A trio of Apple filings seek to patent mobile-application "systems and methods" for travel and online shopping — and to move us three steps closer to a Google-free world.

Taken together, the three filings point not only to the browserless future that Apple is seeking for its iOS devices, but also — if granted by the much-maligned US Patent and Trademark Office — to an application ecosystem in which software patents are sweepingly broad and the protection of "prior art" is enfeebled.

The filings were each filed late last year and published on Thursday — a relatively short gestation period in patentland. Hotel and travel services are covered by a pair, and the third seeks patent protection for "providing enhanced access to high fashion".

Of course, such services are offered today on a wide variety of websites from Travelocity to Neiman Marcus, but a website is a website, and an app is a discrete chunk of code that can be patented — unless you're in New Zealand.