Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Will Apple and Microsoft fight over the new iOS 5 feature?

A

Ashlyn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 17, 2011
8
0
San Francisco
It’s nice to become a part of this friendly community. I am working on ProCamera – an iPhone camera app. We lately released an update containing a feature called ‘QuickFlick album access’ – people can just gesture to see their photos or videos. Amazingly, Apple announced iOS 5 with exactly the same feature. Shockingly, Microsoft claims to have a patent on it (http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2011/06/13/ios-5s-fancy-new-camera-trick-microsoft-has-a-patent-on-it/). Any thoughts on whether these two giants will fight when iOS 5 comes out this fall? And what will this mean for our tiny company and others like us?

Ashlyn from ProCamera
 
K

KingCrimson

macrumors 65816
Mar 12, 2011
1,066
0
Ashlyn said:
It’s nice to become a part of this friendly community. I am working on ProCamera – an iPhone camera app. We lately released an update containing a feature called ‘QuickFlick album access’ – people can just gesture to see their photos or videos. Amazingly, Apple announced iOS 5 with exactly the same feature. Shockingly, Microsoft claims to have a patent on it (http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2011/06/13/ios-5s-fancy-new-camera-trick-microsoft-has-a-patent-on-it/). Any thoughts on whether these two giants will fight when iOS 5 comes out this fall? And what will this mean for our tiny company and others like us?

Ashlyn from ProCamera
Click to expand...

2011 = year Apple copycats everyone. :eek:
 
*LTD*

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Apple announced iOS 5 on June 6th.

Your app went live on June 7th.

MS (as you say) appears to have a patent on this. We don't know whether Apple has a patent on this exact feature, etc. Nothing has been challenged by anyone yet.

You took your chances. At the moment I see nothing unfair here from either side, apart from the possibility you didn't do your homework.

Make as much money as you can in the meantime and enjoy it while it lasts. In fact, all we're talking about here is a single feature. Heck, you might even try patenting it and see what happens. ;)
 
Last edited:
neiltc13

neiltc13

macrumors 68040
May 27, 2006
3,126
19
Everything I've seen about iOS5's new camera features appear to be a direct copy of Windows Phone 7.

- Camera access from lock screen (although Windows Phone 7 goes one better and allows camera access from sleep, because all phones have a dedicated two three state camera button)

- Dedicated shutter button

- Swipe back to access previously taken photos when camera is running

- Automatic upload to iCloud/Skydrive
 
*LTD*

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
.I just found this:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/6/prweb8565886.htm

QuickFlick album access is a new iOS 5 feature that will come in this fall. The ProCamera team developed this feature before Apple announced iOS 5.

Are you sure about that? How do you know it wasn't already in development at Apple? Apparently you didn't even know MS might already have a patent on it? Did you conduct a patent search?

This feature in your app made it into your June 7th update (ver. 3.1), a day *after* Apple showcased iOS 5.
 
Last edited:
A

Ashlyn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 17, 2011
8
0
San Francisco
*LTD* said:
.I just found this:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/6/prweb8565886.htm

QuickFlick album access is a new iOS 5 feature that will come in this fall. The ProCamera team developed this feature before Apple announced iOS 5.

Are you sure about that? How do you know it wasn't already in development at Apple? Apparently you didn't even know MS might already have a patent on it? Did you conduct a patent search?

This feature in your app made it into your June 7th update (ver. 3.1), a day *after* Apple showcased iOS 5.
Click to expand...

The new version of ProCamera got approved before Apple announced iOS 5, we released it to the App Store on June 7. That's all. And, the feature took the whole team several months, no one could have it done in one day I guess...
 
*LTD*

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
Ashlyn said:
The new version of ProCamera got approved before Apple announced iOS 5, we released it to the App Store on June 7. That's all. And, the feature took the whole team several months, no one could have it done in one day I guess...
Click to expand...

You'll need to prove the timeline. All it looks like at this point is that both you and Apple were working on the same or very similar feature, and Apple had to wait until WWDC to showcase it.

I'm not taking a side against you, you have a great app and it goes without saying that you put a lot of work into it. But all it looks like is a coincidence at this point. And what about that MS patent?

Have you communicated your concerns to Apple? I understand that might be a risk in your view, but they *did* approve your app. Perhaps there are some differences between yours and Apple's that you haven't considered.

I'd be interested in their response, if of course you do decide to bring it to their attention. Alternatively, are you in a position to consult a lawyer about this? Have you thought about it?
 
QuarterSwede

QuarterSwede

macrumors G3
Oct 1, 2005
9,785
2,033
Colorado Springs, CO
Although your talking about the camera, Apple has had a feature similar in the iPod app since at least iOS 4.3 (now recently discovered). From Now Playing you can swipe right to go back to the previous page without having to tap the button.
 
A

Ashlyn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 17, 2011
8
0
San Francisco
*LTD* said:
Have you communicated your concerns to Apple? I understand that might be a risk in your view, but they *did* approve your app. Perhaps there are some differences between yours and Apple's that you haven't considered.

I'd be interested in their response, if of course you do decide to bring it to their attention. Alternatively, are you in a position to consult a lawyer about this? Have you thought about it?
Click to expand...

These points are good: communicating to Apple and consulting a lawyer. Not sure what result the first one will bring but the second one won't hurt.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom