Is Apple limbering up for a courtroom punch-up with Palm over the Pre’s multi-touch screen?
Palm’s share price tumbled yesterday in the wake of remarks by Tim Cook, Apple chief operating officer, who said during Apple’s quarterly earnings call that the iPhone maker would use all its weapons to fight any rivals that “ripped off” its intellectual property (IP).
Some Palm investors apparently took Cook’s comments as a thinly veiled threat to Palm whose survival may well depend on the success of the Pre unveiled by Ed Colligan, Palm’s chief executive, at the CES trade show in Las Vegas earlier this month.
The Pre, which is expected to finally go on sale sometime in the first half this year, features a slide down mini Qwerty keyboard in addition to its gesture capable multi-touch screen that can accommodate iPhone-style finger pinches and other gestures.
Apple’s interest in the Pre may reflect concern that its success could eat into sales of Apple’s iPhone which failed to live up to some analysts’ expectations in the latest quarter.
As analysts pointed out yesterday, rivalry between the two companies may also reflect recent board room appointments at Palm where Jon Rubinstein, who used to be a top hardware engineer at Apple, is now executive chairman and Fred Anderson, Apple’s former chief financial officer, is on Palm’s board.
