[talmand]

Much ado about nothing for now, this is about Apple's "application" for the patent. The possibility of a patent war depends on Apple's claim, if they get the patent at all, since there are clearly already examples of said technology. If Apple claims that their patent doesn't just cover the ability to charge certain devices up to a meter away but also covers "all devices" charging up to a meter away then there might be a problem.

Without reading Apple's claims, I would assume this covers the actual physical technology they're using to charge a device up to a meter away that's actually different than current technology on the market that cannot charge at such distances. If that's the situation, I don't see a problem with Apple's patent application.