MplsP

tht said:

Spencer314 said:

Honestly, given the history here, Apple deserves to lose this one. I did get myself an Ultra 2 prior to the ban, and quite like it. But seriously, from all the reports, Masimo initially negotiated with them in good faith for a potential deal, then Apple raided their employees and immediately filed patents covering technology that Masimo had in development or had already patented. Maybe Masimo's price for licensing was unreasonable and Apple didn't see another choice, but intellectual property law is what it is and Apple f'd over the wrong company. 

I've seen this rationale from people and it is not a good take. 

What Apple did is your basic business practice for a large company trying to enter some market, or any company from startup to a century old business. They find some company to buy or merge with if they have the cash. If not, they build a team by hiring people. The experts in the field are at the incumbent companies. There is no other path a company can take if they want to do anything at speed.

I can do a quite negative take on Masimo's CEO. He is suggesting that Apple is stealing Masimo's property by hiring away its employees. That's basically indentured servitude, and I could go worse here, as the employees are absolutely free to get another job doing the same thing. Their engineering talent does not belong to Masimo and they really should take another job if those talents bring them opportunities.

Apple is absolutely doing the necessary and correct thing by hiring experts in the field to design and engineer some feature or product. This is not stealing. It's doing the right thing. You do not want them or any other company to do it any other way. I don't think there is any other way.

There is no such thing as "good faith" in business practices. You should really be skeptical of any takes that says Apple was going to buy Masimo in 2013 or 2014. They do not take on businesses that have little to do with their line of business, and that line of business isn't medical devices. There could have been anything from an IP deal to a component supply deal (skeptical of this), but Masimo itself and its product line? No way.

Like I said before. Nothing was stolen. Apple likely put more engineering work into the blood oxygen measurement parts of the Apple Watch than Masimo has in the past 20 years. It took them 6 years to get it into an Apple Watch. You could go out and buy a blood oxygen finger clamp for $20. You don't spend 6 years to add these measurement as these finger clamp ones have been available for a very long time now.

badmonk said:

So Masimo is not a patent troll, but the idea that they will make a health watch with the scale of Apple Watch is a ridiculous notion.

As a retired physician, so many of my patients and colleagues were using Apple Watch and specifically the pulse oximeter to monitor their health, especially my pulmonary patients with COPD & ILD.  And my father when he was in hospice.  It was critical for letting individuals know if they needed to seek medical help when they were in the throes of COVID in the beginning and middle of the pandemic as another example.

There is real harm to this.  I just hope at the end of the day this is just put through arbitration and if Apple is violating Masimo patents, there is a FRAND settlement so both companies can just get on with their lives.

Even if Masimo has aspirations to make a health watch, I guarantee you that Apple will be looking for an opportunity to counter sue for any thing that resembles an Apple Watch.

So yeah BS.

mikethemartian said:

maltz said:

I've never really understood the popularity of wireless mice and keyboards, but especially keyboards.  Mice, ok, the cord can be annoying if it tends to get hung up on something, but rearranging the cord or desk layout has always fixed that for me.  But keyboards are stationary.  What's the point of it being wireless?  And having to mess with charging and/or changing batteries is a hassle.

That's not to say there aren't ANY use cases - I have a wireless keyboard/trackpad combo for my HTPC for when the IR remote doesn't suffice, for example.  And our conference room at work has wireless so the computer driving the large display there can be used by anyone at the table.  But the typical "sitting at your desk using your computer" case I don't really get.

Personally I prefer wired keyboards and mice.