Microsoft demands $15 for every Samsung-made Android smartphone
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HTC, for example, has to pay royalties to Microsoft for each Android device sold due to the fact that the latter holds a number of patents involved in Google's platform. However, the $5 per device sold, which Microsoft is getting from HTC, seem nothing compared to the $15 per device that the maker of Windows Mobile has just demanded from Samsung.
If we take only the Samsung Galaxy S and its successor, the Samsung Galaxy S II, into account, of which the manufacturer has sold over 13 million units combined so far, then Microsoft should be expecting a check for at least 195 million in its mailbox pretty soon. It is said, however, that Samsung will try to lower the fee to $10 per device and will offer to expand its Windows Phone portfolio in return. Suddenly, the possibility of getting a Windows Phone version of the Samsung Galaxy S II sounds much more plausible, doesn't it?
source: Reuters via All About Phones (translated)
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10 Comments
1. ibap posted on 06 Jul 2011, 08:06 2 2
So Samsung will succumb to Windows Phone blackmail? What an interesting way to expand the number of devices running your OS.
2. Droid_X_Doug posted on 06 Jul 2011, 08:08 7 0
I wonder if MS is going to ask Apple to fork over some coin in patent license fees? An Apple v. MS patent fight would be entertaining to watch.
3. corps1089 posted on 06 Jul 2011, 08:31 1 0
Huh, who knew holding patents could be so useful!
Does any other company know about this tactic yet?
4. BigEaze22 posted on 06 Jul 2011, 08:46 0 0
looks like microsoft is using it to their advantage
6. perfectalpha (unregistered) posted on 06 Jul 2011, 09:46 0 0
How do you think IBM is the #3 institution in the world? Owning patents is a very big deal when it comes to making money...
10. corps1089 posted on 08 Jul 2011, 12:27 1 0
Maybe we can start a new term to cover those companies that use this tactic... like... Patent Troll!
Or even more mindblowing, we can start a new company that doesn't make a thing: it just buys patents to then sues other companies into giving us money!
We can call it TechSearch, or maybe NTP, or even Ranger, Inc.!
Who's with me?!?
5. OGdroid55 (unregistered) posted on 06 Jul 2011, 09:22 0 0
And yet they want these same manufacturer to make their phone??!! Don't make any windows phones, let crappy Nokia make them.
7. myclevername posted on 06 Jul 2011, 09:50 1 0
Samsung needs to pony up or they will get sued and have to pay anyway. HTC is already paying. I bet Samsung and Motorola were offered the same deal but they declined. And with Windows 8 coming, if Samsung wants to make some nice tablets and laptops they'd better pay the piper or Microsoft can shut them out from making any Windows 8 products. That's the way inventions and patents work. Android is using other companies technology. They need to pay for it or remove it.
8. M$FT (unregistered) posted on 06 Jul 2011, 15:57 0 0
This is great news for MSFT shareholders, considering the frequency of a new android device being released so that customers are forced to upgrade...every 2 months.
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