The Cover Flow interface |
|
| Developer(s) | Jonathan del Strother, currently developed by Apple |
|---|---|
| Stable release | RC1.2 (1.997) / September 11, 2006 |
| Operating system | Mac OS X, Windows (iTunes), iOS (iPod touch,1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation, iPhone, iPod Nano 3rd Generation, iPod Nano 4th Generation, iPod Nano 5th Generation, iPod Classic 6th Generation |
| Type | Music software |
| License | Proprietary |
Cover Flow is an animated, three dimensional graphical user interface integrated within iTunes, the Macintosh Finder, and other Apple Inc. products for visually flipping through snapshots of documents, website bookmarks, album artwork, or photographs.
Cover Flow is browsed using the on-screen scrollbar, mouse wheel, gestures, or by selecting a file from a list, which flips through the pages to bring the associated image into view. On iPod and iPhone devices, the user slides their finger across the touch screen or uses the click wheel.
Cover Flow was conceived by artist Andrew Coulter Enright[1] and originally implemented by an independent Macintosh developer, Jonathan del Strother. Enright later named the interaction style fliptych to distinguish it from the particular Cover Flow implementation.[2]
Cover Flow was purchased by Apple Inc. in 2006,[3] and its technology was integrated into its music application, iTunes 7.0, which was released September 12, 2006.[4] The name was previously "CoverFlow" without a space.
The last release of Steel Skies’ stand-alone application, version RC1.2, was released on September 10, 2006, and was freely distributed until the end of the next day only, however it remains available for download from MacUpdate.
On January 9, 2007, when Apple announced the iPhone, it was announced that it would incorporate Cover Flow technology.
During the WWDC Keynote on June 11, 2007, Steve Jobs announced that Cover Flow would be added as a view option in Leopard’s Finder.
On September 5, 2007 Apple announced that Cover Flow would be utilized in the third generation iPod nano as well as the new iPod classic and iPod touch models. Cover Flow was integrated into the fourth generation iPod nano by the use of an accelerometer which accesses Cover Flow when the iPod nano is turned horizontally on its side.
On March 14, 2008, Mirror Worlds LLC sued Apple for infringing on its patents (nos. 6006227, 6638313, 6725427, and 6768999) (Mirror Worlds, LLC, vs Apple, Inc; Texas Eastern District Court) [5]
On February 24, 2009, Cover Flow was also included with the public beta of Safari 4, with the final version of Safari 4, released on June 8, using Cover Flow to browse history, bookmarks, RSS feeds, Bonjour, and Address Book.
In April 2010, Apple was granted a design patent on the Cover Flow interface.[6]
On 1 October 2010, Apple was ordered to pay $625.5 million to Mirror Worlds LLC for infringing utility patents relating to Cover Flow.[7][8] On April 4, 2011, Judge Davis reversed the judgement.[9]