Netbook maker Acer accuses Apple of starting 'patent war'

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Manufacturers of Android devices continue to unite against Apple, with Acer joining the fray as the company's claims of patent infringement continue to threaten HTC.



Acer's chairman, JT Wang, said his company is ready to face any patent infringement challenges associated with adopting Android, according to a report Friday from DigiTimes. He also accused Apple of being an instigator with its legal action against HTC.



"As Apple's patent lawsuits against HTC have created concerns among market watchers, and have even strongly impacted HTC's stock price, Wang pointed out that the player, which started the patent war, wants either money or market influence and should consider any related losses as costs of doing business," the report said.



The comments are not the first time Wang has disparaged Apple. Last fall, he predicted that the iPad's share of the tablet market would plunge to less than a third because of the "closed platform" of Apple's iOS.



Acer has been a fervent defender of Android on tablets, as Wang said he believes Google's mobile platform "simply needs a little more time before it turns strong."



Acer's chief executive resigned from the company in April as the company looks to reorganize in an effort to take on Apple's market-leading iPad. At the time, it was said that the impact from successful Apple products was a "key reason" for the departure of Gianfranco Lanci.







The release of the iPad in 2010 had a major impact on the netbook market, of which Acer was king. Thanks in part to the iPad, Acer has seen its sales plummet drastically.



In the latest quarterly PC sales figures, Gartner found that Acer's shipments dropped more than 22 percent in the U.S. from 2010. Things weren't much better worldwide, where Acer's estimated sales also dropped more than 20 percent year over year.



Gartner's preliminary Worldwide PC market share estimates for the second quarter of 2011.



The collapse of the netbook market has led Acer to embrace Android on a series of tablet-style devices the company hopes will take on the iPad. Acer has also adopted Google's other operating system, Chrome, to build low-cost Chromebooks built for the Web-centric platform.



Acer's alignment with Google and Android makes it one of a number of manufacturers with a close eye on Apple's patent infringement suit against HTC. Earlier this month, a judge at the ITC gave an initial ruling that HTC has violated two patents owned by Apple.



Apple's initial legal victory has led some onlookers to suggest that other Android device makers could also be in trouble based on their use of Google's platform. It's also been suggested that Apple could collect a lucrative royalty rate from Android device makers, similar to the $5-per-unit fee Microsoft allegedly collects from HTC.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 146
    prof. peabodyprof. peabody Posts: 2,860member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Manufacturers of Android devices continue to unite against, with Acer joining the fray Apple as the company's claims of patent infringement continue to threaten HTC.



    Acer's chairman, JT Wang, said his company is ready to face any patent infringement challenges associated with adopting Android, according to a report Friday from DigiTimes. He also accused Apple of being an instigator with its legal action against HTC.



    "As Apple's patent lawsuits against HTC have created concerns among market watchers, and have even strongly impacted HTC's stock price, Wang pointed out that the player, which started the patent war, wants either money or market influence and should consider any related losses as costs of doing business," the report said....



    Ah, Acer. Those guys are so clueless it's almost funny.



    Wang is just spinning his wheels trying to prove that he was right and Lanci was wrong but Wang has never been right about any of this stuff, so why should we believe anything he says now?
  • Reply 2 of 146
    zoolookzoolook Posts: 657member
    Quote:

    Manufacturers of Android devices continue to unite against, with Acer joining the fray Apple as the company's claims of patent infringement continue to threaten HTC.



    What? Proof reader off today?
  • Reply 3 of 146
    docno42docno42 Posts: 3,755member
    Apple didn't start the patent war - the violators started the patent war.



    Innovate on your own. How many years did HTC push out bland Windows smartphones and Acer pimp out bland MS tablets?



    You want to be successful like Apple? Innovate! Pay attention to customers and the user experience instead of geek-oriented checklists and maybe people will be rabid fans of your products too.



    Talk about the pot calling the kettle black...
  • Reply 4 of 146
    gprovidagprovida Posts: 258member
    Apple does not want to commodize it's innovations through copying it's design. If someone wants to innovate and compete e.g., HP, MS, and RIM. Then go got it. If they think commodization is a good model, HP and Dell on PCs great.



    So my bet is Apple is more interested in how and where it competes as it's motivation for lawsuits. This is how they eventually settled with Nokia. If Lenovo, Acer, etc., want to compete on commodization like they have done in PCs with HP and Dell great go for it, but they will be challenged by Apple based on it's huge and risky IP investments that don't always pay off, MobileMe and AppleTV yet.
  • Reply 5 of 146
    evilutionevilution Posts: 1,399member
    Well, you know what they (companies that aren't Apple) say, if you can't beat them, whinge about it.
  • Reply 6 of 146
    welshdogwelshdog Posts: 1,897member
    I'm beginning to understand what Apple plans to use their $76 billion pot of gold for. They could easily hire a thousand top notch lawyers and vigorously defend every single patent they have and still not put a dent in that pile. They might even make money at it.
  • Reply 7 of 146
    kozchriskozchris Posts: 209member
    i have never had a piece of technology worse then the Acer laptop I purchased. I hope they go out of business so no more people have to suffer.
  • Reply 8 of 146
    cloudgazercloudgazer Posts: 2,161member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    "As Apple's patent lawsuits against HTC have created concerns among market watchers, and have even strongly impacted HTC's stock price, Wang pointed out that the player, which started the patent war, wants either money or market influence and should consider any related losses as costs of doing business," the report said.



    Is it just me or is there something vaguely Sopranos about that statement?
  • Reply 9 of 146
    Whine, whine, whine.



    Innovate, guys.
  • Reply 10 of 146
    rob55rob55 Posts: 1,291member
    I wonder if Wang and his ilk realize how ridiculous they sound ragging on Apple for defending their IP. What a bunch of numb-nuts.
  • Reply 11 of 146
    sector7gsector7g Posts: 156member
    So apple is the bad guy for trying to protect its property? Just because these companies can't come up with there own ideas. They feel intitled to other people's.
  • Reply 12 of 146
    sticknicksticknick Posts: 123member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kozchris View Post


    i have never had a piece of technology worse then the Acer laptop I purchased. I hope they go out of business so no more people have to suffer.



    +1



    I had an acer laptop back in the day and it was the worst piece of shit I've ever owned.
  • Reply 13 of 146
    mjtomlinmjtomlin Posts: 2,673member
    So these companies are just handing over money to Microsoft and Apple has to sue to get it and Apple is the bad guy?



    Sorry, but by paying Microsoft they already know Android violates patents and other IP !?



    Nothing but a publicity stunt by these companies.





    Apple doesn't need the money.



    Apple doesn't need to step all over other companies to compete; the iPhone is the best selling smartphone in the world and iOS is the largest mobile platform in the world.



    They are not on a downward spiral; they aren't selling less devices, they aren't losing user base, revenue, profits or mind share.



    So the only reason they would need to sue, is that these companies are riding on Apple's coattails by letting Apple do all the real work and then coming out with me-too products, which is nothing new to Apple.
  • Reply 14 of 146
    mrstepmrstep Posts: 513member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DocNo42 View Post


    Apple didn't start the patent war - the violators started the patent war.



    Innovate on your own. How many years did HTC push out bland Windows smartphones and Acer pimp out bland MS tablets?



    You want to be successful like Apple? Innovate! Pay attention to customers and the user experience instead of geek-oriented checklists and maybe people will be rabid fans of your products too.



    Talk about the pot calling the kettle black...



    Google says Apple would rather sue than innovate after Google rips off huge amounts of iOS IP.



    Samsung copies Apple's hardware, making near-identical clones just running second-rate Android and then not only complains when sued by Apple, but asks for a look at Apple's upcoming product pipeline.



    Acer, HTC, ... these guys are all a friggin' joke. They can't innovate, they get into trouble for copying now, and they all sit around complaining that Apple is the bad guy.



    It's like a car thief complaining about the person they stole the car from after getting arrested - why didn't they just buy another car for me to steal instead of sending the law after me?



    As you say, do something that actually makes the customer experience better - WITHOUT just stealing the tech & design from Apple - and you're free to do as well as possible. What a bunch of wankers.
  • Reply 15 of 146
    wovelwovel Posts: 956member
    What Schmidt and Wang have shown us is that Apple has a much stronger IP claim then most of us thought and they are terrified.
  • Reply 16 of 146
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DocNo42 View Post


    Apple didn't start the patent war - the violators started the patent war.



    Innovate on your own. How many years did HTC push out bland Windows smartphones and Acer pimp out bland MS tablets?



    You want to be successful like Apple? Innovate! Pay attention to customers and the user experience instead of geek-oriented checklists and maybe people will be rabid fans of your products too.



    Talk about the pot calling the kettle black...



    Exactly right. If they repeat it enough they might convince themselves but no one who has actually watched this occur.



    The entire industry with very few exceptions was created around using Microsoft crap and cheap parts ... zero innovation for decades. Now MS is all but defunct they simply want a replacement which they thought they'd found with Android. Now that is discovered to be a rip off with patent liabilities they band together to defend it.
  • Reply 17 of 146
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,178member
    To be fair, recent litigation has every appearance to me of being a patent war. Apple (add MS too) is trying their their best to litigate Android out of existence rather than let normal market forces rule. While Microsoft might be just as happy to license them to death, Apple isn't likely to agree to any licensing of tech that courts don't demand of it. They (and perhaps it's driven primarily by Mr. Jobs) just want them gone from the market by whatever means necessary IMHO. Just my 2 cents.
  • Reply 18 of 146
    It's nice to see a company with the strength to continually fight and defend its patents, such as Apple is doing. Too many times have I seen great products created and then shortly after another company comes out and sells cheap knock-offs.
  • Reply 19 of 146
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kozchris View Post


    i have never had a piece of technology worse then the Acer laptop I purchased. I hope they go out of business so no more people have to suffer.



    My daughter was given an Acer netbook. She must have used it all of half a dozen time in the last year. It is slow, unbelievably cheaply made and the trackpad and button are so awful to use its not worth the bother. The 'brand new' machine now sits in its original box. I am wondering who to give it to without it looking like an insult.
  • Reply 20 of 146
    sheffsheff Posts: 1,407member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    It's also been suggested that Apple could collect a lucrative royalty rate from Android device makers, similar to the $5-per-unit fee Microsoft allegedly collects from HTC.



    You know, based on history of android (its direction totally changed based on iphone from what it would have been, ie more of a blackberry competitor then market changer) I think android manufacturers should pay a royalty to apple for every device sold. Not even for technology, but for the vision that has allowed for android and other smartphone OSs to get off the ground in this fashion.
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