Analyst: Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC Android phone
Summary: Why does Microsoft have such a large patent portfolio? Maybe because there’s big money to be made in patents. Today’s proof comes from HTC, one of the biggest smartphone handset makers in the world.
Why does Microsoft have such a large patent portfolio? Maybe because there’s big money to be made in patents.
Today’s proof comes from HTC, one of the biggest smartphone handset makers in the world.
If you have an Android phone made by HTC, Steve Ballmer wants to say thank you. As odd as it sounds, Microsoft gets five dollars for every HTC Android device. According to a report this morning, that adds up to a lot of ka-chings—$150 million in all, based on a rough estimate that HTC has shipped 30 million such devices.
The report by Horace Dediu at Asymco says the money is part of a patent settlement:
Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC phone running Android, according to Citi analyst Walter Pritchard, who released a big report on Microsoft this morning.
Microsoft is getting that money thanks to a patent settlement with HTC over intellectual property infringement.
Microsoft is suing other Android phone makers, and it’s looking for $7.50 to $12.50 per device, says Pritchard.
Florian Mueller, who tracks patents and other intellectual property issues at his FOSS Patents blog, provides more details via Twitter:
It wasn't even a settlement: there was never a formal suit to settle. It was a license deal prior to any litigation.
Have other handset makers signed similar deals?
It's possible that many have without announcing. HTC is the only specific announcement of its kind. Plus there are broad cross-license agreements they announced with LG, Samsung etc. Those may or may not include Android now.
When Microsoft sits down at the bargaining table with handset makers, this is definitely part of the pitch.
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Talkback
RE: Analyst: Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC Android phone
RE: Analyst: Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC Android phone
Are you nuts? Android is the best thing to hit the smartphone market. No one on this planet can claim it was the iPhone... that's not even a smartphone (how the heck can you claim smartphone if it can't even multi-task?).
Ah, spoken like a true, totally disconnected from reality
RE: Analyst: Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC Android phone
RE: Analyst: Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC Android phone
Android is brain dead
It has an anemic applications market leaving developers to starve and a sophomoric multi-tasking model out of a second year CS major project.
Right! ;-)
Those steered away from Androids should be steered to WP7 instead where they will not pay $5 to Microsoft! ;-)
RE: Right!
No, they will pay a lot more, given that WP7 stands for Windows Phone 7. Best joke that I've heard today, IOW its the only one.
RE: Analyst: Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC Android phone
Given that the license fee for WP7 is $10 and they have a lot of deals on pricing, the average price difference for HTC between licensing WP7 and using Android just became quite small.
RE: Analyst: Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC Android phone
Better to put $5 in MS coffers and get a decent phone than to be saddled with WP7!
That should get the trolls going... Funny how so few of them have infested this thread (yet). Probably because it is the weekend and they are away from their desks at Redmond.
Just as well that Ed Bott continues his unabated bashing of Apple and Linux/Android as well as defending Microsoft at every turn to support the trolls efforts.
Seriously, if MS products were half as good as the trolls make out (and Apple and Linux were half as bad as they pretend) then it would be all over, red rover. But no, the trolls and shills keep on denying facts and reality. They are good for a laugh, though!
Only HTC phones
Microsoft tried this on with many vendors, but the patents are so weak they have to sign an NDA even to find out the claims MS is making....
Barnes and Noble refused to cooperate, and reading the patent claims MS is making are bogus.
http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2011/04/27/barnes-noble-spits-on-microsoft-over-patent-dispute/
RE: Analyst: Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC Android phone
Microsoft is the EVIL
RE: Analyst: Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC Android phone
Microsoft is the son of the Evil....
Nay
Well, maybe there is some good in them, they aren't (as far as I know) responsible for Budweiser.
RE: Analyst: Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC Android phone
HTC's Microsoft problem is confined to the USA because pure software patents fortunately don't exist in other countries.
RE: Analyst: Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC Android phone
"... this should raise the price of Android phones and steer customers away from them." Unlikely, as an Android phone is still better value. MS will probably make more money from THIS deal than from any WP7 phones!
RE: Analyst: Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC Android phone
Ed, I see no mention of a $$ amount in the Microsoft Press release ... where you getting your data.
Read the story again
Read my post more slowly this time and you will see the source. Here, maybe this will help:
"Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC phone running Android, according to Citi analyst Walter Pritchard, who released a big report on Microsoft this morning."
RE: Analyst: Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC Android phone
hopefully!
RE: Analyst: Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC Android phone