Apple is getting a lot of early Christmas presents this year in the form of good news on the patent front. Earlier this week Apple won a patent battle against HTC -- however, it appears that HTC has already made changes to the phones in question to get them out of a ban on sales in the US. Now Apple has received a broad patent that covers the ability to switch to an app while maintaining a phone call.
CBS reports that Apple received US Patent 8,082,523 "Portable electronic device with graphical user interface supporting application switching" that includes a "vital independent claim" that is surprisingly broad in scope. The patent covers the steps taken to look at another app while on a phone call, and then extends this concept i
