Quote Originally Posted by HaveFunExpectToWin View Post
Definitely a solid feel.

The patents didn't stop HTC or Palm. Both the Pre and the Droid Eris (Htc Hero) have it functional. I suppose google is playing it safe.
Apple rattled some sabres at Palm regarding multitouch when the Palm Pre came out, and Palm kinda went "go ahead, make my day." The bottom line was that Palm's early entry into handhelds gave them more than enough intellectual property (IP) in the handheld/PDA realm to countersue Apple with-- they might even come out ahead.

HTC's been in handhelds a long time as well, and probably has enough handheld IP to make Apple think twice.

Google, on the other hand, probably doesn't have much handheld IP at all, which is probably why off-the-shelf Android doesn't do multitouch.

Full disclosure: IANAL, this is just what I read in the trade press. If any lawyers want to clear up anything here or correct it, please feel free.