INSIDE THE iPHONE PATENT PORTFOLIO
Data Offers Glimpse of Battery-Free Future, Insight into Smartphone ‘Patent Wars’

AMONG APPLE’S 1,298 mobile patents, some individual technolog ies stand out as key indicators of what the future of smarTphone designs may hold.

 

CONCLUSION
Though it is impossible to know exactly how Apple’s IP will manifest itself in consumer products for the end-user, our detailed review of Apple’s patent portfolio reveals two facts about the future of smartphone design:
1. Handset manufacturers like Apple will continue to push the bounds of innovation to bring us faster, smarter, longer-lasting tools
2. This ultra-competitive environment will continue to fuel IP-related litigation for the foreseeable future
Smartphones are huge business for their makers.

In the second quarter of 2012 alone, Apple sold 35.1 million iPhones2. Research firm Strategy Analytics calculates that the company has generated $150 billion in cumulative revenues from the iPhone. It is safe to say that the IP that makes such revenue possible is going to be protected by its owner and challenged by rivals.
As this marriage between must-have consumer technology and constant product innovation continues to grow in an ultra competitive marketplace, we expect IP to continue its evolution beyond solely intellectual capital
protection, and into a more of a strategic tool in the ever-increasing quest for market leadership.

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