Cellphone News – Second Apple patent filing du jour

Just in case one Apple patent filing wasn’t enough for you, another one has just hit the internets — filed April 26, 2005, and published on the US Patent & Trademark Office’s site today. As always, the patent lays out in explicit and excruciating detail what Apple has in the pipeline. This time, it’s a “hand held electronic device with multiple touch sensing devices.” Not clear enough for you? If you scroll down far enough, you’ll find reference to the possibility of merging of many electronic devices into a single device: “Each device 102 includes both hardware and software components 104 and 106, which are integrated into multi-functional hand-held device 100. It should be pointed out that the multi-functional hand-held device 100 is not limited to only two devices, and may in fact integrate any number of devices.” The patent filing goes on to say: “By way of example, the portable electronic device may correspond to tablet PCs, PDAs, media players (music, images, video), game players, telephones, cellular phones, mobile radios, cameras, GPS modules, remote controls, and/or the like.” So, in short, it’ll be something between anything and everything. Now, invoking the WANL (“we are not lawyers”) clause here, we’re really scratching our heads at this one — because if our scant knowledge of patent law is correct, it would seem that prior art would apply. That is to say that surely there are millions of devices out there that have a touchscreen and have multiple functions. Surely one of these patent lawyers has a Treo or a BlackBerry, no? Assuming that those brainiac Apple attorneys know what they’re doing, this patent potentially paves the way for an an even awesomer touchscreen-based iPhone than the rumors we’ve already heard about, or other devices that may or may not have something to do with products to be unveiled next week — so until then, run along now.

[Via CrunchGear and MacNN]

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Jton’s MobiWallet RFID SIMs

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

As long as we’re sitting about twiddling our thumbdrives waiting for one of those ubiquitous, near-field cellphone payment systems used by some more advanced societies for years, we might as well check out the options right? Enter MobiWallet from Jton Systems which combines SIM cards and a refillable, RFID debit payment system to make quick work of public transport and double-half-caff transactions. Start by defining a minimum balance and refill amount. The phone then ensures that you never leave home without by comparing the RFID balance with your minimum threshold and automatically negotiating a refill with the MobiWallet server when necessary. Great, now we just need a provider to go ahead and replace existing SIMs with RFID integrated cards and we’re all set — riiight. Combine with the RFID blocking wallet and voila, an infinite loop with seating for one.

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Nokia to switch up naming scheme, follow Moto’s lead

Filed under: Cellphones

5200, 6136, E70, N70, N73. We lost track of what’s what in Nokia’s soup of numbers and letters about twenty or thirty phones ago; maybe our jaded minds can’t handle the constant onslaught of new devices anymore — or perhaps we’re just getting old — but it sounds like help is mercifully on the way. After watching brands like Motorola’s RAZR and LG’s Chocolate dominate pockets and purses for the last couples years, our favorite Finnish phone manufacturer has dropped hints that it, too, will be switching from numbers to names for at least some of its future products. Ironically, the news comes just as HTC is going the other direction with its naming scheme, moving from names to numbers — but with monikers like “TyTN” plaguing their stable, we’re thinking that was the right move. No word on what kinds of words might pop up in the Nokia lineup, but our vote goes to names of Finnish cities (who wouldn’t want a Nokia Oulu?).