Nokia blockades HTC One part supply

The war of the smartphone manufacturers is continuing unabated across the world and in the court room, with Nokia now managing to secure a block of microphone parts for HTC's One smartphone, with the judge ruling that Nokia invented the part and has an exclusive production deal for it.

The block goes against HTC parts provider STMicroelectronics and prevents it from producing the microphone until March 2014, which leaves HTC in a quandary  Without the vital component for its flagship device, it potentially needs to strike a deal with Nokia to make sure supply of the newly launched handset is not interrupted.

HAAC tech was a major selling point for Nokia's Lumia 920

The particular patent Nokia held, that secured the injunction, was for a piece of technology known as High Amplitude Audio Capture, which allowed for the improvement of recording quality while in noisy locations. Nokia has held a patent for this particular piece of tech since 2009. Upon opening up the HTC One (because of course, all smartphone manufacturers need to check competing products to make sure no one is cheating and for ‘inspiration' Nokia engineers found a microphone that made use of the patented technology.

HTC said in a statement (via the Telegraph) that it was, “considering whether it will have any impact on our business and we will explore alternative solutions immediately.”

KitGuru Says: Pretty poor move by STMicroelectronics to use a patented bit of technology, but perhaps it thought no one would find out? Still, it's not really HTC Nokia needs to be worrying about, but major players like Apple and Samsung. 

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