
Earlier today Apple turned off its iCloud and MobileMe push e-mail services for users in Germany in compliance with an injunction brought against Apple by Motorola Mobility.
German iCloud and MobileMe users can still receive emails, but only when they have the Mail app open or when the app is set to check for e-mail (welcome back to 2009). Normally users have the choice of setting e-mails to be pushed out to their iDevices, but these services will only be available through Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and similar services.
Apple is already appealing the decision. The patent in question dates back to the pager-era of mobile technology and has little to do with modern mobile technology according to Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents. So far Apple has been relatively unscathed in the ongoing patent war, but Mueller points out this injunction changes that.
“This is the first time that Apple's customers (in one particular country) start to see and feel the effects of the ongoing patent disputes in the smartphone and tablet computer industry in the form of a (temporary) removal of certain functionality.” — Mueller
Source: FOSS Patents [ via PC World]



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