Apple Pulls All Withings Accessories From Apple Online Store Following Nokia Lawsuit

[macduke]

I've been very critical of Apple lately, but this makes sense to me. These companies have agreements with Apple when they sell in their stores that are quite clear. Nokia is struggling and made some dirty deals with patent trolls to make a quick buck, which violated Apple's agreements with them and triggered lawsuits. I don't know why people are complaining that this is petty. This is business, pure and simple. If someone was breaking agreements and suing me I wouldn't go out of my way to help them out. Why should Apple? The double standards here are ridiculous. I'm fairly certain that many people here in the comments have been much more petty in divorces. Apple's logic is sound.

 

[Ghost31]

I always thought this is something Jobs would have done. It seems this petulant 12-year old behavior is deeply ingrained in Apple's corporate culture.

Hey finally. Someone that doesn't have the comment 'Steve jobs would have never done this'!

Finally. We are back in the Steve jobs era at Apple?
[doublepost=1482543513][/doublepost]

People are calling this childish behavior????? Here's an analogy: You have an employee. That employee tries to scheme against your company to create a lawsuit against your company. Firing the dude is gonna be the first thing you do... It's not childish to pull product from a company that's clearly not playing nice.
Think before you post people.

My thought exactly. Everything to non business minded people (everyday consumers) that isn't super nice just seems really petty because they don't understand the grand scheme of things and how things work. Nobody has a right to be in apple's store.

 

[bbeagle]

Wow. All these anti-Apple trolls.

Your neighbor borrows your lawnmower. He injures himself while using it and sues you.

Is it petty to not allow him to use your trimmer?

Same thing with Apple here: I'm not going to help you if you're trying to hurt me.

It would be petty if Apple was trying to pull Nokia stuff from Amazon with some lawsuit.... but they're not... just pulling it from their OWN stores.

 

[a.gomez]

Better off just buying it at amazon anyway. They just had a great deal on the blood pressure machine (i already have the steel).

Only time I've been to the apple store last 12 months was to get my girlfriend's iphone SE serviced - no point for anything else.

 

[Branskins]

Better off just buying it at amazon anyway. They just had a great deal on the blood pressure machine (i already have the steel).

Only time I've been to the apple store last 12 months was to get my girlfriend's iphone SE serviced - no point for anything else.

Well Apple Stores are usually packed so I don't think there is "no point for anything else" for a lot of people

 

[RogerWilco]

Never mind the fact that Withings sells a fitness tracker watch in a stylish, thin case, with a 8-month battery life, and it actually shows the time of day with no acrobatic moves required. Yeah, if I were Apple I'd be pissed too.

 

[willzzz]

In the wake of its legal dispute with Nokia, Apple has pulled all Withings-branded accessories from its online store and presumably from all of its retail stores around the world.

Apple appears to have pulled the accessories in the last day or two, eliminating Withings products like the Body Cardio Scale, the Smart Body Analyzer, and the Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor. When searching for these products on Apple's site, they are no longer listed as available for purchase.

Apple has stopped offering all Withings products because Withings is owned by Nokia following a spring 2016 purchase worth an estimated $192 million. The Withings brand has been integrated into Nokia's Digital Health unit and is led by Cedric Hutchings, formerly the CEO of Withings.

A cached version of the listing for the Withings Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor, no longer available from Apple.com​

Earlier this week, Apple filed an antitrust lawsuit accusing Nokia and several patent assertion entities of illegally transferring patents to attempt to extort excessive royalty fees from the Cupertino company. Apple had established FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) deals with Nokia, but by transferring patents to patent holding companies, additional royalties can be demanded.

In response, Nokia filed 40 patent infringement lawsuits against Apple across 11 countries, accusing the Cupertino company of failing to establish licensing deals for Nokia patents that cover displays, user interface, software, antenna, chipsets, and video coding.

According to Apple, Nokia has been conspiring with patent assertion entities (Acacia Research and Conversant Property Management) in an "illegal patent transfer scheme" to wring money out of Apple because Nokia's cell phone business is failing. Nokia, meanwhile, says that it has not been able to reach a licensing agreement with Apple and must defend its rights.

Article Link: Apple Pulls All Withings Accessories From Apple Online Store Following Nokia Lawsuit

[doublepost=1482544861][/doublepost]Apple is one of the biggest patent trolls in the technology world, what goes around comes around.

 

[willzyx]

wah wah.

 

[samcraig]

It sucks when a company acts like a business instead of a charity. Pretty sure that Nokia was well within their rights to do whatever they wanted with their patents. Apple can remove Nokia products from their store too. But as a response, it looks petty.

 

[apolloa]

They probably would, but they actually need Samsung as a supplier, since Apple doesn't actually make any part of its gadgets themselves...

They don't need Nokia for anything

Oh God... Apple doesn't need Nokia like it doesn't need Ericsson... if the majority in here had any clue they would actually realise companies like Nokia and Ericsson and Alcatel Lucent (who are also suing Apple under the Nokia case), practically invented the modern cellular digital network! And all you cry babies don't think they deserve Apple to pay them to use their inventions and technologies whilst making billions of them... Apple should just pay up, but no it has to counter sue to make a point and then stop selling products like cry babies.

Apple has a proven track record of refusing to pay for patents and ending up in courts...

 

[Kaibelf]

People are calling this childish behavior????? Here's an analogy: You have an employee. That employee tries to scheme against your company to create a lawsuit against your company. Firing the dude is gonna be the first thing you do... It's not childish to pull product from a company that's clearly not playing nice.
Think before you post people.

To be fair, they landed here from the comments section of AppleInsider so...

 

[samcraig]

People are calling this childish behavior????? Here's an analogy: You have an employee. That employee tries to scheme against your company to create a lawsuit against your company. Firing the dude is gonna be the first thing you do... It's not childish to pull product from a company that's clearly not playing nice.
Think before you post people.

Bad analogy. I understand what you mean. But Nokia is not an employee.

 

[sinoka56]

Apparently, a lot of people here don't know that Nokia has probably done more R&D than Apple would ever do in their time.

Without Nokia the mobile network technology would have been set back.

 

[Tech198]

Happy times

 

[dumastudetto]

Good. I would go a step further and kill all their software on the App Store, and kill all installations of their software on all iOS devices.

 

[akfgpuppet]

my type of petty

 

[RadioGaGa1984]

not the first time Apple pull this crap. It's almost if the entire retail market is controlled by some with the maturity of highschool freshman

And the majority of the commenters in this thread.

 

[morcutt11]

Petty!

Well, in all fairness, if someone was suing me, I don't think that I'd be out there selling their products and helping them make money.

 

[gertruded]

Remember, all this is happening within a broken patent system, with special regulations and laws added to the mix as the result of lobbying and campaign contributions by the favored corporations, and toleration of patent trolls.

It is a corrupt mess, and really retards innovation and progress.

 

[Rookbird]

The way the idiotic patent system works, that's probably not far off. Many have argued the patent laws should be eliminated, and they make a good point IMO.

https://source.wustl.edu/2009/03/ec...-laws-are-killing-innovation-hurting-economy/

I don't think they should be eliminated but they certainly need to be revised. I mean when you can patent the fact that you swipe right on a button on your screen to unlock it, that seems a little ridiculous. You should only be able to patent real innovations not every tiny little detail. That seems petty.

 

[Stella]

Hi Master Timmy! Happy Christmas.

Conflicts have to be decided by the courts - not by personal opinions.

Apple doesn't need to court order. They think Nokia is violating their agreements and they are free to take action against it and of course, make sure there is no conflicts of interest.
It's a perfectly legitimate move.

Apple doesn't need to court order. They think Nokia is violating their agreements and they are free to take action against it and of course, make sure there is no conflicts of interest.
It's a perfectly legitimate move.

 

[2010mini]

A fitness gadget ... um ... like an Apple Watch? I think a lot of people agree with you, based on their apparent weak sales, lol

Yes. Weak sales....... has outsold everything in its category... but yeah weak... /sarcasm

 

[truthertech]

Petty!

Maybe you've never been to an Apple store. Apple stores carry a very limited number of products. Why would Apple decide to help fund and support a company that violated their agreements, is costing Apple millions in unnecessary lawsuits and is engaging in what Apple feels is an illegal conspiracy against Apple? I don't expect you to answer because you were just trolling, but I couldn't resist the fish in the barrel.

 

[bluespark]

I wonder how many of the posters claiming this is "childish" actually work in the business world. Companies choose who they do business with, and they do so for all sorts of reasons. Apple partners with those companies represented in the Apple Store. If a business partner engages in conduct inconsistent with that relationship, then it's not unreasonable to terminate the relationship. There's also a strong secondary benefit in that companies contemplating something similar may think twice.

Also, while much business litigation results from a good-faith dispute that both parties are happy to resolve through the courts, some is not. It's very possible (likely, I think) that Apple viewed Nokia's suit as being in bad faith. That's part of the reason Apple is reacting differently here than they might elsewhere. Every situation is different.

 

[JosephAW]

There you go folks. To Apple money comes first before your health.