Patience is a virtue. One admitted edge that the iPhone has over Android is the out-of-the-box multi-touch integration. The whole thing is odd since the Android source code already features multi-touch capabilities, simply commented out. It is a complex web of patents and proprietary technology that Google seems to not want to, well… touch.
But Elan Microelectronics is gladly going there, suing Apple for patent infringement – they claim they had the rights to multi-touch technology before Apple did! And remember how Apple recently chastised Palm, hinting that they stole their multi-touch technology and would soon be getting sued? Yeah, this whole thing just keeps getting weirder.
In another interesting twist, and an especially exciting one for Android fans, a video has been posted that shows Elan Microelectronics Multi-touch technology running on Android! Who would have thunk that giving someone the eFinger could be considered a good thing? You can clearly see how amazing eFinger is below – it seems to run smooth and flawlessly on Android and I’ll be the first to say I really want it.
So what will come with all this Apple/Elan/Palm/Android patent stuff? I happen to think that Elan will try to win as much as they can within the confines of the courts while simultaneously trying to license their technology to Google. But will Google pay to license a technology for an Open platform when they would much rather see someone join the OHA and contribute this technology for free? I doubt it. But maybe, just maybe, the latter will happen. How sweet would THAT be?
[Via PhonesReview]