Come iOS 6, Apple Will ...

Google’s map data has been baked into the iOS Maps app since the days of the first, thick, aluminum-backed iPhone, but that may no longer be the case once iOS 6 hits the streets. Unnamed sources told 9to5Mac that the Cupertino company would instead take that opportunity to reveal their own Maps application, and those early reports paint a pretty impressive picture. Astute readers may recall that Apple has been on something of a mapping company shopping spree these past few years — what began with the purchase of Placebase in 2009 , continued with Poly9 in 2010 , and culminated with Apple snapping up C3 Technologies late last year. As far as the app itself goes, the biggest addition to the mix is a robust new 3D mode that is said to be a straight implementation of the what C3 was already working on when they were acquired. Considering how damned good some of their 3D maps looked, this should be a real treat (assuming the report isn’t just hot air). Also on deck is an updated street view mode also courtesy of C3, and what would a major revamp be without a new app icon? While C3′s (and possibly Poly9′s) tech seems to have been used in building (or replacing) features, the purchase of white-label mapping service Placebase presumably allowed Apple to build up their store of map data to the point where they apparently feel comfortable giving Google the boot. Apple has forecast their shift away from reliance on Google in other ways, too — about two months ago, Apple switched from using Google’s map data to data provided by the OpenStreetMaps project (even if it did take them a while to own up to it ). While Apple isn’t expected to fully unveil iOS 6 and all the changes they’ve made until this year’s WWDC in June, if you’re champing at the bit for nifty 3D mapping functionality on your iDevice, apps like UpNext Maps may be able to hold you over until Apple delivers their next big iOS update.

Why Startups Should Pay...

Editor’s Note: Leonid (“Lenny”) Kravets is a patent attorney at Panitch, Schwarze, Belisario and Nadel , LLP in Philadelphia, PA. Lenny focuses his practice on patent prosecution and intellectual property transactions in computer-related technology areas. He specializes in developing IP strategy for young technology companies and blogs on this topic at StartupsIP . Follow Lenny on Twitter: @lkravets and @startupsIP . As large companies increasingly look to protect their revenue streams through IP risk mitigation, startups with strong patent holdings will become increasingly valuable because they provide an opportunity to remove dual potential threats to the potential acquirer’s revenue stream — as a competitor and as a patent threat. Startups that are able to position themselves as part of an acquirer’s IP risk mitigation strategy make themselves more attractive targets for acquisition. For example, Twitter acquired Tweetie days after Tweetie filed for a patent application on the pull down to refresh feature and Google recently acquired Apture and Katango, two small startups with multiple pending patent applications relevant to Google’s businesses. Although some have described these deals as talent acquisitions, the value presented by the associated IP to the acquirer should not be ignored. Potential acquirers viewing target companies as part of their risk mitigation strategy should result in increased patent prices being reflected in smaller patent deals, as well as in increased valuations for startup companies with IP holdings. Unfortunately, despite the evidence of how valuable patents are to large companies, parts of the technology community see filing patent applications as a scarlet letter for startups. While some members of the technology community argue that patents are more trouble than they’re worth , the average price of sold patent assets keeps skyrocketing. Monday’s acquisition of 800 AOL patent assets by Microsoft set a new high water mark for the value of an average patent asset (a patent or patent application) of 1.25 million dollars. Other recent deals include the purchase of Novell’s patent portfolio for $450 million, the purchase of Nortel’s patent portfolio by a group including Microsoft and Apple for $4.5 billion, and the acquisition of Motorola Mobility by Google for $12.5 billion. While each of these deals have been reported as being a “patent” sale, in each case, only a portion of the total patent assets are issued patents, with the rest being patent applications. In practice, patents and patent applications are not valued equally because the value of a patent application can change drastically during the course of prosecution and the owner of the application must expend significant resources relating to its prosecution. It is difficult to identify a specific breakdown between patents and patent applications in each of these deals. However, the true price per issued patent is likely to be substantially higher than what was reported. Thus far, these higher per-patent valuations for large portfolios do not appear to have filtered down to smaller portfolios such as those held by startups and other small companies. This may be due to the fact that companies will pay a premium to purchase large portfolios, since it is easier to structure a single transaction instead of many smaller transactions, and because a large portfolio can provide coverage for a broad range of technologies related to the acquiring company’s core businesses. However, the conclusion to be drawn from the above-mentioned sales is that the true value of a patent is what someone is willing to pay to keep that patent (or patent portfolio) out of a competitor’s or Non-Practicing Entity’s (NPE) hands. While it has been argued that the increased patent valuations amount to a patent bubble, these valuations signal a new view of patents as an IP risk mitigation strategy that minimizes exposure to IP threats. Similar risk hedging strategies are employed in many other industries. For example, in the airline industry, hedging of fuel prices is a commonplace, accepted practice. Thus, while current patent prices may be overly inflated, it is likely that increased prices are here to stay. The view of IP in terms of risk mitigation will likely make small technology companies the next beneficiaries of the increased patent values. As the remaining available large portfolios find new homes, large companies will be forced to look to smaller technology companies to continue mitigating their IP risk by preventing patents from falling into the hands of NPEs or litigious competitors. After all, many of the NPEs were at one point operating companies or acquired patents from them. The result is that the increased valuations and competition for patents provide an opportunity for smaller technology companies to monetize their own assets regardless of the success of their business, as shown by Google’s acquisition of the Cuil patent portfolio . Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram (which does not appear to have any patents or published patent applications, but may have unpublished patent applications) showed that patents are not strictly necessary to make a startup an attractive acquisition target. Still, it would have been interesting to see how much Facebook would have been willing to pay for Instagram if it had a patent portfolio. Patent applications can be expensive to write and prosecute (typically costing between $15,000 and $75,000), and are not for every company. However, the increased emphasis on, competition for, and value of patents shows that dismissing patenting out of hand can be a competitive disadvantage by foregoing part of the value proposition a company with IP can offer to a potential acquirer.

Google-Motorola Deal Ap...

Just hours after the European Commission announced their approval of Google’s $12.5 billion Motorola purchase, the United States Department of Justice has announced that they too have given the deal their blessing . With this, Google is one step closer to closing the deal, although they’re still waiting on approval from China, Taiwan, and Israel before the transaction can officially be completed. According to the DoJ’s Antitrust Division, who conducted the investigation, the purchase was “not likely to significantly change existing market dynamics.” According to Reuters, the Department of Justice will continue to keep their eyes on Google to ensure that standard essential patents will be licensed fairly. Developing…

Air Force Could Buy Tho...

The Air Force’s Air Mobility Command will be putting in a request for the purchase of a number of tablets soon in an effort to lighten their pilots’ loads. Many commercial airlines are already taking this step, and American Airlines has already gotten FAA approval . The Air Force is feeling the sting of jealousy, and in consequence may be requesting as many as 18,000 devices. The number could also be as low as 63; the Command was not forthcoming on this point. The lower number would probably indicate a pilot program, so to speak, for a few devices, to determine which should get the big order. Which tablet would actually be ordered is also not specified. Bloomberg cannily plays up the iPad angle in its report ( U.S. Air Force May Buy 18,000 Apple IPad 2s ), but the spokesperson they talked to, Captain Ferrero, said the request might also be for Playbooks, Galaxy Tabs, Xooms, or Nooks. If these were to be general-purpose tablets, this little menagerie would be hard to winnow down. But the fact is they are going to be used as virtual flight bags, and the iPad is the only one that has the thousands of hours in the air that the Air Force will require. In a year, maybe, Android tablets will have a little more experience under their belts, but for now it’s probably safe to say that any tablets purchased by the government for the purpose of being electronic flight bags are going to be iPads. Eventually, these platform issues will have to be settled, though: if part of the military is going with Android for security purposes, and others are going with iOS for EFB and, say, general communication, there’s going to be a reckoning sooner or later.

Eyes On: The Nokia Lumi...

Ah, so close yet so far. Nokia’s new flagship Lumia 900 handset was on display here at CES 2012, and though we couldn’t quite get our hands on it, we did the next best thing — we shot some video. While the Nokia Lumia 710 technically led Nokia’s U.S. Windows Phone charge, the newly-announced Lumia 900 for AT&T is likely to be the one that gets phone fans’ hearts fluttering. With its 4.3-inch AMOLED display, 1-megapixel front-facing camera, stylish polycarbonate design and support for AT&T’s fledging 4G LTE network, it could soon be the Windows Phone to beat in the United States. For a while, anyway. That being said, Nokia could face some stiff competition from devices like the HTC Titan 2 , a whopper of a new Windows phone from HTC that sports (among other things) a 1.5GHz processor and a 16-megapixel camera. Even so, while some customers will end up choosing one over the other if they decide to buy a Windows Phone, either purchase would help grow the Windows Phone platform as a whole. Personally, I’d be inclined to go for a 900 thanks to the fact that it will be available in the same cyan hue as its little brother that Lumia 800 does. There’s no official release date or price as of yet, but Nokia’s representatives assure us that it will hit store shelves within a few months.