The functionality allows LATAM passengers using an AirTag or a compatible “Find My” accessory to securely and privately share an item’s location with the airline. The process is initiated by the passenger through the “Find My” app on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

According to a company statement, LATAM Airlines Group’s Vice President of Customers, Paulo Miranda, indicated that the airline transports over 40 million pieces of luggage annually. He noted that despite a loss rate approximately 50% below the industry average, delayed baggage remains a critical concern for customers.

In the event of a delayed bag, a passenger can generate a shareable link from the “Find My” app. This link can then be submitted to a delayed baggage report via SITA’s self-service website. SITA is a technology provider for the air transport industry.

Shawn Gregor, president of SITA Americas, stated that the company’s “Baggage IT Insights report” for 2024 showed a nearly 15% decrease in baggage incidence rates in Latin America and the Caribbean, which he attributed to investments in smart technology. Gregor added that with global air traffic growing, the company “welcomes LATAM’s initiative to implement this solution with AirTags and SITA WorldTracer.”

The location sharing feature automatically ends once a customer finds their bag or after seven days. The user can also manually stop sharing at any time. The process is end-to-end encrypted and anonymous, which means Apple and accessory manufacturers on the “Find My” network cannot view the location or other user data. The feature requires devices to be running iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, or macOS 15.2 or later.

LATAM baggage. Photo credit: LATAM Airlines.

In January 2022, Ericsson filed at least 12 preliminary injunction requests against Apple before different judges in Colombia. All those actions were filed as ex parte proceedings, in which an alleged patent infringer needs to be stopped in order to prevent illegal action causing an actual harm to the patent owner. Two of them were filed before the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC). At the same time, Ericsson filed all the remaining known actions before conventional courts, also with general jurisdiction over patent infringement.

These lawsuits concern the license for patent “5225,” regarding 4G or LTE wireless technology, entered into agreements in the year 2008 with the corporation Apple, whose purpose consisted of a cross license, which included patents that were within telecommunications standards. Subsequently, and in light of its expiration, Ericsson asked Apple to negotiate new terms to authorize use of the patent, which only occurred in the year 2015, when a second license was signed, which recently ended. According to Ericsson, the importation, marketing, and use of Apple devices, which comply with 4G standards, are then in violation of the mentioned license, since such equipment is configured to handle 2G, 3G, and 4G SEPs (Standard Essential Patent) of the license.

Ericsson has also initiated numerous patent cases against Apple and its various subsidiaries, in the courts of Belgium, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States. Ericsson has argued that it had to do so because negotiations between the parties to renew the license failed, and barely began taking place. According to Apple’s counsel, “Ericsson initiated many lawsuits against the Apple group in secret, so that Apple would not have knowledge of the litigation initiated by Ericsson”.

Even though new iPhones are a status symbol in Colombia, the country only accounts for 0.2% of Apple sales globally.

Apple’s counsel also maintained that “Ericsson did not provide evidence on the essential characteristics of its patents, and it appears that, in fact, Ericsson’s patents are not really essential to the 4G or 5G standards”.

Prohibition for iPhone 12, 13 and 14

Despite the fact that the 5G network has not yet been introduced in Colombia, Ericsson is demanding payment from Apple for using its proprietary technology. It demands a $5 charge for each iPhone, but Apple has so far declined to pay.

On July, Court 43 of the Circuit of Bogotá granted Ericsson’s request for an injunction and entered orders to Apple Colombia prohibiting the import, sale, commercialization and advertisement for all equipment using the allegedly infringed patent, which are all current devices using 4G or 5G technologies, including iPhone 12, 13, and iPhone 14, introduced in September. Apple briefly hinted that the iPhone 14 would finally be available in October; in a press release, Apple initially stated that iPhone 14 Plus would be available in Colombia on October 28. But the firm corrected the press release by removing this note.

When contacted, Adriana Huerta, head of corporate communications for Latin America at Apple, only stated that “for now, we do not have more information than what is available in our Apple press room in Colombia about the latest releases of our products.” Ericsson’s attorney in Colombia, Carlos Olarte, confirmed that the lawsuit goes ahead, and Apple still cannot market its iPhone 14 in Colombia. “Talks continue between Apple and Ericsson, and there is clearly a mutual desire to reach an agreement. Everyone is hopeful that a mutually satisfactory negotiation will be reached,” he ensured to Finance Colombia. No further details regarding the discussions were disclosed, as they are confidential.

Besides, a Colombian court denied Apple’s emergency request for relief, upholding the constitutionality of the sales and import ban.

Apple considers that this prohibition is “highly unnecessary since 5G technology is not operational in Colombia; not effective as the inclusion of features that support 5G technology does not necessarily imply the use of Ericsson’s patent rights; and nonproportional as it will cause a greater damage to the Colombian consumer particularly as the real infringement of the patent has not been demonstrated and in any case it would be occurring supposedly only while the parties reach a monetary agreement and in a very small section of a very complex device.”

In contrast to other countries like the United States or even the Dominican Republic, 5G networks are still not available for consumer use in Colombia.

Two important dates

Apple’s counsel also commented that Apple and Ericsson have previously agreed that active litigation between the parties in the US District Court in the Eastern District of Texas will be the action that will determine the FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, And Non-Discriminatory) terms for a license that will cover both parties’ portfolios of “patents declared essential to the standards,” including patents that Ericsson has asserted against Apple in Colombia. In other words, “both Ericsson and Apple have asked the judge to determine whether Apple’s and Ericsson’s offer is reasonable,” Olarte explained to Finance Colombia. “And depending on this determination, it will help to reach an agreement in Colombia. Essentially because the judge will tell them that either Ericsson’s price is reasonable, or Apple’s offer is reasonable, or that both proposals are reasonable. That may motivate the parties to reach an agreement.” This lawsuit in Texas will take place in December.

Another important date is set on the calendar: as Ericsson is also suing Apple in Germany, some hearings are expected in Mannheim over the coming weeks. The decision should also influence the parties in finding an agreement, Olarte pointed out. “For example, if they grant an injunction in favor of Ericsson, that would be one more country to add to the list where Apple is losing. And that could also motivate Apple to settle,” he told Finance Colombia.

According to Olarte, Apple’s annual sales in Colombia represent about 0.2% of the company’s global market. This raises the question whether it is really worth it for Apple to resist so fiercely. Why not accept Ericsson’s licensing terms straight away? “One could say that Apple should take into account the very small size of this market,” says Ericsson’s attorney. “But another analysis suggests that Apple has a reputation to defend. Apple does not like to be accused, or even less to be declared infringing in a country. And there’s also the real impact, beyond the small percentage. If you multiply 0.2% by Apple’s global sales, it comes out to a big number. That number hurts someone. Even Colombia being as small as it is, it’s a major irritation.” As an example, Apple declared that just the net sales of Ishop,  one of the distributors of Apple Colombia within the Colombian territory, in 2017 were $2,642,637 USD. “It is also a message that Apple sends to other countries, where it is fighting similar lawsuits,” concluded Olarte, a statement that the company does not intend to give up so easily.

In the latest case making the rounds in Colombian media, Ecuadorean Geral Jaramillo, who goes by the Twitter handle @lugerjamo flew Avianca from Ecuador to New York (JFK International Airport). While he did accidentally leave his carry-on bag behind, when he returned for it, an Avianca supervisor told him that no one had found anything and there was nothing they could do.

That seemed to be the end of things—until multiple “selfies” of Avianca employees began to show up in Jaramillo’s Apple iCloud account, proving that Avianca employees did in fact have possession of Jaramillo’s personal belongings, even though they denied it to his face.

Jaramillo took to Twitter with proof and embarrassed, the airline responded by quickly returning his carry-on bag with some accessories, and according to Jaramillo, most importantly, with the stuffed toy his daughter gave him to always accompany him on his travels. Still, the phone was missing, apparently in the hands of an Avianca employee.

Avianca first offered him a telephone, but it was someone else’s and not Jaramillo’s. Avianca did, according to Jaramillo, then purchase a replacement phone after the incident had become public.

Hear Jaramillo’s interview with Colombian network W Radio (in Spanish) below:

Photos: @lugerjamo (Twitter)

The report details how Tigo continues to be the fastest mobile operator in Colombia during Q3 2021, achieving a Speed Score of 26.21, followed by Wom with a Speed Score of 17.36, Claro with 16.31 and Movistar with 14.00. Tigo also had the highest Consistency Score at 85.5% while WOM achieved 78.1%, Movistar 71.5% and Claro 67.9%. The report did not include Bogotá based telecom ETB.

Tigo has been investing heavily and expanding recently. In 2020, the company managed to activate more than 2,358 antennas in the 700 MHz band. Tigo also has the lowest latency at 38 ms., while  Movistar reached 41ms, Claro at 54 ms and WOM at 87 ms.

Ookla’s report also analyzed the performance of some of the fastest phones in Colombia, showcasing the iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G as the device with the fastest mean download speed with 32.08 Mbps. In general devices from Apple had the fastest mean download speed in the country during Q3 2021 at 23.40 Mbps. Cartagena narrowly took lead over Barranquilla for the fastest mean mobile download speed among Colombia’s most populous cities at 22.78 Mbps to 22.25 Mbps.

Of Colombia’s seven largest cities, Bogotá had the slowest mean download and upload speeds at 18.24 Mbps and 10.56 Mbps respectively.

Loren Moss: In your book Global Tilt, you talked about how the very things that make a business successful at changing, you challenge the reader to look past core competencies and to look outside in and future back. So, I have a pretty good understanding of what core competencies are, but what does it mean to look outside in, or future back?

Ram Charan: Yeah, yeah, so the competence is number one, that you create internal mechanisms to sense—use antennas, to sense what new trends are coming. You survey today: who is creating something new? Will that become the future? We don’t know, but you try to figure out who’s creating it, and that tells you “outside in.” That tells you if that particular new thing does become big, then you have future back so if you get my book, Attacker’s Advantage the first three chapters are on it.

Loren Moss: That’s interesting because we see—Yesterday it was announced that Intel who completely missed out, and they admit that they missed out on mobile phone technology; they didn’t take that seriously or make chipsets for that; now, with 5G coming they just announced an alliance with the Taiwanese maker MediaTek, and they are taking seriously the next 5G not so much in traditional cell phones but in devices because the idea now as you know with 5G is that there will be no more need for ethernet; every device is connected wirelessly rather than: there are mobile devices and there are desktop devices…and so it looks like where they may be missed an iteration of the future, of evolution, at least in their sector of technology, they have learned their lessons and they’re saying let’s not get caught behind like Blackberry did for example or Nokia did, and it sounds like what you’re saying is “make sure that your company is the disrupter not the disrupted…or is that different?

Ram Charan: No, no, this is very good, so I happen to know what you’re saying about Intel. Intel’s CEO was a non-technology guy.

We should open up here for the best companies who want to use this place to make it a global city.

Loren Moss: This is after Andy Grove. More recently.

Ram Charan: Andy Grove’s successor was a professor, manufacturer. His successor was an economist by background. He was an assistant to Andy Grove. He was not a technology guy. He missed it. Then came another one, and he had his personal problems, he got fired. Now you have Bob Swan, who was a CFO back then, and he took a year to see whether he wants that job and now he’s trying to catch up.

Loren Moss: Is that dangerous? Because Andy Grove and Gordon Moore, these guys were technology people, they were excellent at business when they came out of Fairchild, they knew the technology. You know Jobs, Steve Jobs is famous for not being an engineer, but he was technologically competent. A lot of people now have doubts about that current leadership saying that if that’s a company that stakes its claim on product leadership, there have been no new products since Jobs’ death. And…

Ram Charan: No, be careful. First, we should not dwell on degrees.

Loren Moss: Okay. 

Ram Charan: Steve Jobs learned it.

Loren Moss: Right.

Ram Charan: You can learn that. I used to go in 1978 and coach these three geniuses: Andy Grove, Gordon Moore, and Bob Noyce. They were a $200 million-dollar small company. They learned it. They grew into it. And so it’s a leadership mindset to figure it out, but they can recruit the best people to help them, so in the case of Apple people don’t know this, it should be, that you have a trajectory of a product line, in this case I would say to you the iPhone. An iPhone and an iPad are very related.

Loren Moss: I have them both right here!

Ram Charan: At some point it becomes mature stage. Now, they will, I predict, convert that into “product-as-a-service, so you will be able to get this product with a zillion apps and be able to pay a monthly fee. It’s going to happen.

Loren Moss: Like a utility.

Ram Charan: No doubt.

Loren Moss: Wow.

Ram Charan: And the price of the phone will come down as a result, because 7 billion people will be willing to use it. And what people don’t know is that Apple has moved into health care, and I believe they have the best strategy, so Tim Cook has positioned Apple into the world’s largest market space.

Loren Moss: And that’s a growth space too, positioned for long-term growth.

Ram Charan: And they will use these devices. They now have devices that have been approved by FDA, and they are using data for it. The watch is a device we don’t need anything else, to be able to monitor and give you notice, and use the data the FDA approves..

Loren Moss: I think is amazing the combination of things like IoT (Internet of Things), with things like the artificial intelligence behind tools like Siri or Alexa, or now, Google has one as well. I know a company in Boston, Orbita Healthcare that is coming out with IoT devices that interact with the user to help in cases like Alzheimer’s…

Ram Charan: See, we are all used to text. Amazon figured out the next game is voice. Google figured out the next game is video. It is easier for people…But these are the next stages.

Loren Moss: I think it’s a fascinating time and I want to ask how countries like Colombia can take advantage of these changes. 100 years ago, India was a colony and today India is a global power, you’ve got ArcelorMittal, you’ve got Tata Group, you’ve got Infosys. Tata has bought up all the iconic British brands, and so roles have reversed, haven’t they? And it’s also I think, different than their neighbor like China; is that India is known as a knowledge center, it has a knowledge economy. People might think of things being manufactured in China, but they think of India for IT Outsourcing. Colombia is trying to complete in that realm, obviously it’s much smaller, what can we learn—and you’ve seen it, the whole process—maybe not before when it was a colony but after.

To read the entire interview, continue by clicking here.

“We have staked a lot on the city,” said Pasos. He says the company is betting so big on Barranquilla, a city of more than one million people, because the capital of the Atlantico department is full of consumers who “appreciate technology” and always “want the latest design.”

He said he believes that this can be the company’s third-highest-grossing store in the country. Along with the new location in the Caribbean city’s Viva mall (Centro Comercial Viva), iShop has stores in Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Villavicencio, Pereira, and Chia.

The opening marks the 49th store in the region for iShop Grup, making Colombia easily the company’s biggest market. iShop also has a presence Peru, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador.