Finger works develped multitouch on touchpads keyboards etc in 1999. Apple acquired them on 2005.
Mixxy, owning a patent does not mean nobody can use the technology. U can still use it depending on agreement with the patent owner. I'll give U scenarios.
Sony patented betamax and did not license it to any company. Maybe they wanna control the flow and the price. It was later died because JVC came up woth VCR and license 3rd party company to make it. A lot of manufacturers made it and the competition is on. U know when there's competition, price goes down. betamax then died. Sony learned they're lesson well and did not made the same mistake on bluray disc. Bluray is licensed to 3rd party company like samsung.
Another one is atari. They did not patent they're unit and games. So everyone else made a system that is atari compatible and much cheaper. It killed atari business.
one more is Nintendo. They did not learn from atari and did not patent famicom which is mostly shipped in asia. everybody then make clones, replica's of the units and games which is so much cheaper. Nintendo did not died tho. they protected their next console with patents and no one ever copied it. It's the Nintendo NES. This is the very reason why patenting ur invention is very important. Apple protects it's iphone with 200+ patents. but the question is, is it enough? there will always be a loophole.
here read this:
Apple may hinder wide deployment of multi-touchscreen technologies as it owns one of the patents involved, according to the analysts at iSuppli.
Apple has adopted multi-touch technology within its iPhone. Such technology is more responsive than single touch, and is capable of recognising multiple simultaneous touches - which is why iPhone users will be able to pinch an area of their screen to zoom into an image, for example.
However, Apple owns one of the essential multi-touch patents, and at present: "It’s unclear whether Apple will be willing to accept royalty payments in exchange for use of the technology," the analysts said.
Read full article here:
http://www.macworld.co.uk/ipod-itunes/news/index.cfm?newsid=18340&pagtype=allchandate
This is just one from many articles. Hey mixxy, I tell U, I cannot be wrong. What I say, anywhere in this site, is not what I think. It's what the fact is according to the people involved in the topic. Trust me, I cannot be pwned.
U may also wanna read this:
http://www.oreillynet.com/mac/blog/2..._they_l_1.html
http://sparkingtech.com/computers/ne...ed-multitouch/