Conflict -- Engadget Mobile

conflict posts

Talks between Apple and China Mobile squelched... or are they?

by Darren Murph posted Nov 30th 2007 @ 7:58PM

Barely a fortnight after Apple began talking with China Mobile about getting the iPhone into the ginormous Chinese market, it seems that negotiations are off -- or still on, or something. Yesterday, Nanfang Daily reported that China Mobile's CEO felt that the "iPhone model was not suitable for China," but unnamed reporters suggested that the real reason behind the call-off was the inability for both entities to agree on -- surprise, surprise -- a revenue sharing model. Today, however, a report over at Bloomberg notes that Apple has in fact not ended discussions with China Mobile, and moreover, it was said to have "denied newspaper reports" claiming otherwise. 'Course, we've got two sides of the story here, and while Apple may feel that there's still room to negotiate, China Mobile may see things quite differently. Time will tell, we guess.

[Via Macworld]
Read - Nanfang Daily report
Read - Bloomberg report

Sprint and Clearwire call off WiMAX plans

by Darren Murph posted Nov 9th 2007 @ 8:05AM

You could almost feel this one unraveling, but any remaining hope that Sprint and Clearwire would work something out has apparently been lost. Reportedly, the two have given up on trying to finalize an agreement to jointly build a nationwide WiMAX-based network, citing "complexities of the transaction and the departure last month of Sprint Chief Executive Gary Forsee" as primary reasons for the plan's deterioration. 'Course, Sprint still has a few options left, but it's fairly safe to say that what was the most promising one is seemingly out of the picture, at least for now. Interestingly, it wasn't noted as to whether the two would hook back up and give this one more go in the future, but there were suggestions that a number of big timers (Intel, Nokia, Samsung, etc.) would possibly "inject financing into Clearwire to help keep its WiMAX project on track." And here we thought this was only the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

[Via PhoneScoop]

Qualcomm's request for stay on chip ban refused... again

by Darren Murph posted Jul 22nd 2007 @ 1:00PM

Talk about tough luck. For the second time in as many month's, Qualcomm has been flat out denied by the courts as it has attempted to stall a ban on its chips over the Broadcom patent disputes. This time around, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit "dismissed Qualcomm's request for a stay of the ban, saying that it can't consider a stay until a presidential review period is over." Furthermore, this harsh news (for Qualcomm, at least) comes just days after being evaded by Verizon, and if that wasn't enough, the EU's stamp of approval on DVB-H could put MediaFlo in a world of hurt. Hang in there Qualcomm, all's not lost... yet.