.

Microsoft, with its Windows and Office software franchises, has dominated the relationship most people had with their computers for almost two decades, and that was reflected in its stock market capitalization. But the click-clack of the keyboard has ceded ground to the swipe of a finger across a smartphone’s touch screen.

And Apple is in the right place at the right time. Although it still sells computers, twice as much revenue is coming from hand-held devices and music. Over all, the technology industry sold about 172 million smartphones last year, compared with 306 million PCs, but smartphone sales grew at a pace five times faster.

Microsoft depends more on maintaining the status quo, while Apple is in a constant battle to one-up itself and create something new, said Peter A. Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook. "Apple is a bet on technology," he said. "And Apple beating Microsoft is a very significant thing."

As of Wednesday, Wall Street valued Apple at $222.12 billion and Microsoft at $219.18 billion. The only American company valued higher is Exxon Mobil, with a market capitalization of $278.64 billion.

The companies have comparable revenue, with Microsoft at $58.4 billion and Apple at $42.9 billion. But in their most recent fiscal years, Apple had net income of $5.7 billion, while Microsoft earned $14.6 billion.

Microsoft has more cash and short-term investments, $39.7 billion, to Apple’s $23.1 billion, which makes the value assigned by the market to Apple, essentially a bet on its future prospects, all the more remarkable.

Continue reading via The New York Times...

Apple Passes Microsoft as No. 1 in Tech

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Apple Being Sued by HTC for Patent Infringement

In a complaint filed with the ITC and obtained by Reuters, HTC has accused Apple of infringing five of its patents related to cellphone directory hardware/software and power-management technology in portable devices. Action has been taken against Apple Inc. as of yesterday to halt the importation, marketing, and sale of the iPhone, iPad and iPod in the United States.

"As the innovator of the original Windows Mobile PocketPC Phone Edition in 2002 and the first Android smartphone in 2008, HTC believes the industry should be driven by healthy competition and innovation that offer consumers the best, most accessible mobile experiences possible," said Jason Mackenzie, vice president of the North American HTC Corporation. "We are taking this action against Apple to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly our customers that use HTC phones."

[view HTC Press-Release here]

Apple Being Sued by HTC for Patent Infringement

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