Did Apple Invent the iPhone or Did This Guy? — Tech Roundup

Apple is being sued for $10 billion by a man who claims he was the brains behind the iPhone. Hertz cuts a deal with Lyft and Uber.
By Bret Kenwell ,

Editors' pick: Originally published June 30.

Apple (AAPL) - Get Report is credited with inventing the iPhone, iPad and iPod. But that hasn't stopped Thomas Ross from suing the tech giant for $10 billion over a triple-whammy patent infringement.

Ross says he is the one who came up with the iPhone, iPad and iPod. Only his version started with a different vowel, the ERD, or Electronic Reading Device. Ross reportedly applied for a patent for the device in November 1992.

However, he never paid the fees associated with a patent filing. As a result, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled the patent as abandoned three years later.

The iPod debuted in October 2001, followed by the iPhone in 2007 and iPad in 2010.

Do you find yourself asking. "What the heck this guy is going to court with Apple over?" Me, too. No patent equals no case, right? I'm not a lawyer, so I don't really know. But it seems hard to fathom that a judge will award this guy anything given that he didn't follow through on his patent plans.

That's like thinking about buying land in Orlando before Disney (DIS) - Get Report moved into town, withdrawing the offer and then suing Disney 24 years later because you thought about putting a theme park there first. Snooze ya lose.

Oh yeah, Ross will be representing himself in court.

Shares of Apple closed at $95.60 Thursday, up 1.3%.

Car rental services and taxi companies have very quickly started to feel the punishing blow being sent their way from ride-hailing services including Uber and Lyft. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right? At least, that's what it feels like coming from Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ) - Get Report .

The company has reportedly reach a deal with Uber and Lyft to supply its drivers with vehicles. As Hertz rotates vehicles out of its fleet, it could be what saves the company from what appeared to be its eventual demise.

Consumers who didn't want a taxi could opt to catch a ride to the car rental station at the airport, rent a car and drive to their destination. But why do that when you can hail a ride on your phone for a reasonable price?

Hertz management has cited ride-hailing companies as a driver behind its sluggish growth, which has also weighed on the stock. Shares are down 22% on the year and 40% over the past 12 months.

Drivers will be able to rent mid-sized cars for $180 per week, which comes out to roughly $780 per month. While that's more than a driver would typically pay for their own car (which they need for driving with Uber and Lyft), it includes insurance costs and they aren't on the hook for regular maintenance expenses.

Shares of Hertz closed at $11.07 Thursday, up 2.8%.

Is Apple mad at Spotify? Because Apple introduced Apple Music, the two are now competitors and at least on Spotify's side, they feel as if Apple isn't playing fair and square.

"This latest episode raises serious concerns under both U.S. and E.U. competition law," Spotify's general counsel Horacio Gutierrez said in a letter sent to Apple's general counsel Bruce Sewell.

Apple has apparently blocked the app's newest version update, saying that Spotify needs to use its billing system if "Spotify wants to use the app to acquire new customers and sell subscriptions."

The main issue is Spotify does not want to give Apple such a big chunk of its revenue pie simply for users going to the app store and signing up through the service in that manner. 

Rather, Spotify wants users to sign up for the service on its own site and simply use the app as a current paying subscriber. It has to do with how paying customers sign up and whose (Apple or Spotify's) billing system the transaction goes on. If they sign up via Spotify, they collect the revenue. If they sign up through the app stores, a portion of the recurring monthly sale goes to Apple.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.

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