Are Apple and Google, the giants of mobile, ready to declare war?
Apple likes control. While nearly universally agreed upon, this is an understatement. Like saying Mussolini had a thing for trains. The Cupertino, Calif. company is notoriously patent happy, and in October 2009 (months before the Quattro acquisition announcement, but while the tech powerhouse was admittedly pursuing AdMob, which it lost to Google), it applied for one that raised eyebrows in mobile circles. According to the U.S. patent and Trademark Office, Steven Jobs et al. of Apple Inc. are listed as the inventors of what amounts to an A-Bomb attack on pop-up blockers and those who refuse to look at ads. The patent outlines a system that not only describes the process of “determining whether a user pays attention to the advertisement,” but also for disabling the device should an ad not be noticed. Just a stones’ throw across the valley in Mountain View, Calif. things couldn’t be much more different. Google presents itself as relying on the innovation of others to maximize the use of
