The opportunity to offer targeted advertising based on a user's location should help these and other firms win a slice (or in Google's case, expand its slice) of the huge market for local advertising.
In short, there's no way I'd consider using the iPhone if the only Google-made app in the iOS universe was a search program. (Yes, that's the case in Windows Phone -- just a single Google app.) The iPhone would still have sold millions, sure, but one has to wonder how much less impactful it would've been without Google pushing its apps into the App Store.
ENGADGET: Editorial: Does Windows Phone even have a chance without Google?
The ruling marks Apple's second patent loss in a week, after a judge dismissed a case it brought against Google's Motorola unit on Monday.
It's driven some to search Google through a Bulletin Board System-like interface or, in the case of programmer Peter Nitsch, it's compelled him to graft ASCII art onto the physical world.
ENGADGET: Google Street View goes retro with unofficial ASCII treatment
It's the same argument Google is making in its YouTube case.
Apple Inc. won a victory against Google Inc. in a patent case before a U.S. trade agency, which upheld findings by one of the agency's judges.
In case Apple's patents hold up under appeal, Google could recode Android to ensure there was no potential infringement, or handset makers could seek to pay their rival a licence fee.
BBC: Google reacts to Apple's US patent victory over Samsung
However, one analyst questioned whether this would make Firefox OS stand out, bearing in mind developers were already free to offer web apps for most other devices, and in the case of Android could also sell native apps outside Google's own Play store if the user adjusted their settings to accept them.
BBC: First Firefox phones revealed by Mozilla and Geeksphone
The FTC hired outside lawyers to prepare a case, but after a lengthy investigation concluded what was obvious from the start: There was no case against Google's practice of delivering answers as well as just links in its search results.
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