We all knew it was bound to happen. Apple’s journey to world domination was first set into motion with the Mac, then came the iPod with it’s market domination. The launch of the iPhone increased their kingdom exponentially and the iPad has continued the legacy. Details came to light today about Apple’s 8-K filing with the SEC on August 5th, stating that it had acquired all patents and IP of LiquidMetal Technologies .
The filing states:
“LIQUIDMETAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
FORM 8-K
Item 1.01. Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement.
On August 5, 2010, Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Liquidmetal”), entered into a Master Transaction Agreement with Apple Inc., a California corporation (“Apple”), pursuant to which (i) Liquidmetal contributed substantially all of its intellectual property assets to a newly organized special-purpose, wholly-owned subsidiary (the “IP Company”), (ii) the IP Company granted to Apple a perpetual, worldwide, fully-paid, exclusive license to commercialize such intellectual property in the field of consumer electronic products in exchange for a license fee, and (iii) the IP Company granted back to Liquidmetal a perpetual, worldwide, fully-paid, exclusive license to commercialize such intellectual property in all other fields of use (together with all ancillary agreements, the “Master Transaction Agreement”).
The foregoing does not purport to be a complete description of Master Transaction Agreement and is qualified by reference to the full text of such agreement, which will be filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q."
Should we expect to see the iTerminator 2000 at the next Apple launch? After all, every world domination plan requires an army right? Skynet…err LiquidMetal claims to be the “leading force in the research, development and commercialization of amorphous metals. [Its] revolutionary class of patented alloys and coatings form the basis of high performance material utilized in a range of military, consumer and industrial products manufactured by Liquidmetal Technologies”
A technology demo from LiquidMetal sheds some light on the possible benefits of incorporating their technology with Apple’s product line. The company boasts that these new metals offer a myriad of benefits (over standard metals) in the terms of wear resistance, hardness, elasticity, strength, acoustical properties and about every other property metal is known for.
While Apple’s true plans for these new metals is still not public, the enhanced properties would definitely lend themselves well to mobile devices, perhaps an Apple Toughbook is in our future? Could the energy created from the elasticity of this metal be harnessed in such a way as to recharge onboard batteries on the go ala kinectic action watches from the likes of Seiko and others?
Time will only tell, but one thing is for sure, if you drop your Apple LiquidMetal iPhone 5, you better have your running/jumping shoes on.
