Patently Apple

Is Apple Test Marketing iTravel in Montreal? Shhhh….

On April 21, 2010 Patently Apple presented a report on an a high profile Apple patent relating to the travel industry which covered an iPhone application called iTravel. It's been the buzz of the travel industry ever since. The timing of the report couldn't have been any better, considering that the Travel Distribution Summit is set to begin on June 17, 2010 in London. One of the noted keynote topics at this year's Summit covers "How to build the perfect travel app." Well, with Apple working diligently on iTravel - the perfect travel app may already be in waiting. In fact, it appears that Apple is currently in the process of test marketing some aspects of iTravel with Air Canada in Montreal. The limited test market is covering five travel destinations: Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, Paris and yes, London – where the travel summit is set to take place. In a coordinated ad put forth by Air Canada, Apple and Telus in Montreal's English daily newspaper called the Gazette on April 29, 2010 – we're able to see Apple's iPhone with various iApps coordinated for the busy traveler. The service is initially using a 2D Matrix barcode system which was covered in Apple's patent – as was the concept of the "unmanned baggage kiosk." That's kind of buzz, really, to see Apple's April patent in action so quickly, even if it's only in-part: But Shhhh, it's a secret.

iTravel: Apple's Future Travel Centric App for the iPhone

 
Christina Warrens of Mashable covered our iTunes Concert Ticket + report last week and added that "Delta Airlines, which is headquartered in my hometown, supports digital boarding passes at some of its bigger airports. I love this because it is one less thing to print out and one fewer line to stand in for a boarding pass." Well, Apple appears to agree with that thinking because they're working on a new travel check-in application that they're simply calling "iTravel." Apple is obviously working with the Airlines to ensure that the iPhone will be up to standard when new ticketless systems roll out in the coming years. Apple's iTravel focuses on such matters as airline check-in and baggage identification, advanced electronic ID, car rentals, hotel and airline reservations and so forth. Apple's iTravel is yet another Near Field Communications based application within a host of recent revelations. It would appear, at least on the surface – that Apple may be working on a new suite of NFC related applications for a future iPhone. Perhaps such a suite could be ready by the time they roll out their iPhone 4G next year.

 

Apple Introduces us to a New iTunes "Concert Ticket +" System

 
There's no missing the point that Apple wants to enter the electronic concert and event ticket business via a new application and system simply called "Concert Ticket +." The system that is laid out in this extraordinarily detailed patent, points to a new iTunes based web service for tickets that will naturally enhance the iTunes music empire. Apple definitely envisions a way to revolutionize the entire current concert ticket process so as to eliminate paper while enhancing the concert or event experience. Today's patent reviews the basics of this new system as well as review the benefits of such a system which could include the concert goer receiving such things as a live recording of the concert they just attended or access to exclusive artist interviews or refreshments. Surprisingly, the patent goes far beyond concerts as well - so as to cover sporting events, amusement park admissions and rides (think Disney), a wedding invitation system and a lot more. In fact, one of the events that the report covers includes Apple's World Wide Developer Conference 2010.

 

NFC iPhone to Control All of Your In-Home Electronics & More

 
In yesterday's NFC focused report we covered a unique Point of Purchase application that Apple appears to be preparing in conjunction with a number of highlighted iPhone hardware upgrades. In today's report we're going to open the flood gates to examine how Apple's engineers see the iPhone eventually controlling every single electronics device in your home including the water sprinkler and home security system for starters. As you could clearly see from our opening graphic above, the iPhone will apparently work with Microsoft's Xbox 360, an HDTV and the Apple TV remote. But that doesn't even scratch the surface of what they envision NFC being used for. One wild 3D CAD application shown in this report will definitely open your eyes to some of the interesting twists that Apple is exploring in conjunction with NFC.

Apple Gearing Up for the Coming NFC- iPhone Revolution

 
Later this morning Apple will be providing us with a "sneak peek of the next generation of iPhone OS software." While I have no idea whether Apple will reveal their intention to add NFC (Near Field Communications) technology or not to OS 4 today – I'm fairly certain that it's on Apple's future roadmap. How do I know that? I know that because Apple has delivered a barrage of NFC related patents in the last month that could warp anyone's brains trying to get their head around the enormity of Apple's efforts. There have been over a thousand illustrations to review and today you're going to see one of these massive filings in detail. Today's patent relates to an unbelievable Point of Purchase (POP) application that will eventually be adding very sophisticated new functionality to an iPhone: Functionality that will go far beyond just using it for a single POP application. Apple introduces us to an NFC-iPhone that will include a built-in scanner, biometric sensor, added camera functionality and a secondary fingerprint scanner for verifying a user's identity to retailers. This report even provides you with two videos illustrating how it will technically work with a future MacBook and/or Apple-TV as well.

Apple Getting Serious About Near Field Communication on the iPhone

In November 2009, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that revealed various concepts behind a newly advanced application in development code named Grab & Go. Apple's patent introduced us to simplified data transfer technologies such as Near Field Communication (NFC) Interface and Sony's new TransferJet - which is now closer to being commercial viable. The new application discussed in the November patent would allow users who live in the fast lane to transfer data quickly between devices like their desktop and iPod by simply tapping their iPod against an iMac, for example. In today's patent we see that Apple is seriously detailing how they intend to update the iPhone and other Apple devices with NFC. The focused devices in this patent are no doubt the iPhone and MacBook. Apple provides us with some rather simple examples of how this will work but in concert with their Grab and Go app, we could see that this is a trend that will no doubt work itself to market over the next 24 months or so. The one interesting twist that Apple reveals is how the iPhone with NFC could be used as a work pass-key to enter your office, building or department – and eventually how this concept could expand to open your home or apartment door, car door and in theory, a hotel room door and so forth. Get ready, Near Field Communications is coming to the iPhone.

Apple Working on Next Gen Millimeter-Wave Communication Applications

 

A new wireless technology called Millimeter-Wave is currently being developed by several industry groups including WiGig and TGad.  One of the primary goals of this developing standard is to deliver wireless communications that are ten times faster than today's solutions based on 802.11n. Apple has always delivered products with the very latest wireless technologies available and two recent 2009 patents have surfaced to show us once again that Apple is preparing yet a new round of next generation products that will capitalize on the coming wireless standards.  According to a recent report published by Nikkei Electronics Asia, the way to bring costs down for this technology is to build it right into mobile phones. This is an advantage that Apple has with their iPhone. More interestingly however, is that this same report states that the coming millimeter-wave communications revolution won't happen until there's a so-called "killer" application for this technology to make it popular. According to one of Nikkei Electronic Asia's sources within a firm manufacturing millimeter-wave communication components, the killer app is going to be Kiosk Downloading.  

 

Apple Developing 'Grab & Go' Application for Life in the Fast Lane

 
On November 5, 2009, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals various concepts behind a newly advanced application in development code named Grab & Go. Apple's patent introduces us to simplified data transfer technologies such as Near Field Communication Interface and Sony's new TransferJet. The new application will allow users who live in the fast lane to transfer data quickly between devices like their desktop and iPod by simply tapping their iPod against an iMac, for example. The new application will also allow users to transfer data quickly from Apple TV to an iPod, from a gaming console to an iPod and so on and so forth. The patent also discusses sending complicated or simple files to MobileMe with yet another app dubbed Revisit. The new app will allow users to review their downloaded information using Cover Flow which is a very cool idea. This is the most in-depth patent of 2009 and the extent of detail would suggest that this is going to be a major new iPhone app hopefully for 2010. The extent of the detail also shows the passion that Apple has for this project. This hot new iApp from Apple has tremendous potential for the iPhone – and for giving their competition a headache!