HTC, the target of Apple’s recent patent infringement suit, has responded to the accusations leveled by the Cupertino based company.  Simply put, HTC points out that they were the first to accomplish a number of things in the mobile arena, long before Apple’s innovation (?) convinced some that they were the originator of the smartphone.  Hmm, kind of like they were the originator of the term “iPad”.  Read on for the full press release from HTC:

HTC DISAGREES WITH APPLE’s Actions

Seattle – March 17, 2010 – HTC Corporation today outlined its disagreement with Apple’s legal actions and reiterated its commitment to creating a portfolio of innovative smartphones that gives consumers a variety of choices. Founded in 1997 with a passion for innovation and a vision for how smartphones would change people’s lives, HTC has continually driven this vision by consistently introducing award-winning smartphones with U.S. mobile operators.

“HTC disagrees with Apple’s actions and will fully defend itself. HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done, but we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer, HTC Corporation. “From day one, HTC has focused on creating cutting-edge innovations that deliver unique value for people looking for a smartphone. In 1999 we started designing the XDA

The O2 XDA by HTC was the first 3.5-inch color touch screen smartphone in the world in 2002. and T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition The T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition by HTC was the first 3.5-inch color touch screen smartphone in the United States in 2002., our first touch-screen smartphones, and they both shipped in 2002 with more than 50 additional HTC smartphone models shipping since then.”

The industry has recognized HTC’s contributions through a variety of awards including Fast Company’s 2010 Top 50 Most Innovative Companies and MIT Technology Review’s 2010 50 Most Innovative Companies. The GSMA also recently awarded the HTC Hero as the “Best Phone of 2009.” Some of HTC’s technology firsts include:

• First Windows PDA (1998)
• First Windows Phone (June 2002)
• First 3G CDMA EVDO smartphone (October 2005)
• First gesture-based smartphone (June 2007)

• First Google Android smartphone (October 2008)
• First 4G WIMAX smartphone (November 2008)

In 2009, HTC launched its branded user experience, HTC Sense. HTC Sense is focused on putting people at the center by making phones work in a more simple and natural way. This experience was fundamentally based on listening and observing how people live and communicate.

“HTC has always taken a partnership-oriented, collaborative approach to business. This has led to long-standing strategic partnerships with the top software, Internet and wireless technology companies in the industry as well as the top U.S., European and Asian mobile operators,” said Jason Mackenzie, vice president of HTC America. “It is through these relationships that we have been able to deliver the world’s most diverse series of smartphones to an even more diverse group of people around the world, recognizing that customers have very different needs.”

For more information on HTC’s history of innovation, please visit: www.htc.com/history.

About HTC

HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry. By putting people at the center of everything it does, HTC creates innovative smartphones that better serve the lives and needs of individuals. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.

One of the really interesting things about technology is watching the unexpected side-industries which crop up.  You never know what is going to catch on and become the next big thing, but it is fun to watch and predict.  One of these side industries that I really never saw coming is ringtones.  I can remember when ringtones were preprogrammed on your phone, and you were lucky to have half a dozen annoying chimes to choose from.  Then, things shifted a bit, allowing you to edit mp3 music clips and set them as ringtones on your phone.  The big jump came, however, when mp3 quality audio clips started to be recorded and even sold specifically as ringtones (buy the song and get the ringtone for free).  Since then, several apps have cropped up  to help manage these ringtones on your phone.  One such app is Ringo Pro, and the folks at Electric Pocket were kind enough to send over a sample for me to review on my HTC Hero (Android) device.

What I really liked about Ringo Pro is the extremely simple interface, which you can see above.  These ringtone managers can get extremely complex, but Ringo Pro makes this clean and simple.  The main screen consists of two tabs: default and contacts.  In the default tab, you can change your default ringtone and SMS tone.  These are the tones which you will hear for any caller unless you specifically assign that contact a different ringtone.

To assign a ringtone to a specific contact, just select the contacts tab, and then scroll through your list of contacts until you find the one you wish to assign.  Like I said, this is a really easy app to use.

To assign a ringtone or SMS tone, just use the appropriate menu option to open the list of available tones.  From here, you can scroll through any of the music or audio files on your device.  The cool thing here is that anything in your mp3 music collection is going to be compatible with Ringo Pro, and can be selected as a ringtone. 

From here, you can also choose to take a preview listen of any ringtone before selecting.  This is a nice option, because there is nothing worse than finding out how annoying your ringtone can be only after your phone rings. 

The app also allows you to add some advanced controls, including vibration and LED blinking.  You will find all of these settings under the advanced alert styles button.   Or you can choose to silence your phone directly from the main screen.  It would be nice if this phone silencer could be added as a standalone widget, though, so I could simply silence my phone with a single tap, instead of opening the app just to find the silence button.

In addition to managing your ringtones, though, Ringo Pro will also allow you to add ringtones to your phone.  Just select Get Ringtones to download exclusive (and free) Ringtones from Ringo Pro.  I thought this was a fantastic feature, as it could save some time (making your own ringtone clips) and money.  So, I was disappointed to find only a handful of ringtones available for download.  Hopefully Electric Pocket will work on enhancing this library soon.

I have to admit that I have never been terribly involved with custom ringtones, but this program makes adding ringtones so easy, that I feel like I should start adding custom ringtones for all of my contacts.  Pretty much the only thing I did not like about it was the price.  At 4.99 UK, Ringo Pro pretty expensive, especially considering the number of free rington managers in the Android Market.  Notwithstanding the price, though, I loved using this app and its clean and easy interface.  Now, I wonder what ringtone I should use for my wife…

Ringo Pro was developed by Electric Pocket, and is available from the Android Market for 4.99 UK.

If you believe all the hype, then the HTC Incredible could be hitting Verizon in a mere two weeks.  For a phone that has no official announcement, that’s a very quick release, possibly faster than a speeding bullet.  Please indulge me, no matter when I hear this phone mentioned, scenes from The Incredibles run through my head.  If I purchase this phone, as a belated birthday present for me, I think I might need to invest in a little spandex suit for it.  With its current list of powers:  1G Snapdragon processor, 8 megapixel camera, 512MB RAM, and its slim and trim body, it will be very hard to resist.  Plus, don’t forget all the Sense UI and Android goodness. 

As much as I would like to see this phone as soon as possible, I bet it winds up being a summer release.  I’m thinking maybe June.

Via Engadget

The JAMM Store Deal of the Day is Volume Switcher for Windows Mobile.  Today you can register Volume Switcher for half off the normal price.  Hurry, though, as the coming day will bring a new offer!

Volume Switcher automatically sets sound volume or switches to silent/vibrate mode at predefined times. Through a simple and convenient interface you can set your own timetable and rules, which the application should follow.

Don’t worry about loud calls at the very undesirable moment anymore!

Features:

• SIMPLE AND CONVENIENT INTERFACE.
• AUTOMATIC SWITCHING TO SILENT, VIBRATE OR NORMAL MODE. Events can be scheduled based on definite time, dates and days of the week.
• ABILITY TO ACTIVATE AND DEACTIVATE SCHEDULED EVENTS. There is no need to delete and create them again.

Minimum Requirements:

• Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC
• Windows Mobile 6 Classic/Professional
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Classic/Professional

Display Dimensions
240×240, 240×320, 240×400, 320×240, 320×320, 400×240, 480×480, 480×640, 480×800, 640×480, 800×480
Operating System
WM5, WM6, WM6.1, WM6.5

The three days SplashData JAMM Giveaway is now over.

Three lucky JAMM readers had a chance to win one of the amazing apps developed by SplashData. Here are the lucky ones:

• Ricardo Ramirez: SplashID
• skykid: SplashID
• vijay: SplashMoney

The winners will be contacted by email in order to gather all the needed information to provide them with the licenses.

Keep reading JAMM: thoghtful posts, groundbreaking news and free software (one more giveaway coming soon)… what else could you ask for?