“Nokia’s decision to partnership with Microsoft rather than adopt Google’s Android may ease patent negotiations between the company and Apple, which is more likely to support strengthening weak rivals rather than empowering an already ubiquitous one,” Daniel Eran Dilger reports for AppleInsider.
“A report by Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents notes Nokia’s patents are one of the company’s strongest assets; resolving its complaint with Apple quickly may give it a better opportunity extinguish its ‘burning platform’ and get back to business,” Dilger reports. “‘In his presentation to investors, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said that they have ‘one of the strongest patent portfolios out there,” Mueller wrote, ‘and they are willing to license it to others ‘at an appropriate royalty rate.’ This translates as stepping up their outbound licensing efforts.'”
“‘The partnership between Nokia and Microsoft should make it much easier for Apple and Nokia to work things out between them and strike a cross-license deal,” Mueller wrote, adding that Apple would be unlikely to file suit against Microsoft, given that the two are also partners (in the area of Exchange Server particularly) and have already resolved their differences in a series of cross licensing agreements,” Dilger reports.
Much more in the full article, including why Google’s in a weak position with Android, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]
The link to the original article actually links back to this MDN article.
When RIM becomes desperate, I see them doing the same thing as Nokia. Unlike Nokia, RIM does not have a business selling “dumb” phones, so they will be in a MORE desperate situation when it happens. And I think they will also choose to partner with Microsoft rather than “join” the Android collective.
And when that happens, Apple will be alone in the smart phone space, in control of both hardware and software, and their integration (maybe HP will manage to do something with WebOS and be there too). Sound familiar? It will be an environment where Apple will thrive.
FYI:
Verizon’s telephone and field techs all use Blackberrys with some kind of custom tech software that does realtime line spec analysis…does anyone know if RIM writes or own this?
If someone told you back in 2006 that in five years Apple would be THE dominant force in smartphone/mobile computing and that Microsoft would be widely regarded as a “weak rival”, would you have thought it possible?
The Link does not seem to work. So Maybe the link should point to here?
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/02/11/nokias_rejection_of_android_may_help_resolve_patent_war_with_apple.html
Would be good for Jokia and Apple to work this thing out. 🙂
Since when does Apple cross license anything these days?
“‘The partnership between Nokia and Microsoft should make it much easier for Apple and Nokia to work things out between them and strike a cross-license deal,” Mueller wrote”
The only time Apple did a cross license deal is with Microsoft so that it had free and clear title to Windows protocals (ref Bootcamp — Windows on the Mac.”).
And that was a 5 year limit in technology. At the end of the 5 years, Apple came out with OS X.
My thought, Apple will NEVER cross license ANYTHING with companies like Nokia or HP, etc. They will make it open source like WebOS.
Just a thought,
en