HTC files for "Scribe" iPad competitor tablet trademark
A newly filed trademark from Taiwan-based smartphone maker HTC revealed the company may be working on a tablet computer named the "HTC Scribe," in hopes of challenging Apple's wildly successful iPad.
The Dec. 26 filing from HTC describes "a handheld wireless device, namely, a tablet computer," Bloomberg reports. Though a trademark filing is far from a definite indication that the mobile phone maker will release the trademarked product, a tablet device from HTC, the world's largest maker of phones running Google's Android mobile operating system, is seen by many as inevitable.
According to the report, HTC Chief Financial Officer Cheng Hui-Ming said in October that the company is "studying the market." HTC, which revealed that sales of its mobile phones had more than doubled last quarter year-over-year, has seen impressive success with its Android phones. Investor confidence in HTC has risen as well, with shares on the Taiwan Stock Exchange rising by more than 100 percent this year.
The HTC Scribe would "provide an alternative to the iPad,? IDC program director Will Stofega told Bloomberg. ?This will compete on pricing, and could be as good or better.?
In a Dec. 13 report, KGI Research analyst Richard Ko predicted that HTC will launch a tablet at the Consumer Electronics Show next week or during the Mobile World Congress in February.
The HTC Scribe would likely run Android 3.0, dubbed Honeycomb, which will be optimized for tablet use. Earlier this month, journalist Walt Mossberg asked Android chief Andy Rubin whether Honeycomb is a version that "happens to work on tablets" or a version for tablets. Rubin hedged that "it's a bit of both."
Motorola is readying its own Android tablet, which was demoed by Rubin at the
Dive Into Mobile conference. In a teaser video tracing the "evolution" of tablets, Motorola called the iPad a "giant iPhone" and insulted the Samsung Galaxy Tab as running "Android OS?for a phone." Motorola called its future tablet "the next chapter in evolution," and is expected to be unveiled at CES.
Earlier this year, Apple sued HTC, accusing the company of infringing on 20 patents related to the iPhone's interface.
In a press release announcing the lawsuit, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said, "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it," said Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
HTC responded in kind with a countersuit of its own, alleging that Apple had violated five of its patents.
"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 HTC vice president Jason Mackenzie. "We are taking this action against Apple to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly our customers that use HTC phones."
Apple's lawsuit against HTC was largely viewed as the first move in a legal confrontation over Android-based phones, as the lawsuit contains a specific section for "Accused HTC Android Products." In October, Motorola sued Apple over alleged infringement of a range of wireless technologies. Apple quickly countersued, eventually adding to the case 11 of the patents included in Apple's suit against HTC.
The Dec. 26 filing from HTC describes "a handheld wireless device, namely, a tablet computer," Bloomberg reports. Though a trademark filing is far from a definite indication that the mobile phone maker will release the trademarked product, a tablet device from HTC, the world's largest maker of phones running Google's Android mobile operating system, is seen by many as inevitable.
According to the report, HTC Chief Financial Officer Cheng Hui-Ming said in October that the company is "studying the market." HTC, which revealed that sales of its mobile phones had more than doubled last quarter year-over-year, has seen impressive success with its Android phones. Investor confidence in HTC has risen as well, with shares on the Taiwan Stock Exchange rising by more than 100 percent this year.
The HTC Scribe would "provide an alternative to the iPad,? IDC program director Will Stofega told Bloomberg. ?This will compete on pricing, and could be as good or better.?
In a Dec. 13 report, KGI Research analyst Richard Ko predicted that HTC will launch a tablet at the Consumer Electronics Show next week or during the Mobile World Congress in February.
The HTC Scribe would likely run Android 3.0, dubbed Honeycomb, which will be optimized for tablet use. Earlier this month, journalist Walt Mossberg asked Android chief Andy Rubin whether Honeycomb is a version that "happens to work on tablets" or a version for tablets. Rubin hedged that "it's a bit of both."
Motorola is readying its own Android tablet, which was demoed by Rubin at the
Dive Into Mobile conference. In a teaser video tracing the "evolution" of tablets, Motorola called the iPad a "giant iPhone" and insulted the Samsung Galaxy Tab as running "Android OS?for a phone." Motorola called its future tablet "the next chapter in evolution," and is expected to be unveiled at CES.Earlier this year, Apple sued HTC, accusing the company of infringing on 20 patents related to the iPhone's interface.
In a press release announcing the lawsuit, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said, "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it," said Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
HTC responded in kind with a countersuit of its own, alleging that Apple had violated five of its patents.
"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 HTC vice president Jason Mackenzie. "We are taking this action against Apple to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly our customers that use HTC phones."
Apple's lawsuit against HTC was largely viewed as the first move in a legal confrontation over Android-based phones, as the lawsuit contains a specific section for "Accused HTC Android Products." In October, Motorola sued Apple over alleged infringement of a range of wireless technologies. Apple quickly countersued, eventually adding to the case 11 of the patents included in Apple's suit against HTC.
Comments
Slightly off-topic, but don't miss today's NPR story on the Ive and Jobs partnership:
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/30/132488...rship-At-Apple
Could be that the name indicates a return to the stylus-and-handwriting-recognition paradigm, which would seem to be enormously useful for Chinese characters. Or for any other pictographic writing scholarship, for that matter. It would be interesting if they could pull something like that off.
Slightly off-topic, but don't miss today's NPR story on the Ive and Jobs partnership:
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/30/132488...rship-At-Apple
FYI most Chinese in the world use the keyboard instead of handwriting to input Chinese characters.
Could be that the name indicates a return to the stylus-and-handwriting-recognition paradigm, which would seem to be enormously useful for Chinese characters. Or for any other pictographic writing scholarship, for that matter. It would be interesting if they could pull something like that off.
Slightly off-topic, but don't miss today's NPR story on the Ive and Jobs partnership:
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/30/132488...rship-At-Apple
iOS and Mac OS X already support hand writing for Chinese characters.
The HTC Scribe would "provide an alternative to the iPad,? IDC program director Will Stofega told Bloomberg. ?This will compete on pricing, and could be as good or better.?
Or a steaming pile of BS.
Or a steaming pile of BS.
If HTC hadn't gotten involved in Android phones, Android would still be behind Windows in market share. I think they are one of the few companies Apple should be worried about. Their HTC Sense overlay for Android revolutionised it. If they can do the same to an Android tablet they could have a winner.
As people often point to the user base who are familiar with how the ipho e and iOS works, so making it easy to use a new device, the same holds true for HTC sense, there are millions of users and fans of it.
?... could be as good or better.?
What a useful thing to say.
It could also be released tomorrow or some time after, and could cost one dollar or more.
Could be that the name indicates a return to the stylus-and-handwriting-recognition paradigm, which would seem to be enormously useful for Chinese characters. Or for any other pictographic writing scholarship, for that matter. It would be interesting if they could pull something like that off.
Slightly off-topic, but don't miss today's NPR story on the Ive and Jobs partnership:
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/30/132488...rship-At-Apple
Thanks for NPR link
iOS and Mac OS X already support hand writing for Chinese characters.
Technically, it's "finger writing" not handwriting.
Regardless of who uses it for what, if HTC can actually pull off a tablet with pen input as well as finger input, then they might have a winner. Pen input is one of the few things that iOS devices cannot do so it's a valid product differentiator IMO.
If HTC hadn't gotten involved in Android phones, Android would still be behind Windows in market share. I think they are one of the few companies Apple should be worried about. Their HTC Sense overlay for Android revolutionised it. If they can do the same to an Android tablet they could have a winner.
As people often point to the user base who are familiar with how the ipho e and iOS works, so making it easy to use a new device, the same holds true for HTC sense, there are millions of users and fans of it.
True, but a lot of their success is simply due to rabid (and rapid!), copying of whatever is popular at the moment. It's an unsustainable business model in a world with copyright laws.
Technically, it's "finger writing" not handwriting.
Regardless of who uses it for what, if HTC can actually pull off a tablet with pen input as well as finger input, then they might have a winner. Pen input is one of the few things that iOS devices cannot do so it's a valid product differentiator IMO.
There are quite a few third party styluses for iPad, some with good reviews. I think it is just Apple that does not want to encourage their use based on a marketing philosophy, not any technical deficiency on the part of the iPad or the stylus.
Technically, it's "finger writing" not handwriting.
Regardless of who uses it for what, if HTC can actually pull off a tablet with pen input as well as finger input, then they might have a winner. Pen input is one of the few things that iOS devices cannot do so it's a valid product differentiator IMO.
Something like this would explain the strangely antique word 'Scribe' for a tablet computer.
As people often point to the user base who are familiar with how the iphone and iOS works, so making it easy to use a new device, the same holds true for HTC sense, there are millions of users and fans of it.
I wouldn't dispute the HTC sense user base but would you really class the majority of them as fans?
Do a lot of these users go out of their way to own one? I know iPhone users do. Same can be said for iPad. Apple is a powerful brand, they are uber cool, HTC are not.
I know of no other technology company other than Apple that commands such brand loyalty.
There are quite a few third party styluses for iPad, some with good reviews. I think it is just Apple that does not want to encourage their use based on a marketing philosophy, not any technical deficiency on the part of the iPad or the stylus.
I have a Boxwave capacitive stylus for my iPad. I use it with painting and drawing apps and it's amazing. Years in art schools and I just can't get the feel for finger painting (my two year old loves the Brushes app for finger painting though).
For the rest of the iPad's use, it's fingers only for me.
Apple could have added a stylus to the iPad package but then people would have assumed that you HAD to use it. This would have taken away from the whole message: "You DON'T need a stylus. You have fingers."
I have a Boxwave capacitive stylus for my iPad. I use it with painting and drawing apps and it's amazing. Years in art schools and I just can't get the feel for finger painting (my two year old loves the Brushes app for finger painting though).
For the rest of the iPad's use, it's fingers only for me.
Apple could have added a stylus to the iPad package but then people would have assumed that you HAD to use it. This would have taken away from the whole message: "You DON'T need a stylus. You have fingers."
Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out. Good point about not including one in the box.