Apple moves to block sales of HTC phones

Assuming you’re getting tired of those patent suits as much as we are, we’re keeping this one brief. According to Boy Genius Report, quoting a Bloomberg story, Apple has filed a new complaint seeking to block sales of HTC smartphones:

Apple on Monday filed a new patent complaint with the International Trade Commission looking to block the sale of several HTC devices it claims infringe on its patents, Bloomberg reports.

As noted by FOSS Patents, this is Apple’s second try with ITC complaint against HTC with potentially stronger patents, indicating that Apple probably asserted different patents in the new complaint versus the five patents listed in their first ITC complaint filed back in March of last year.

HTC recently had a crazy impressive earnings call with second-quarter income topping NT$17.5 billion (about $608 million) on strong Android sales. Apple’s filing arrives at a time when Android has become the #1 smartphone platform in eight key markets due to impressive sales of inexpensive Android handsets to first-time buyers who are switching from feature phones. It is estimated that approximately one quarter of all phones are smartphones. By the summer of 2012, Kantar Woldpanel ComTech estimates, smartphones could account for almost half of the entire handset market as eventually all cell phones become smartphones. Apple of course is expected to tackle the Android momentum with a Fall release of an inexpensive iPhone offered contract-free to the folks who are upgrading from features phones or otherwise couldn’t afford a subsidized iPhone with a long-term contract.