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Telecom Daily

Welcome to Faulkner's Telecom Daily. We publish Monday through Friday, updating top stories as events warrant.

Wednesday, December 12...

Qualcomm Wins Injunction Against Sale and Import of iPhones in China
Sales and imports of Apple's iPhone have been banned across much of China, thanks to a decision by a Chinese court to grant Qualcomm's request for a sales injunction against multiple Apple devices. The news, which was reported by Reuters, is likely to sit very poorly with Apple; the company has, in recent years, been trying to court the Chinese smartphone market and fend off the expanding sales of local companies like OPPO and Huawei. Qualcomm, which is embroiled in multiple ongoing legal conflicts with Apple, requested the injunction based on a pair of patents relating to resizing photos and app management. The affected models comprise most of Apple's current lineup, including the iPhone 6S, 6S Plus, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus, and X. For its part, Apple has already told CNBC that it intends to appeal the decision as soon as possible, noting that the patents in question are not used within its iOS 12 update, which all of the aforementioned models are eligible to receive. Apple went so far as to call the legal play by Qualcomm "another desperate move by a company whose illegal practices are under investigation by regulators around the world," in a statement to CNBC. Despite the court order, Apple claims "all iPhone models remain available for [its] customers in China."

FCC's Office of Economics and Analytics Officially Begins Operations
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it has officially opened the doors on its new Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA). The purpose of the new entity within the regulator is to " consistently and thoroughly incorporate economic and data analysis into the policy-making work of the agency." The new office is broken into four distinct divisions: Economic Analysis, which handles "analytical and quantitative support for rulemakings, transactions, reviews, adjudications, and other matters"; Industry analysis, which designs and carries out economically-relevant data collections; Auctions, which, as the name would suggest, governs airspace auction design and implementation; and Data, which "develops and implements best practices, processes, and standards for data management." The office is currently being led by Giulia McHenry in the role of Acting Chief.

Google Brings its Lens Visual Search to iOS Version of its Search App
Google expanded the capabilities of another iOS app with the introduction of Google Lens to its Search App for Apple's mobile platform. Although the Google Lens feature was already available within the Google Photos app for iOS, this is the first time the AI-based visual search has made its way into the primary search app for users of the Android competitor. As with previous iterations of Google Lens, this version allows the user to capture an image of a product, animal, work of art, or one of several other types of objects in order to find out more about it. Depending on the nature of the object, that information can include facts such as the author/artist, the type or breed of animal, places where a given product is available for purchase, and more. The addition of Google Lens to the iOS Search app is rolling out gradually to all users now.

... Michael Gariffo, Faulkner Information Services

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