Could a patent filed by Apple in December 2004 throw a wrench in the mobile music plans of a lot of companies in the wireless media space, including operators? Apple's patent filing describes a method that allows wireless device users to discover a digital media item on an online media store and flag it so that it can be downloaded at a later date when the user is able to connect to the online media store with a transfer device such as a computer. The application itself does not specifically name the iPod as the device, or iTunes as the download store, but from the description it is clear Apple is talking about some sort of PDA or smartphone. Digital media items available for download are identified as MP3, MP4, AAC and WAV audio files; AVI and QuickTime video files; electronic books; and ring tones and graphics.
To read more about Apple's patent filing:
- take a look at this report from Macsimum News