Apple Inc

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone Patent Stuns the World

Preface
Not too long ago headlines called for the end of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN) and Google (GOOG) were all touted as "the Next Apple."

But then suppliers reportedly had to ramp up production on the iPhone 7 due to pent up demand that, if true, vastly outpaced forecasts. Now, breaking news comes from Apple, or really from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, is stunning.

A patent application that was just approved has shaken Wall Street again and reminded us all that while Apple keeps its innovation rather quiet until it's time to release a product, that doesn't mean innovation isn't happening.

For all the wonderful news surrounding the water resistant Galaxy S7 with curved edges and how it would be the iPhone killer, we are now reminded, abruptly, that there is no greater innovator than Apple Inc., and doubting the company's vision has repeatedly turned into an embarrassing proposition.

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APPLE INC. (AAPL) BREAKING:
U.S. Patent number US 9,367,095 B2 was approved yesterday, June 14th, 2016, and the patent is incredible. In short, Apple has a patent for a 360 degree phone -- that's an iPhone with no back, entirely screen. Here's a rendering from the patent filing. The red arrows and font were added by us.

And here is some language with our emphasis added:

“
A large majority of portable electronic devices have settled into a standard form factor; namely a flat planar form factor with a display on one side and an opaque housing which contains the electrical components covering the rear surface of the device.

Unfortunately, this popular form factor, leaves the sides and rear surfaces of the device unused or at best configured with buttons and switches with fixed location and functionality.

Since many of these buttons and switches have fixed functionality they cannot always be incorporated into third party applications. Therefore, there exists a need for an improved form factor for portable electronic devices which allows functionality to extend to more than one surface of the device.

”

Source: United States Patent and Trademark Office

The technology seen in the rendering above encloses electronics within a wraparound display able to "present visual content at any portion of the transparent housing" (9TO5Mac).

Patent applications are intentionally complex and obfuscated and it takes a while to get to it, but if you look closely enough we can see a reference to the iPhone in an actual image. Here it is -- we have highlighted the rather obvious reference to the Apple iPhone.

APPLE iPhone CONTEXT:
Next year the Apple iPhone will have its ten year anniversary and the speculation around what the iPhone 8 will bring has been wide. Most of the rumors have surrounded Apple bringing an all glass, unbreakable iPhone to market using OLED technology. That in and of itself had Apple enthusiasts exited and has pushed the stock price of Universal Display, appropriately with ticker OLED, up much higher.

But if Apple brings an iPhone to market that is all glass with 360 degrees of screen and is water resistant, there will be no talk of competition from the Galaxy 7. There will be no talk of Apple lacking innovation. There will only be talk of how "Apple did it again."

APPLE NOT EVERYONE BELIEVES
9TO5Mac is an extremely reputable source covering Apple products. That outfit has a different take on the patent. Here is a snippet:

“
While we're expecting something special from the 10th anniversary iPhone, we do have to emphasize our usual disclaimer on patents: very few of the inventions Apple patents ever make it into finished products.

I'd be extremely surprised to see Apple go for anything quite this radical, but it may at least give some indication of the kind of direction the company is exploring.

”

Source: 9TO5Mac

While arguments are already being made that a 360 degree iPhone isn't really all that radical since half of the screen would be covered, or that it would have a hard time resting on flat surfaces, that's just not how we see it.

A no back, 360 degree iPhone, in it' simplest form, is like a desktop getting a second monitor. For anyone that has a multi-monitor set-up, you know that the second monitor likely increases productivity by 90%. The same will happen for the iPhone. Maybe one screen stays like the home, and the other runs the apps. Or one screen holds social media and video, the other is email and home.

The point is, the 360 degrees allow for a new feature set -- that's flipping the phone. Just that functionality could open up huge applications for Apple and app developers. There's no way that double the screen space doesn't turn into a stunning wave of new functionality.

But, the truth is, we don't know how we can use it because Apple hasn't told us, yet. But like Apple showed the world how to "swipe," or to use a touch screen, or to use our fingers to magnify a screen, so Apple will show us how to use a 360 degree OLED iPhone. And my guess is, just as was the case with the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad, it's going to make everyone knock their hands against their foreheads and say, "Oh... That's amazing."

Just as iPhone 7 demand appears to be outstripping supply, so the iPhone 8 will defy the odds, and remind us all that Apple is ahead of us, not behind us. The criticisms come from a group of analysts and main stream media that are playing checkers while Apple is playing chess.

WHY THIS MATTERS
There's so much going on with Apple we can't cover it in one dossier. We uncovered the patent filing for Apple's new social media, a direct competitor to Facebook, which in and of itself is an entire report. CML Pro identifies the most powerful thematic transformations that are coming and then identifies the companies best positioned to win. You see, to find the 'next Apple' or 'next Amazon,' we have to get ahead of the curve. This is what CML Pro does. Our research sits side-by-side with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and the rest on professional terminals, but we are the anti-institution and break the information advantage the top .1% have.

Each company in our 'Top Picks' is the single winner in an exploding thematic shift like artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, drones, biotech and more. In fact, here are just two of the trends that will radically affect the future that we are ahead of:

The Internet of Things (IoT) market will be measured in trillions of dollars as of next year. CML Pro has named the top two companies that will benefit. Then there's cyber security:

Market correction or not, recession or not, the growth in this area is a near certainty, even if projections come down, this is happening. CML Pro has named the single best cyber security stock to benefit from this theme.

These are just two of the themes we have identified and this is just one of the fantastic reports CML Pro members get along with all the visual tools, the precious few thematic top picks for 2016, research dossiers and alerts. For a limited time we are offering CML Pro at a 90% discount for $10/mo. with a lifetime guaranteed rate. Join Us: Get the most advanced premium research delivered to your inbox along with access to visual tools and data that until now has only been made available to the top 1%.

Thanks for reading, friends. The author is long shares of Apple.


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