Apple Inc. (AAPL) New Patent Would Modify Smartphone Behavior

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is working to make your smartphone even smarter. Smarter than perhaps its users. Do you, or someone you know, forget to turn off your phone when you’re in a movie theater? Do you forget to put in on silent when you sit in church or in an important meeting? Well, engineers at Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)  apparently do , because the company has just received approval for a patent that would enable your smartphone to adjust its settings and behavior by sensing its surroundings.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was just awarded the patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for what it calls an “apparatus and methods for enforcement of policies upon a wireless device.” In layman’s terms, a smartphone with this technology will be able to respond to its surroundings using a nearby network access point  and its embedded policies, such a mobile phone being set to mute. The phone would adjust its settings according to the policy automatically, or the user would be given the option to accept or reject the policy at that access point (inside a theater, inside a library, on an airplane).

There is obviously a question whether users will appreciate their Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) smartphones acting on their own accord instead of with usual direction from the user, but probably for those of us to forget – who know people who do – it might be a technology that might mitigate some otherwise embarrassing moments. However, as the patent was just awarded, this technology isn’t likely to be in the market for perhaps a year or more.

In the wake of the patent lawsuit win for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), the opportunity for future growth has expanded, especially for key investors in the stock like hedge-fund manager Julian Robertson of Tiger Management.