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Microsoft Signs Android Patent Deal With HTC
adeelarshad82 writes "Microsoft and HTC have signed a patent deal that will provide broad coverage under Microsoft's patent portfolio for HTC's mobile phones running the Android mobile platform. The announcement comes in the wake of a massive patent suit from Apple, which alleged 20 instances of patent infringement on the part of HTC."
I think you are misunderstanding what MS is doing. What they are really saying is Android violates their patents, but HTC their biggest Windows Mobile partner is in the clear (from MS patents) with it's Android devices. Other OEMs that don't make similar deals may get sued by MS for using Android. I was wondering when MS would join this mobile patent orgy.
Google should sue anyone who makes a deal with Microsoft. Because what's the point if you have to pay Microsoft for using Android?
Don't you?
Sorry. I had chili for lunch. I'll open a Window ...
HTC is hedging their bets (a smart move), but will this lead to disparate Android UI's between platforms?
As Engadget points out (or maybe just theorizes), the licencing fee for android patents is about the same as the regular licence fee for Windows Mobile (aka Windows Phone 7), thereby making it a wash for phone developers.
They're really just trying to level the playing field (in a shitty way).
-Taylor
Worldwide Military budgets: $2100 billion. Worldwide Space Exploration budgets: $38 billion. Really, world? Really?
Here I thought Google was going to stand behind the manufacturers who were supporting Android. I wonder where they went when Microsoft called HTC?...
Agreed, I don't understand this thought process going around the web and this story that MS is protecting HTC from Apple. MS saw what Apple saw, HTC was the lowest hanging fruit of the OEMs. Now, if WinMo7 wins, MS wins. If Andriod wins, MS wins. There was always a question of how MS was going to compete against free. Well, that was answered. An OEM can either pay a license for WinMo7 from MS or get Android and pay a royalty to MS. Also, by settling, the infringing patents are not shown (unlike the rather ham handed move by Apple). FUD to other OEMs will do just fine, thank you.
Nice move MS. First you have two horses in this race. Second, did it without having show your infringing patents. Finally, somehow got thousands of idiots on the web to believe that you are the good guys and just a another soldier by your side in the battle against Apple. That last move is what impresses me the most. MS PR department has really come a long way since the '90s. Welcome back MS. You are your best when you are evil.
That may be, and it is understandable to be wary. However, I wonder if Microsoft is doing a different strategy, more along the lines of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".
If one looks at things objectively, in a corporate environment as of now, Android is not a threat to Windows Mobile. It does not have true memory card encryption which is required in a lot of enterprises. Nor can it really be bound to Exchange where it supports profiles like disabling cameras, limiting what software is installed (on Windows Mobile, companies can have their own signing key to only let apps that are vetted in house run,) and other items which might be used for regulatory compliance.
I'm also sure that Microsoft knows that if HTC is crushed by Apple, then more people will end up on the iPhone. It is the lesser of two evils. Android which is limping along slowly but surely and suffering from fragmentation, versus the iPhone which has the ability to cause a lot of lock-in. It is easier to move a customer from Android to Windows Phone 7 than it is from the iPhone platform. So, by siding with the lesser of two evils, MS is preventing Apple from getting an overwhelming death grip on the market.
I smell Microsoft making a money grab since HTC likely doesn't want to fight more than one major corporation in a patent war at the same time. So the royalties are probably a bit less than what said patent war would cost, and Microsoft gets a cut from the Android pie. It also hurts the iPhone slightly, which probably helps Microsoft.
no, it's more like Episode V, when Lando tells Han that they've just signed "a deal that'll keep the empire out of here forever"
mod me funny
which one is farnsworth and which one is rca so i know who to root for?
http://www.physlink.com/education/askexperts/ae408.cfm
ip law doesn't reward inventors. ip law rewards assholes with big pockets. as this case shows, ip law is a farce, its a way for big companies to waste a lot of money on lawyer whores
if you are the little guy who thinks that copyright is for authors, and patents are for inventors, you're a fool
ip law is for distributors and large corporations. real creators are screwed. stop being naive
in the name of the highest ideals of western democracy, fuck ip law, it should be actively undermined and destroyed by anyone with morality and principles. we can't work through our governments and legislators, they're all whores to the patronage system. its up to the common man to destroy the entire rotten edifice
i'm not talking about revolution or any such nonsense. i'm talking about piracy. i'm talking about hitting them in their wallets. with any luck, we can bankrupt the organizations that profit from the idea of "intellectual property", and thereby destroy the validity of the idea itself in anyone's eyes
aarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
is it FUD when every HTC andriod phone comes with an additional microsoft license fee? Is it FUD when people bust their ass coding software and MS comes along and charges for that software? Is it FUD now that any attempt to sell devices with Linux on it will result in a license fee? passed down to you? This is the REALITY not FUD. its REAL. And the more the Linux community buries their head in the sand and just write this off as FUD the more MS will run this extortion racket ala SCO behind their backs. Microsoft can go FUCK itself.
Linux is no longer free in a commercial environment. If you run Linux you owe Microsoft money. That's the bottom line. Who the fuck woulda thunk?
what this does is makes linux more expensive to deploy for manufactures than windows. And since Linux and company could not care less and really does not care Microsoft will win.
Given that some of the patents that Apple has invoked against HTC concern WinMo phones, it would seem that Microsoft has a stake in that fight alongside HTC.
Other OEMs that don't make similar deals may get sued by MS for using Android.
I believe this is pure speculation on your part, because MS made no indication that it intends to sue hardware manufacturers because of software patents (Android related or not!). My understanding is that Microsoft is not a patent troll. Microsoft completely understands that software patents are a minefield, and use their large portfolio for protective purposes against companies like Apple.
In my opinion, Microsoft's move has the following intent:
1) It ensures that HTC can manufacture Windows Phone 7 phones (or whatever they will be called). HTC is not only Microsoft's largest partner in mobile phones, but they make handsets with the fastest hardware (which WP7 will probably need to run Office smoothly). It would be a disaster for Microsoft if HTC was forced to remove features from their products because of Apple's lawsuit, especially with WP7 being so close to being launched.
2) It practically guarantees that Apple will not be successful with its patent trolling against HTC (Nokia is on their own, but their portfolio is already huge). If Apple had even some degree of success, they would've been encouraged to pursue further legal action using software patents.
3) MS capitalizes on Android's success.
I believe the motivation for OEMs to license patents from Microsoft actually comes from Apple, and not from Microsoft. So from my perspective, it looks like Apple's attempts at intimidation have backfired.
I doubt MS forced HTC's hand on this one. They've arguably been the only thing keeping windows mobile from being a complete failure. They've consistently released the best selling windows mobile phones with the best hardware and UIs available. Sure everyone likes getting money, but anything HTC can give MS is chump change. Hell, MS gives away money just for using bing to buy stuff. I imagine the untold details of this arrangement have much more to do with how HTC will help MS make WinMo7 succeed. MS needs a high quality phone line-up for WinMo7 and HTC has consistently given them that in the past. Who else can they realistically turn to? Sony? Motorola? Samsung? None of them were able to offer windows mobile phones that were nearly as compelling as HTC's.
Interestingly enough we are seeing the same thing play out in the android universe. Other than the Droid HTC phones are dominating the field. It's in both Google and MS's best interests to keep HTC alive, happy and hopefully developing the best phones for their platform. It's no coincidence that Apple is targeting them.
I don't pretend to know what "broad coverage" means, but if MS wanted to fight Apple, doing via open source proxy would be an ideal way to do it. HTC does the fighting and MS provides the ammunition. All the risks are with HTC and MS is at least partly insulated from bad press it would get in a direct confrontation with Apple. And the situation could be very bad for Apple: they are going after an open source platform, with all the bad press that going to bring on them, but they are also going against one the most intimidating patent portfolios there is, and one of the few companies with a war chest to match theirs, and they would have a lot to lose, while MS doesn't.
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers - Pablo Picasso