In an ironic twist, it looks like Microsoft might be able to make money on every Android handset sold, while Google, which makes the operating system, won’t make a penny from it.
Microsoft announced it had signed a patent agreement with HTC licensing its IP to the Taiwanese firm which makes several Android based devices. Microsoft, says the press release, “will receive royalties from HTC.”
Royalties for what?, some might ask. Well, for a while now, Microsoft has been claiming Google’s Android violates its intellectual property, although how, the public has yet to been told.
Of course Apple too has sued HTC for violating iPhone patents, but so has Nokia, which does not use Android.
The details are scant to say the least. No one seems to know which patents are in question or how much HTC has agreed to pay Microsoft in royalties – if the firm does indeed end up paying anything at all.
Some cynics believe Microsoft will simply use the deal as leverage to push HTC, a longtime partner, into continuing to make Windows based smartphones.
Others take this a step further and posit that Microsoft could even bundle the same IP agreement with its Windows Phone OS license, to encourage others to sign on.
Regardless, HTC’s acceptance of the deal means the firm admits to actually needing a Microsoft intellectual property license, which could be bad news for other Android partners.
On the bright side for HTC, the agreement may help beef up its defense against Apple, although Google is not likely to be thrilled that its Redmond rival is making money off its free open source OS.
No such thing as a free lunch, Google.
