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Microsoft makes more money off Android than Windows Phone 7, thanks to a settlement with HTC with regard to Android patent infringement.
In a shocker of a news coming from a Citi analyst Walter Pritchard, there’s a new, unthinkable beneficiary from the success of Android ecosystem; Microsoft.
According the report by the Citi analyst, Microsoft makes more money from Android than its very own Windows Phone 7 OS. Sounds strange but that’s due to a financial settlement between Microsoft and HTC over patent infringement of HTC Android phones.
As per the settlement deal, HTC is supposed to pay $5 for every Android phone they sell. Microsoft is after all other Android phone makers to get similar settlement and earn royalty up to even $12.5 per sale of an Android Phone.
Google, as we all know, doesn’t benefit directly from the sales of any Android phone so in that perspective, such a news sounds even more indigestible.
So its Microsoft, not Google, that is making direct money out of every sale of Android phone made by HTC. If Microsoft finds success in hand-twisting other Android Phone makers [here’s an exhaustive Android Phones Price list for some perspective] to fall under the same settlement, it could well become a major beneficiary out of Android’s success.
This way, Microsoft seems to be in an amazing position. At one side, it has a fresh, competitive mobile OS to offer, that won’t come with any legal liabilities for phone makers, while on the other side, even if handset makers decide to keep making more and more Android phones, money will still flow in Microsoft’s bank through such settlements.
Google is already facing the heat from several companies with regard to IP infringement for Android OS and such a settlement between MS and HTC comes as a token of confirmation that Google has failed to defend against infringement allegations on Android to a certain extent.
By the way, if you’re still stuck with your old mobile phone and want a decently good reason to dump it for buying a latest one, you can choose mobile phone recycling as a viable option for getting a good value for your old phone
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