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Microsoft Wants $15 Per Android Smartphone

sfcrazy writes "Microsoft Corp has demanded that Samsung Electronics Co Ltd pay $15 for each smartphone handset it makes based on Google Inc's Android operating system. The software giant claims to own a wide range of patents used in the mobile platform. From the article: 'Samsung would likely seek to lower the payment to about $10 in exchange for a deeper alliance with Microsoft for the U.S. company's Windows platform, the Maeil Business Newspaper quoted unnamed industry officials as saying.'"

7 of 361 comments (clear)

  1. Fuck Microsoft Research by airfoobar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If their R&D is so awesome, why can't they make their own products and not resort to ripping off other businesses to make money?

  2. Windows Phone by FrankSchwab · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How much does Microsoft want to license Windows Phone OS? My understanding is...around $15.

    So, $15 to license Windows Phone 7 with a bunch of software that Microsoft paid to develop and has to maintain along with patent licenses, or $15 to license Android that doesn't contain a single line of Microsoft code but needs the patent licenses? I'm sure their patents are worth something, but this seems a wee bit overpriced.

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    And the worms ate into his brain.
    1. Re:Windows Phone by oakgrove · · Score: 5, Funny
      WP7 Mango Edition...

      Android's features from a year ago...coming in only four months from now! I'm so excited! I just love nostalgia.

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      The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
  3. So by Colin+Smith · · Score: 5, Funny

    They really do lots of research, and should enjoy the results aswell.

    Why did they put these benefits in Android and not in Windows?
     

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    Deleted
  4. Re:Microsoft Research by Stormwatch · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No. No one has. Patents are a scam, a hindrance to innovation and the free market. They must be ABOLISHED.

  5. Re:Microsoft Research by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's a game of poker. You have to pay to play.

    Here's what I think. If any patents used to make such threats turn out to be bad or unsupportable, they get converted to charges of extortion.

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    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  6. Re:Microsoft Research by digger1985 · · Score: 5, Informative

    How about Jobs deliberately misquoting Samsung even after Samsung had publicly corrected it? http://blogs.forbes.com/elizabethwoyke/2011/03/02/oops-steve-jobs-misquotes-samsung-at-ipad-2-event/ How about Jobs laughing at their competitors and calling them copy cats? http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops/steve-jobs-slams-android-samsung-and-ipad-2-rivals-as-copycats-50003016/ AND then going ahead and blatantly copying Android notification system. Yep, year of the copy cat it is. Except this time it's Apple doing the copying.