Re: Apple blocking One X in US. Could S3 become their next target
From what I gathered from an apple fansite is that the ban is due to some Sense software that infringes on an apple patent and is not found in android itself.
The patent unvolves Android "scanning" the content of text messages and emails looking for things like telephone numbers, street addresses, and email address and making them "active links" so that you can click on them and open the dialer, maps, etc. As far as I know, this *is* actually part of Android itself, but the case was against HTC specifically.
HTC had previously said that they have implemented a "workaround" (not sure what that means, exactly) but the ITC and Customs are holding the One X phones on the grounds that they have to check and "make sure" the new change is sufficient to no longer infringe on this patent.
The long and short of it: Apple should never have been issued this patent in the first place. You cannot patent a concept. You *must* patent an actual product. Apple should not have been allowed to patent this functionality any more than I could patent the idea of a tall, round container with a handle, used for transporting water.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if someone from Apple made a call and paid a little money to make this all go down. Android is *slaughtering* then in market share, and they know it. I could see them fighting dirty. Lord knows they have the money to buy whatever influence they want from our corrupt government.