Apple patents the Slide To Unlock

US patent system is confusing, slow and often hard to understand. As a result, many inventors spend years before they are granted with legal protection for their intellectual property. No matter what the size of the company is, the system is rigid and it took long time for Apple to get a patent for their well known “slide to unlock” touchscreen unlock gesture.

Patents can be extremely important for consumer electronic manufacturers and this is even more so for smartphone and tablet device manufacturers. Apple and their competitors are always ready to fight even for what looks like an unimportant detail to an average iPhone user. A famous example is just being publicised in the only official biography of Steve Jobs, where he said that he was ready to destroy Android OS because it is in his words simply a stolen idea. Jobs was also infuriated because of the “Slide to Unlock” gesture and attempts by competitors to copy the idea. What today looks so simple and obvious was a revolutionary way for unlocking the screen when the first iPhone was launched back in the 2007. And Apple is obviously prepared to fight Google and other tooth and nail in order to protect their unique iOS solutions.

And this we agree with. Did you notice how suspiciously similar Android phones are to iPhone? Google should focus more on innovation if they ever want Android to become as successful as iOS.

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