Filing indicates minimum paid by Apple

On the same day it agreed to a patent licensing deal with Apple, Liquidmetal managed to pay off $10.9 million in debt, an 8-K filing with the SEC reveals. "The foregoing obligations were paid with proceeds from the previously announced strategic licensing transaction with Apple Inc.," one sentence in the document informs. Specifically, AppleInsider notes that the payback was split three ways: $8.2 million went towards outstanding senior secured convertible notes, while $2.4 million went to Ricardo Salas and Norden LLC, and $300,000 was paid to HANA Financial.

$10.9 million likely represents just part of the amount paid by Apple, given the breadth of the deal, and its exclusivity in the electronics field. Apple is generally expected to use the patents to design new shells for its products, but if so, they may not resemble Liquidmetal's currently output. The Associated Press notes that a present alloy contains heavy amounts of platinum, a substance worth about $1,500 per ounce.

The AP does remark though that the material can be cast with minimal effort, requiring little to no machining. The company is also said to produce a tough metallic glass. Electronics that have exploited Liquidmetal ideas in the past include Vertu's luxury smartphones, and Sandisk's Sansa media players.

by MacNN Staff