Apple preparing new wireless sharing feature that will compete with webOS ‘Touch-to-share’

By on Jul 8, 2011 at 6:10 PM
mobile July 8, 2011

Apple has been testing a new wireless sharing feature that could allow users to quickly and easily transfer files from various iOS devices, PatentlyApple has discovered. The technology will no doubt compete with HP’s webOS “Touch-to-share” feature, which lets the Palm Pre3 and the TouchPad share files with one another. Though there is no indication as to when Apple might implement the tech, Apple’s patents outline a technology that appears to one-up HP’s offering. The patent describes the sharing experience as including both visual and audio aspects. As PatentlyApple points out, imagine an iPad “sucking” the files from your iPhone with a vacuum noise, and seeing the files leave the iPhone and appear on the iPad in an animated fashion. Or, as the image above shows, a user might be able to “pour” the files from an iPhone onto an iPad. The transfer process may also include “physical, intuitive gestures.” The patent application number 20110163944 was filed in the first quarter of 2010 and the inventors listed are Brett Bilbrey, Nicholas King and Todd Benjamin.

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  • http://twitter.com/Juanky1503 Juan C. Fernandez

    ios 6?

    • Anonymous

      I paid $32.67 for a XBOX 360 and my mom got a 17 inch Toshiba laptop for $94.83 being delivered to our house tomorrow by FedEX. I will never again pay expensive retail prices at stores. I even sold a 46 inch HDTV to my boss for $650 and it only cost me $52.78 to get. Here is the website we using to get all this stuff, BidsNew.çom

  • Anonymous

    So the main difference between this and the webOS version is that it’s going to be prettier (although not that much prettier, since webOS is a pretty looking OS) and you’re going to pour your files instead of just touching.

    Then there will be inevitable flamewars about how this isn’t original to Apple, but Apple does it so much better, and everybody who likes Apple is gay… I can see it coming already. All of you people who are going to be idiots disappoint me.

  • Anonymous

    A lot of what Apple patents never sees the light of day.

    I’m not really convinced any of this is really necessary. iCloud will mean everything is synced anyway. I guess there’s some uses, but then I’d rather the phones/tablets simply be aware of each other when they’re in proximity, and then add an option to the “Share” button where you can send what you’re looking at (i.e. websites, files) to the other device. 

    I don’t see why you need to physically touch them together or do some complicated gesture.

    • Nikeem24

      Agreed

  • Manit Suri

    I already got the name, “iShare” or “iTouch” no pod!

  • Anonymous

    I bet it’ll be revolutionary and iMagical.

  • Anonymous

    “Will no doubt compete”
      BGR Please ,  why don’t you just say copied from HP(WEBOS) Touch -To-Share. 

    • Anonymous

      When was Touch-to-Share unveiled?

      This patent was filed in Q1 2010.

      Besides, it’s a lame feature anyway and most Apple patents never see the light of day anyway.

  • Anonymous

    HP should sue them for even trying to steal their patent 

  • Anonymous

    Apple is something else, this isn’t copying Hp? Hp should sue them for everything and some..

    Now I’m really convinced that apple has run out of ideas.

    • Anonymous

      Settle down, it’s a patent. Therefore, it must have had enough unique things about it to warrant a patent. And it’s just a different implementation of filesharing, which I’m pretty sure HP didn’t invent either.

    • Anonymous

      And I’m really convinced that you don’t understand how intellectual property laws work.

      Besides, the patent was filed in Q1 2010, well before HP showed off touch to share.

      • Anonymous

        You do know that Hp had this well before Q1 2010 don’t you? It’s been worked on for a while and patented by hp.

      • Anonymous

        Please post a link to the HP’s patent filing so we can dig deeper and get the facts.

        Thanks.

    • http://www.darrylburma.com Darryl Burma

      It does seem like that in this particular case

  • Anonymous

    Touch and Magic…

    iPotter??

  • Zlatin

    Does somebody know what is the underlying technology behind. Is it NFC?

  • Steve Hillshire

    How INNOVATIVE Apple!

    GOOGLE GOOD!!!!!  APPLE BAD!!!!!!

    • Anonymous

      You do realize that you are talking about for-profit, capitalistic corporations where both would like nothing more than to make as much money as humanly possible off of you, right? Google gives you free services in exchange for your likeness to sell to advertisers. Apple offers products, mostly hardware, that you have the option to buy or not. Both do things differently, but both are good at what they do. I personally prefer Apple’s products over most of the competition. I’ve kept a close eye on Android and WP7 to see if they are something I would like to use instead, and before that it was webOS. I’ve still made an informed decision to stick with Apple and the majority of their products.

      For the way I like to use my devices, I prefer Mac over Windows, and iOS over anything else, for now. I currently have a gmail account and use Google’s calendar, docs, voice, translation, and reader services, and hope to get into Google+ soon, although I use Facebook because I believe it is better for my needs than Twitter or anything else, for now. I have a PS3 I use for, among other things like games and blu-rays, netflix streaming and renting movies. I use this because it is easier for me than having an Apple TV, since it’s all integrated into something that I already have, it’s easy to use, and the prices and selection are pretty much the same between the two.

      My point is, there is no good or bad, especially when talking about companies looking to take your money in one form or another. Use what works best for you, not whatever is perceived to be cool or unique at the time.

  • Anonymous

    and if nobody saw it before HP showed it how could it be copying?  and you do know things are worked on awhile before a copyright is filed

    • Anonymous

      And you think people that hate Apple have enough IQ to understand what you just wrote?

      Their hatred of anything Apple gets in the way.

  • Anonymous

    Touch to share? Sounds like a STD.

  • Anonymous

    N their going to sue Hp for this patent as well?

  • Boodah

    Jesus Christ Superstar!!!! WTF is wrong with everyone???  Do you really have to use a gesture… really? 

  • http://twitter.com/jackrazzlin Jack Azlin

    Maybe HP should sue them because “it’s just like webOS”

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4MTTSODYHYWWGPO2GIEFMP2GNM Byron Hansen

    I paid $32.67 for a XBOX 360 and my mom got a 17 inch Toshiba laptop for $94.83 being delivered to our house tomorrow by FedEX. I will never again pay expensive retail prices at stores. I even sold a 46 inch HDTV to my boss for $650 and it only cost me $52.78 to get. Here is the website we using to get all this stuff, LiveCent.com

  • Anonymous

    this makes a whole lot of sense dude. Wow.

    http://www.total-privacy.ua.tc

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