Do you remember the day the iPhone was unveiled during Steve Jobs’ famous keynote at MacWorld 2007? You might recall him wowing the world with multi-touch features and following it up by saying Apple is going to patent all of it. Two very short years later, Apple got its wish from the US Patent Office by being granted the patent for Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics. The award for the patent couldn’t have come at a better time as Tim Cook has thrown down the gauntlet and announced that Apple will take on all challengers. Of course, it was no secret that the Palm Pre is the number one target since the upcoming device is to feature multi-touch support. Palm didn’t shy away from Apple’s hubris as it stated, “If faced with legal action, we are confident that we have the tools necessary to defend ourselves.” Of course, such an utterance is much easier to spill when certain patents haven’t yet been granted. It looks like it could be a slightly different ball game now.
[Via TiPb]
