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Apple and Qualcomm Reach Settlement, Agree to Drop All Litigation
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Good news for both, frankly.
Apple gets access to the latest models for 6-8 years, which should be enough time for them to develop their own modem.
Qualcomm doesn't risk their patent and royalty structure being struck-down, which could have bankrupted the company if Apple had won the full amount of damages they were asking.
I fully expect Qualcomm modified their conditions to make them more palatable to Apple, but they're still going to be making money from the deal.
Apple gets access to the latest models for 6-8 years, which should be enough time for them to develop their own modem.
Qualcomm doesn't risk their patent and royalty structure being struck-down, which could have bankrupted the company if Apple had won the full amount of damages they were asking.
I fully expect Qualcomm modified their conditions to make them more palatable to Apple, but they're still going to be making money from the deal.
That’s nonsense. They didn’t fight it because Qualcomm caved, and the new license is no longer unfair. Any lawyer will tell you that Qualcomm charging a patent license fee when you already buy their chips violates Supreme Court precedent.
Maybe Qualcomm agreed to not double charge both Apple and the contract manufacturers for the same license or charge them a license on the Apple’s total device instead of just the chips involved.
"Apple says the settlement includes a payment from Apple to Qualcomm and a six-year licensing agreement for Qualcomm's technologies."
Looks like Apple realized they weren't going to win the case. A definite positive outcome for Qualcomm.
Looks like Apple realized they weren't going to win the case. A definite positive outcome for Qualcomm.
It takes courage to blink, esp when you need Qualcomm's 5G chips nobody else can offer.
Curious, what about your 7 Plus "can not survive much longer"?
Interesting. Please link your source. Thanks.
QCOM stock is up 16%. AAPL has not moved. Who do you think has won?
Actually this says the following:
5G is going to be rapidly expanding in 2020 and Intel cannot keep up with demand nor the ability to have patents that don’t infringe.
Apple wants the iPhone fully 5G ready especially in Japan, China and India if they go forward as well.
Apple knows their hardware sales will severely plummet without 5G ready out the gate in 2020 or with slower speeds, worse battery life.
This means heavy overhanded double dipping of patent licensing again in the future.
Something tells me Apple maybe working with other partners on alternative solutions a few years out.
Why do you think Apple caved? Apple's contention was never that Qualcomm's patents were, in general, unfair. (*) It never suggested that it shouldn't have to pay royalties for Qualcomm's IP.
All along it's been clear that Qualcomm wouldn't be able to continue doing business as it had. It's been ordered time and time again to stop doing various things which it previously did. With regard to Apple, it's (thus far) lost the important legal battles. It was always likely that they'd reach a settlement. The question was always: How much worse (as compared to how things worked before) would the terms be for Qualcomm. For the last couple of years, Apple has had most of the leverage. Before that, it was Qualcomm that had most of the leverage.
(*) To be clear, Apple has challenged the validity of some Qualcomm patents. But those challenges didn't relate to the bulk of them and invalidity has never been Apple's main argument. In this particular case, there were (at one point) 9 patents-in-suit. Apple asked for a declaratory judgment that those patents were invalid, that they were exhausted (with regard to Apple), and that they hadn't been infringed. But Qualcomm executed a covenant promising not to sue Apple or the contract manufacturers for infringement of those patents, and in so doing effectively made Apple's request for those declaratory judgments moot.
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Qualcomm stock is up more than Apple's because Apple was suing Qualcomm, they were very likely to win, and Qualcomm's existence were in perils. An agreement means Apple already got what they wanted without risking to lose, and without forcing Qualcomm to go nearly bankrupt.
We know Intel's modes aren't working out for 5G. I expect there's a token payment, and Apple's gonna have as many 5G modems as they need.
They "folded" because Apple agreed to pay what they wanted. It's Apple that folded here.
Good. The Qualcomm modem runs circles around the intel one. I'm not sure I'll buy another intel model iPhone if I can avoid it.
This was so anticlimactic. I didn't even get to see a single michael jackson popcorn gif.
Intel modems are hot garbage. The iPhone XS Max is an amazing phone ruined by horrible connectivity.
Just Business. As it should be.
[Even Cook, with his inseparable spreadsheet, knew this.]
"Whoever has the gold, makes the rules."
And, if the tables had been turned, Cook would have done same.
Finally, the drama of two handbag-fighting old ladies comes to a glorious end./s
[Even Cook, with his inseparable spreadsheet, knew this.]
"Whoever has the gold, makes the rules."
And, if the tables had been turned, Cook would have done same.
Finally, the drama of two handbag-fighting old ladies comes to a glorious end./s
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Let's be real — apple was always going to be paying something in this agreement (Apple buys parts from Qualcomm but not the other way around). Apple's issue has always been that Qualcomm just asks for too much — both for what they should be paying for and for things Apple felt they weren't owed anything for. Apple was always going to be paying Qualcomm for something, it's just most likely a more fair price now.
The fact that Qualcomm stock is up more than Apple shows exactly the opposite of what you say. Markets in this case wouldn’t reward the “winner” but the company that had more to lose, because if Qualcomm stock goes up it means that now their outlook is more positive than it was before the settlement. Clearly not a lot changed for Apple if their stock didn’t move, in the eyes of investors.
Good, makes more sense for both companies and consumers.
