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Microsoft Sells 1,500 Patents To Xiaomi To Build 'Long-Term Partnership' (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Software maker Microsoft Corp is selling about 1,500 of its patents to Chinese device maker Xiaomi, a rare departure for the U.S. company and part of what the two companies say is the start of a long-term partnership. The deal, announced on Wednesday, also includes a patent cross-licensing arrangement and a commitment by Xiaomi to install copies of Microsoft software, including Office and Skype, on its phones and tablets. Wang said the acquisition of Microsoft patents, which included voice communications, multimedia and cloud computing, on top of some 3,700 patents the Chinese company filed last year, were "an important step forwards to support our expansion internationally." Florian Mueller, a patents expert who consulted for Microsoft in the past, said it was rare for Microsoft to actually sell its patents, adding "it's possible Microsoft found it easier to impose its Android patent tax on Xiaomi as part of a broader deal that also involved a transfer of patents."
part of what the two companies say is the start of a long-term partnership.
Translation: This is the start of the eventual destruction and liquidation of Xiaomi
I can only hope someone has warned the executives at Xiaomi about whom they are dealing with, but apparently they either don't know or don't care
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I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
It has worked out for Nokia. They happily sold their business to microsoft, which is now dead in the water, while they themselves build another phone business.
You need to urgently get out from below the rock you're living in. Nokia was gutted from top position to utter collapse, and the remains of the phone business it still had were sold to Foxconn.
Nokia is down to being just a network company now.
Nokia hasn't collapsed anywhere. They were stuck with nearly zero-profit obsolete business-line(mobile consumer devices) which was management heavy and managed to sell it before starting to lose too much money on it.
Remaining Nokia reported 1,2B € earnings last year with decent operating margin.
You might disagree how Flop handled the sell-out to MS but the overall result is what Nokia has been the last ~150 years, a company that can reinvent itself when necessary.
There are no atheists when recovering from tape backup.
How the hell does this guy still have credibility after his 100% wrong calls, for years, on SCO's claim on Linux?
I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
Microsoft get's a lot of money from other people's phones.
I think this deal is about finding a way to squeeze every other chinese vendor even harder. Microsoft can't sue from the outside because the Chinese gov't knows how to tilt the tables. But if a chinese company sues another one, that's a whole different ball game. MS gives Xiaomi some exclusives and now they all of a sudden want to keep them exclusive. Xiaomi is an ambitious hungry company that is competing at the low end the market. Not just for phones but for all the components of the integrated electronic living space. Microsoft is offering them a way to not only glue all that together in a way that is an instant standard-- equivalent to say, compaq running MS dos that runs IBM lotus 123 out of the box with no changes. Now they can compete not just on price but on being better. And they will want to protect that advantage for themselves.
So now MS has a club to beat up all the other non-paying patent violators that's a chinese company
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
There is no such thing as the Google Play Store in China (yet). So Xiaomi has filled the void with their own Mi Store.
So now's a perfect time for Microsoft to catch a ride on the hottest smartphone train outside iOS. Google Play will be joining the fight later this year, so this is a move by Xiaomi to strengthen their position before that.
Man is the animal that laughs.
And occasionally whores for Karma.
Flop, lol. I'd be very worried if I were a Telstra shareholder.
...Backdoor Lover. Or at least it should be with this new partnership.
Microsoft still evil, still stuck in quasi legal twilight zone. Xiaomi was introducing Linux laptops, hence this new trust making activity. Same old Microsoft, same old tricks.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Nokia was formed from three divisions. Approximately 2/3 of the company was the mobile phone division, about a quarter was networks and remains was the navigation.
Mobile phones collapsed and is now dead, with remains sold off to foxconn after the rights to the brand name came back from microsoft. Navigation business was there to help the mobile phone, and it was sold off asap. The only part that remains of nokia is the network business, which was a completely separate division within the old company with little to no synergies with the rest of the business.
Which is why it survived.
I got a Xiaomi phone recently. At first I was a little wary, but it grew on me immensely.
First - it comes pre-rooted. The built-in "Security" app can be used to simply grant root to any app that requires it. The bootloader is fully unlocked too, if you choose to replace the whole OS.
Then - Extras. Dual Sim, SD slot, FM radio, and all the typical essential goodies, plus some extras like gyroscope. A HUGE battery. IR sensor/LED for using as remote. A normal, generic earphones jack. Decent camera and a strong LED which you can use as a flashlight without installing 3rd party apps or risking damage.
And then a similar Samsung of the same release date and the same price has half the features. Xiaomi has roughly 2x the screen resolution (although not AMOLED), 8 cores instead of 4, 2GB RAM instead of 1.5, twice as much flash.
With entering the western markets en masse, I imagine Root and unlocked bootloader will get the axe first. Then the price will get jacked up to match phones of similar amount of features.
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"Florian Mueller said...."
Who dug this idiot up again? Next story.