Word on the street has it that a spanking new patent which was awarded to Microsoft recently, going by the name Patent No. 7925548, will more or less cover all kinds of app which was specially developed to perform a specific task. To make sure everyone is on the same page, here is the abstract in the next paragraph.
A client portal that is optimized to fulfill a specific function. The portal can include a browser that is dedicated to performing a particular task, such as reviewing and purchasing electronic books. For example, to better perform the specific function, the browser may only be able to directly access sites designated by an authorized party, e.g., the browser’s publisher. Because the browser is dedicated to performing a single task, the user interface for operating the dedicated browser may be simplified to include only those controls useful for performing the assigned task. Also, the content available for access by the client portal can be controlled by a single authorized party, such as the portal’s publisher or distributor.
No idea on whether this patent will cover all the eBookstore apps such as Kindle and Kobo, not to mention the slew of magazine and newspaper apps (can anyone say NYTimes and WSJ?), apart from all retail apps (hello Amazon!) and streaming content apps inlcuding Pandora and Audible, among others. What do you think?