[lambda]

Tracking numbers have a lot more digits than phone numbers; do they actually get detected as such? I've never seen it happen.

I have, however, found it useful to tap on an address to bring it up in Google Maps or a phone number to open it in the dialer.

[technogeek00]

Actually a fair number of shipments by small companies and even Fedex have shipment numbers that total out to 10 or 11 digits which fits a fully dialed international number perfectly and will be highlighted by Android. So the feature is bad and good at the same time. Source: I made and maintain a shipment tracking progam on Android.

[Gigablah]

Skype's browser extension does this to phone numbers on webpages; does this mean they're violating the Apple patent as well?

[lambda]

Possibly, but pure software patents tend to be harder to go after than software coupled with hardware (like mobile devices).