[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tni-9LX7Ns[/youtube]
Last week I told you that the Google Nexus 7 tablet has built-in magnets and with the help of a cover it can fulfill exactly the same functionality that the SmartCover cover fulfills in combination with the iPad 2/3. More precisely, using magnets, the tablet can be locked and unlocked just like Apple's iPads, and here comes a big problem for accessory manufacturers because Apple has patented this system. In the video clip above you have the presentation the first "SmartCover" cover for Google Nexus 7 and notice that part of the design is similar to that of the iPad cover, and the functionality is almost identical.
The functionality thought by Apple for its tablets is extremely useful and of course it had to be taken over by competing companies (although it already exists for mobile phones), but it remains to be seen whether Apple will decide to defend it or not. In this case, Google protects itself by putting accessory manufacturers in front of Apple's "cannons", the latter being able to be sued for infringing the Cupertino company's patents, something that will probably happen in the near future.
