Your argument is with Amazon, the section you quoted was a quote directly out of the patent document.
As for not being able to patent it, The USPTO issued them a patent, so your protestations to the contrary are moot.
The newspaper is not groceries, they don't give you a guaranteed delivery time, and you have to call them up, and you can't log in to their web site and modify your order from the Times to also throw in 2 pounds of hamburger next thursday.
You can't pick and choose PIECES of a patent and scream "This is already done", Patents stand as a whole, all of it together. You don't get to invalidate a patent for a tricycle with a refrigerator under the seat just because someone else patented the tricycle and some other guy patented the refrigerator.
Sure the concept is not new, but the execution (process) and the machinery involved is.
That is what patents protect. Not Ideas, but machines and methods of doing things.
Amazon has computerized the entire process, from grocery selection, to picking and packing, to scheduling and shipping. (Its a process patent - much loathed, but yet still within the law).
Remember a patent doesn't cover an idea, or some way of doing things in the past. It covers NEW things (machines) or ways of doing something (processes).
Just because the Wright Brothers invented an airplane doesn't mean there weren't gliders previously and internal combustion engines previously. And just because they got a patent (Did they?, guessing) doesn't mean that no one else can patent a different airplane, or a hang glider.
Combining previously invented things (old phone orders and manual lists, scheduled deliver routes) with new technology (computer order systems, fully automated picking packing loading, with closely scheduled routes all managed by computers, is a significant change.
Pick up anything in your house with a patent number on it. Then tell me it has never existed before, in any other form.
Patents for incremental improvements of brooms are just as valid as the patent for the first broom.
So some kids can't get Wi Fi. A vast majority of people around the world grew up without WiFi and of those most who went to school did so without WiFi.
[best Walter Brennan voice] Yup sonny, I can remember back in the day having to use Wires!! Wires for pete sake. Imagine that! Went by the name of CatFive, for some crazy reason. You had to plug them into the wall. If you lost your wire you couldn't do anything. Had 8 wires in them, but only used 4 of them. Durndest thing you ever did see.
Ship Groceries overnight? You want to spend 30 bucks shipping a quart of milk?
How can you ASK if the patent explains exactly how it is done, and in the same sentence GUESS that it is overly broad? Obviously you refuse to read it, but still want to pontificate about it.
Nope. Not the same. (And cell phones have nothing to do with it).
Let me know then that oil truck driver will arrive with three frozen pizzas and a gallon of milk that I added to my account just last night, (while laying in bed with my tablet) for my kids birthday party, even though today isn't my normal day and those items are different than my normal grocery deliver that happens on monday at 5pm.
There is nothing... NOTHING... in that patent that enables them to do this on a large scale, except for the automation that a computer provides (which, unfortunately, seems to make anything patentable these days). If you disagree, please call out something specific, like an actual claim in the patent, and a description of why it's something new and not just the first and most obvious solution their engineers came up with.
Well the whole aspect of the customer being able to pick groceries (etc) from a list, and drop them into a time-certain delivery slot is pretty novel if you ask me.
In no other system I am aware of does the customer have a pre-published list of when delivery slot exists at their particular residence. Everybody else says we will get there when we get there. Most don't offer the frequency of delivery that Amazon is already doing in their target areas. (Mostly Seattle for now). Schwan's comes closest I think. But their selection is abysmal and their 14 day cycle is not how people buy groceries. (Step outside their schedule and price goes way up).
Amazon has to make their truck schedules Address Specific, and presented to to the users as a series of time-slots that Amazon can come close to guaranteeing. That's pretty novel.
Amazon has to handle your regularly scheduled grocery deliveries (arguably not that unusual, although still not common), and marry that to the Address Specific time slots. (Its the combination of these two elements that is pretty unique).
As for the order management being totally computerized, and customer manageable on line; Obviously that's not unique either. Scheduling repeat deliveries, lots of places handle that as well, although, again, not with any precision.
I believe it is the addition of fairly precise scheduling of both re-occurring orders, (all fully user adjustable) and one-off orders, vacation holds, etc. that makes the Amazon patent fairly unique, not only TODAY, but more precisely in 2009.
Its not like scheduling Comcast to tell you they will be there between 3 and 5, (and having them show up at 7, or not at all). They know precisely what they have to do, and have everything in the truck, they don't have that many products.
Amazon has way more stuff than they could possibly put in the truck, and they have to sequence-load each truck for each route with a load that they might even have finalized until the truck pulls up to the loading dock.
And they have to put this before the user on their computer screen in an obvious and understandable way. They clearly imply drag-and-drop in their wording.
We all expected the supermarkets to come up with this. We've dreamt about it for years each time we trudge off to Safeway or Supervalue. Nobody did it. You can't buy this service anywhere except portions of Seattle. So its pretty novel if you ask me.
Its ambitious. That it does not exist even today is pretty indicative that its unique and non-obvious. It might be considered obvious in retrospect, only if you're willing to equate a milkman to a full scale customization delivery schedule of a wide variety of grocery products, or simply assume into existence a computer system tied directly to a customer scheduled delivery schedule for almost any food item you want on a regular basis at a pre-determined time.
Like I say, Schwan's s the closest you can come. And its not even close.
Examining all sides of a scientific theory that are contrary to an established scientific theory means examining decidedly unscientific theories as if they were scientific... or, you could just say, "Teaching our students Not-Science"
Well, you are probably suspecting that it is codespeak for religion, and I'd tend to agree with you.
But you dismiss the fact that since it is still theory, it is subject to review and modification. For instance, Eldredge and Gould pretty much shook the foundations of evolution when they published their paper on Punctuated equilibrium.
One could also see this as an opportunity to add to the curriculum, a catalog of every objection to evolution, each followed by a resounding trashing of that argument. Nothing is quite as satisfying as burning each thread of a wacko claim as soon as it is spun, before they have an opportunity to weave a tapestry of lies.
And, again, that is not what this patent is about. You obviously STILL haven't read it.
Go find me another example where a customer can drag and drop two pounds of hamburger and some Cheetos and dip, to a truck that will be at his doorstep every friday after 5pm but before 5:30, and have that repeat that till football season is over, and do this all from his smartphone, and make changes to that order right up till midnight the day before.
The fricking army wishes they had that kind of logistics.
Trivialize it all you want, but nobody has a system in place to do this that Joe Sixpack can run from his couch.
Picking a day is already picking a time, just at a lower resolution of time. They've effectively patented a higher resolution logistics system.
Sure, in one sense all they are doing is saying "We will deliver stuff when you want it".
But read the patent, and think of the possibilities, and find anyone else willing to make that offer with that level of precision and have it all customer driven. Nobody else does that for grocery delivery, and allows customers to schedule the weekly bacon delivery all by computer for a time they are going to be home.
Almost other system you find simply lets you ask for something to be shipped (maybe) and arrive (maybe) sometime in the future, on something approximating a schedule, but which you get little say about.
I'm also intrigued: will those sites have to change their subscription saving ways? What if it was just a subscription and you didn't save shit, does that fall under the patent?
You have to save shit if you are going to allow your customer to order a dozen bananas every other week on the truck that will just happen to be in their neighborhood at 6PM on Friday.
And when they add two pounds of Nuts for delivery 5 days before Christmas on the truck that will be near their house there at 3:30, all they have to do is drag the nuts to the delivery schedule for their neighborhood, mark it one time, instead of re-occuring.
Look, this is way more precise than "send me a newspaper every day". You get to pick the day. You get to pick the time of day slot. You get to specify the re-occurrence frequency and day of the week. You get to easily add/subtract from your scheduled deliveries, all on line or from your phone. You get to see a list of exactly what time slots are available, (when the trucks will be near you), and select the one you want. You get to put it on hold when you go out of town.
They aren't patenting the fact that its saved in a computer. They are patenting an entire delivery scheduling methodology for customer order management of groceries (etc) that will re-occur on a predictable and fairly precise time period of the customer's choosing. Not something that shows up in the mail sometime in the future.
As I understand, they patented their subscribe and save feature which has been around for years.
Note that this patent has been around for years. It was "Filed: November 2, 2009". Yet another example how patents which might be reasonable when applied to mechanical objects are completely stupid when applied to computer software. Even if this patent might have taught someone something when it was first filed (which looks extremely dubious; I suspect IBM mainframe automatically delivered supplies from the 1960s will be prior art), four years is a lifetime in internet computing. There is no way this could ever be a useful idea on it's date of publication.
No. Not even close.
Good, you followed the link to read the date it was filed. Bad, you stopped reading right there.
This is way more ambitious than simple order systems.
At precise times of day, on specific days of the month/week? Can you put them on vacation hold? Can you easily add, subtract, or substitute? Is there an APP for that?
Its pretty amazing when you read all the claims, and imagine dragging and dropping a dozen eggs onto the manifest of a truck that will just happen to be near your house at 7pm every second Wednesday. And then being able to put that delivery on vacation hold, or add a one time order of 12 pork chops for the big barbecue you are planning next Saturday. And the delivery will take place within the time period you specify so the neighbors dog doesn't run off with your chops while you are at work.
Amazon has to know where the trucks will be at future points in time. Provide you with a way to put products on that truck, set them to be periodic or one time, Adjust your orders, add, subtract, reduce, or hold. All from your computer, and (hopefully) from your smartphone.
Its way more ambitious than the Milkman, and I'm not aware of anything that comes close.
People have to stop the knee-jerk reaction to headlines.
As I understand, they patented their subscribe and save feature which has been around for years. How nobody else implemented this almost justifies that amazon should get the patent... almost, it's a stupid patent.
When you look at the actual patent you see there was plenty of prior art cited. If Amazon cited these you can bet they believe (as does the USPTO) that the Amazon patent is significantly different, and does not infringe.
You have to READ the patent to see what part of this is new.
For instance Amazon states in the Patent
Some online merchant systems may provide customers the ability to place standing orders for delivery of consumable products on a recurring basis, such as every week or every month. However, these systems may be limited in their flexibility for allowing modifications of the recurring orders or for allowing the addition of one-time or specialty products to an order. Further, the customer may not be able to schedule the recurring orders for the same time and day of each week or month, thereby making it difficult for the customer to arrange to be present at the delivery of perishable goods or other consumables.
This patent is different, in that it allows Scheduling not only the day of a re-occurring delivery, but also the time. This is pretty significant. You get to choose the time slot from available time slots, when the truck will be in your neighborhood on the days you request, at the hour you request. And you do this by some form of drag and drop of products to your door step, selecting from the available time slots (presumably when the truck will be there). Pretty specific if you ask me.
Further, you can easily change it by adding or subtracting items (one time, or every scheduled time) to be on that truck, put it on vacation hold, etc.
(If Amazon can actually pull that off in any grand scale, I'd be surprised, but that's not the patent office's problem.)
Further virtually every claim in the patent is proceeded by the words: A computer-implemented method. Dammit! I hope there is an App for this!!
This, the computer scheduling done by the customer, combined with picking the actual delivery time slot from the available time slots, is the bit that they are patenting. Not the milkman, not the newspaper boy, not your local grocery weekly delivery.
The closest prior art is the cited Amway patent. But it merely suggests to the customer that they might want to order some more Amway for future delivery, and says nothing about the details of precision or picking of exact days and time slots.
I'll leave it to the lawyers (and wanna-be lawyers) among you to pick out the details where this patent differs from the others, but do try to contain your rage till you at least Read the Patent, and ignore the hype in the summary. Its really pretty clever, and relies on Amazon knowing the precise location of the delivery vehicles on their routes in the future, and using that information, allowing the customers to make sure a half dozen bananas are on that truck, and will arrive at their door step when they are home to receive them.
Not secure? So some one has broken into your phone? Or you want to install any crapware you find on some sleazy Chinese website, and still be held harmless for your own actions.
That's nonsense. People don't switch from android because their phones don't look like everyone elses. People only use one phone, they could care less that their neighbor's phone is slightly different. I don't know a single person who has switched from android to another OS. It's always the other way around.
iOS is a single target, get one sploit that works, you know it'll work on all of them.
The recent exnyos sploit only worked on some Samsung chips.
So.. hackers have more devices to attempt to hack!
Though all this is a waste of time if people use non-standard app stores and/or download warez, then what do they really expect?
To be fair, a couple of exploits have slipped into the Android Market over time, but by and large you are correct, it is the dodgy pirate black market where users hope they can avoid paying the 99 cents charged in the legitimate market where you are likely to get hacked.
Yet these stories, always couched in terms of "fragmentation" and "malware" always show up in the press whenever Apple needs a little diversion.
Fragmentation, because apple wants you to think that only a monolithic OS is safe. The variety of the Android world scares them to death.
Malware, because the they want to put the fear of alternative markets into the buying public. The emergence of alternative markets scares apple to death.
So every 3 or 4 months Apple plants these stories in the press. And every time, there is, predictable, absolutely ZERO outbreak of malware, except for the same patter of cheesy hacks found on Chinese websites by people looking to save a buck.
Slashdot Mirror
There also are lots of existing services that do combine all of them and aren't missing any of them.
Apparently not. Otherwise it would be simple for someone to come up with a realistic example.
So far, nobody has posted anything that comes close.
Why did he feel obligated to weigh in, if the new theory wasn't of major significance?
Your argument is with Amazon, the section you quoted was a quote directly out of the patent document.
As for not being able to patent it, The USPTO issued them a patent, so your protestations to the contrary are moot.
The newspaper is not groceries, they don't give you a guaranteed delivery time, and you have to call them up, and you can't log in to their web site and modify your order from the Times to also throw in 2 pounds of hamburger next thursday.
You can't pick and choose PIECES of a patent and scream "This is already done", Patents stand as a whole, all of it together. You don't get to invalidate a patent for a tricycle with a refrigerator under the seat just because someone else patented the tricycle and some other guy patented the refrigerator.
Sure the concept is not new, but the execution (process) and the machinery involved is.
That is what patents protect. Not Ideas, but machines and methods of doing things.
Amazon has computerized the entire process, from grocery selection, to picking and packing, to scheduling and shipping. (Its a process patent - much loathed, but yet still within the law).
Remember a patent doesn't cover an idea, or some way of doing things in the past. It covers NEW things (machines) or ways of doing something (processes).
Just because the Wright Brothers invented an airplane doesn't mean there weren't gliders previously and internal combustion engines previously. And just because they got a patent (Did they?, guessing) doesn't mean that no one else can patent a different airplane, or a hang glider.
Combining previously invented things (old phone orders and manual lists, scheduled deliver routes) with new technology (computer order systems, fully automated picking packing loading, with closely scheduled routes all managed by computers, is a significant change.
Pick up anything in your house with a patent number on it. Then tell me it has never existed before, in any other form.
Patents for incremental improvements of brooms are just as valid as the patent for the first broom.
So some kids can't get Wi Fi. A vast majority of people around the world grew up without WiFi and of those most who went to school did so without WiFi.
[best Walter Brennan voice]
Yup sonny, I can remember back in the day having to use Wires!! Wires for pete sake. Imagine that!
Went by the name of CatFive, for some crazy reason. You had to plug them into the wall.
If you lost your wire you couldn't do anything. Had 8 wires in them, but only used 4 of them.
Durndest thing you ever did see.
There is also no issue today.
Cat5 wires to every computer. Its not that big of a deal.
Its not a garbage patent. Its a protect your ass patent.
Someone was bound to sue them sooner or later.
Ship Groceries overnight? You want to spend 30 bucks shipping a quart of milk?
How can you ASK if the patent explains exactly how it is done, and in the same sentence GUESS that it is overly broad? Obviously you refuse to read it, but still want to pontificate about it.
Nope. Not the same. (And cell phones have nothing to do with it).
Let me know then that oil truck driver will arrive with three frozen pizzas and a gallon of milk that I added to my account just last night, (while laying in bed with my tablet) for my kids birthday party, even though today isn't my normal day and those items are different than my normal grocery deliver that happens on monday at 5pm.
Oil delivery. Come on!!!
I'd be surprised of most ERP systems don't have something like this.
Enterprise Resource Planning? Really? In the grocery business? All driven by house wives on their iPads?
If its so obvious, why isn't anyone doing this? God knows we waste so much gas and time going to the grocery store every few days.
Why all the hate for the first group that could actually put all the pieces together and make it work?
There is nothing ... NOTHING ... in that patent that enables them to do this on a large scale, except for the automation that a computer provides (which, unfortunately, seems to make anything patentable these days). If you disagree, please call out something specific, like an actual claim in the patent, and a description of why it's something new and not just the first and most obvious solution their engineers came up with.
Well the whole aspect of the customer being able to pick groceries (etc) from a list, and drop them into a time-certain delivery slot is pretty novel if you ask me.
In no other system I am aware of does the customer have a pre-published list of when delivery slot exists at their particular residence. Everybody else says we will get there when we get there. Most don't offer the frequency of delivery that Amazon is already doing in their target areas. (Mostly Seattle for now).
Schwan's comes closest I think. But their selection is abysmal and their 14 day cycle is not how people buy groceries. (Step outside their schedule and price goes way up).
Amazon has to make their truck schedules Address Specific, and presented to to the users as a series of time-slots that Amazon can come close to guaranteeing. That's pretty novel.
Amazon has to handle your regularly scheduled grocery deliveries (arguably not that unusual, although still not common), and marry that to the Address Specific time slots. (Its the combination of these two elements that is pretty unique).
As for the order management being totally computerized, and customer manageable on line; Obviously that's not unique either.
Scheduling repeat deliveries, lots of places handle that as well, although, again, not with any precision.
I believe it is the addition of fairly precise scheduling of both re-occurring orders, (all fully user adjustable) and one-off orders, vacation holds, etc. that makes the Amazon patent fairly unique, not only TODAY, but more precisely in 2009.
Its not like scheduling Comcast to tell you they will be there between 3 and 5, (and having them show up at 7, or not at all). They know precisely what they have to do, and have everything in the truck, they don't have that many products.
Amazon has way more stuff than they could possibly put in the truck, and they have to sequence-load each truck for each route with a load that they might even have finalized until the truck pulls up to the loading dock.
And they have to put this before the user on their computer screen in an obvious and understandable way. They clearly imply drag-and-drop in their wording.
We all expected the supermarkets to come up with this. We've dreamt about it for years each time we trudge off to Safeway or Supervalue.
Nobody did it. You can't buy this service anywhere except portions of Seattle. So its pretty novel if you ask me.
Its ambitious. That it does not exist even today is pretty indicative that its unique and non-obvious. It might be considered obvious in retrospect, only if you're willing to equate a milkman to a full scale customization delivery schedule of a wide variety of grocery products, or simply assume into existence a computer system tied directly to a customer scheduled delivery schedule for almost any food item you want on a regular basis at a pre-determined time.
Like I say, Schwan's s the closest you can come. And its not even close.
Examining all sides of a scientific theory that are contrary to an established scientific theory means examining decidedly unscientific theories as if they were scientific... or, you could just say, "Teaching our students Not-Science"
Well, you are probably suspecting that it is codespeak for religion, and I'd tend to agree with you.
But you dismiss the fact that since it is still theory, it is subject to review and modification. For instance, Eldredge and Gould pretty much shook the foundations of evolution when they published their paper on Punctuated equilibrium.
One could also see this as an opportunity to add to the curriculum, a catalog of every objection to evolution, each followed by a resounding trashing of that argument. Nothing is quite as satisfying as burning each thread of a wacko claim as soon as it is spun, before they have an opportunity to weave a tapestry of lies.
And, again, that is not what this patent is about.
You obviously STILL haven't read it.
Go find me another example where a customer can drag and drop two pounds of hamburger and some Cheetos and dip, to a truck that will be at his doorstep every friday after 5pm but before 5:30, and have that repeat that till football season is over, and do this all from his smartphone, and make changes to that order right up till midnight the day before.
The fricking army wishes they had that kind of logistics.
Trivialize it all you want, but nobody has a system in place to do this that Joe Sixpack can run from his couch.
Picking a day is already picking a time, just at a lower resolution of time.
They've effectively patented a higher resolution logistics system.
Sure, in one sense all they are doing is saying "We will deliver stuff when you want it".
But read the patent, and think of the possibilities, and find anyone else willing to make that offer with that level of precision and have it all customer driven.
Nobody else does that for grocery delivery, and allows customers to schedule the weekly bacon delivery all by computer for a time they are going to be home.
Almost other system you find simply lets you ask for something to be shipped (maybe) and arrive (maybe) sometime in the future, on something approximating a schedule, but which you get little say about.
To drill down further: let's talk about websites that are significant in size and thus significant to the internet:
http://www.internetretailer.com/top500/list/
I'm also intrigued: will those sites have to change their subscription saving ways? What if it was just a subscription and you didn't save shit, does that fall under the patent?
You have to save shit if you are going to allow your customer to order a dozen bananas every other week on the truck that will just happen to be in their neighborhood at 6PM on Friday.
And when they add two pounds of Nuts for delivery 5 days before Christmas on the truck that will be near their house there at 3:30, all they have to do is drag the nuts to the delivery schedule for their neighborhood, mark it one time, instead of re-occuring.
Look, this is way more precise than "send me a newspaper every day".
You get to pick the day.
You get to pick the time of day slot.
You get to specify the re-occurrence frequency and day of the week.
You get to easily add/subtract from your scheduled deliveries, all on line or from your phone.
You get to see a list of exactly what time slots are available, (when the trucks will be near you), and select the one you want.
You get to put it on hold when you go out of town.
They aren't patenting the fact that its saved in a computer. They are patenting an entire delivery scheduling methodology for customer order management of groceries (etc) that will re-occur on a predictable and fairly precise time period of the customer's choosing. Not something that shows up in the mail sometime in the future.
As I understand, they patented their subscribe and save feature which has been around for years.
Note that this patent has been around for years. It was "Filed: November 2, 2009". Yet another example how patents which might be reasonable when applied to mechanical objects are completely stupid when applied to computer software. Even if this patent might have taught someone something when it was first filed (which looks extremely dubious; I suspect IBM mainframe automatically delivered supplies from the 1960s will be prior art), four years is a lifetime in internet computing. There is no way this could ever be a useful idea on it's date of publication.
No. Not even close.
Good, you followed the link to read the date it was filed.
Bad, you stopped reading right there.
This is way more ambitious than simple order systems.
Go back and read it again.
Regular basis?
At precise times of day, on specific days of the month/week? Can you put them on vacation hold? Can you easily add, subtract, or substitute? Is there an APP for that?
Not even close.
Exactly.
Its pretty amazing when you read all the claims, and imagine dragging and dropping a dozen eggs onto the manifest of a truck that will just happen to be near your house at 7pm every second Wednesday. And then being able to put that delivery on vacation hold, or add a one time order of 12 pork chops for the big barbecue you are planning next Saturday. And the delivery will take place within the time period you specify so the neighbors dog doesn't run off with your chops while you are at work.
Amazon has to know where the trucks will be at future points in time.
Provide you with a way to put products on that truck, set them to be periodic or one time, Adjust your orders, add, subtract, reduce, or hold.
All from your computer, and (hopefully) from your smartphone.
Its way more ambitious than the Milkman, and I'm not aware of anything that comes close.
People have to stop the knee-jerk reaction to headlines.
As I understand, they patented their subscribe and save feature which has been around for years. How nobody else implemented this almost justifies that amazon should get the patent... almost, it's a stupid patent.
When you look at the actual patent you see there was plenty of prior art cited. If Amazon cited these you can bet they believe (as does the USPTO) that the Amazon patent is significantly different, and does not infringe.
You have to READ the patent to see what part of this is new.
For instance Amazon states in the Patent
Some online merchant systems may provide customers the ability to place standing orders for delivery of consumable products on a recurring basis, such as every week or every month. However, these systems may be limited in their flexibility for allowing modifications of the recurring orders or for allowing the addition of one-time or specialty products to an order. Further, the customer may not be able to schedule the recurring orders for the same time and day of each week or month, thereby making it difficult for the customer to arrange to be present at the delivery of perishable goods or other consumables.
This patent is different, in that it allows Scheduling not only the day of a re-occurring delivery, but also the time. This is pretty significant. You get to choose the time slot from available time slots, when the truck will be in your neighborhood on the days you request, at the hour you request. And you do this by some form of drag and drop of products to your door step, selecting from the available time slots (presumably when the truck will be there). Pretty specific if you ask me.
Further, you can easily change it by adding or subtracting items (one time, or every scheduled time) to be on that truck, put it on vacation hold, etc.
(If Amazon can actually pull that off in any grand scale, I'd be surprised, but that's not the patent office's problem.)
Further virtually every claim in the patent is proceeded by the words: A computer-implemented method.
Dammit! I hope there is an App for this!!
This, the computer scheduling done by the customer, combined with picking the actual delivery time slot from the available time slots, is the bit that they are patenting. Not the milkman, not the newspaper boy, not your local grocery weekly delivery.
The closest prior art is the cited Amway patent. But it merely suggests to the customer that they might want to order some more Amway for future delivery, and says nothing about the details of precision or picking of exact days and time slots.
I'll leave it to the lawyers (and wanna-be lawyers) among you to pick out the details where this patent differs from the others, but do try to contain your rage till you at least Read the Patent, and ignore the hype in the summary. Its really pretty clever, and relies on Amazon knowing the precise location of the delivery vehicles on their routes in the future, and using that information, allowing the customers to make sure a half dozen bananas are on that truck, and will arrive at their door step when they are home to receive them.
Ambitious, and fairly novel if you ask me.
But since your bill doesn't go down after the phone is paid off, you are ever a bigger fool to keep paying but never take advantage of the upgrade.
Not secure?
So some one has broken into your phone?
Or you want to install any crapware you find on some sleazy Chinese website, and still be held harmless for your own actions.
There is no perfect phone.
They will give you a new phone every other year for pete sake!
That's nonsense. People don't switch from android because their phones don't look like everyone elses.
People only use one phone, they could care less that their neighbor's phone is slightly different.
I don't know a single person who has switched from android to another OS. It's always the other way around.
There is no epidemic of exploits.
Most doors can be opened with a bump key. But that isn't happening either.
iOS is a single target, get one sploit that works, you know it'll work on all of them.
The recent exnyos sploit only worked on some Samsung chips.
So.. hackers have more devices to attempt to hack!
Though all this is a waste of time if people use non-standard app stores and/or download warez, then what do they really expect?
To be fair, a couple of exploits have slipped into the Android Market over time, but by and large you are correct, it is the dodgy pirate black market where users hope they can avoid paying the 99 cents charged in the legitimate market where you are likely to get hacked.
Yet these stories, always couched in terms of "fragmentation" and "malware" always show up in the press whenever Apple needs a little diversion.
Fragmentation, because apple wants you to think that only a monolithic OS is safe. The variety of the Android world scares them to death.
Malware, because the they want to put the fear of alternative markets into the buying public. The emergence of alternative markets scares apple to death.
So every 3 or 4 months Apple plants these stories in the press. And every time, there is, predictable, absolutely ZERO outbreak of malware, except for the same patter of cheesy hacks found on Chinese websites by people looking to save a buck.