“Microsoft has struck another key patent-licensing deal in the Android ecosystem,” Don Reisinger reports for CNET.
“The software company announced today that it has inked a deal with LG that will see it license operating system patents for devices running Android and Chrome OS,” Reisinger reports. “Terms of the deal were not disclosed.”
Reisinger reports, “LG has been relying heavily upon Android for its mobile push… ‘We are pleased to have built upon our longstanding relationship with LG to reach a mutually beneficial agreement,’ Microsoft corporate vice president and deputy general counsel Horacio Gutierrez said today in a statement. ‘Together with our 10 previous agreements with Android and Chrome OS device manufacturers, including HTC, Samsung and Acer, this agreement with LG means that more than 70 percent of all Android smartphones sold in the U.S. are now receiving coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio. We are proud of the continued success of our program in resolving the IP issues surrounding Android and Chrome OS.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The screws continue turning tighter on Android.
As we wrote yesterday, Microsoft’s best hope is that the law (via Apple and Oracle) actually deals Google’s Android what it deserves and the costs (licensing fees, reduced features) of using Android becomes greater than Windows Phone. If so, Microsoft will be standing there, ready to license Windows Phone to the iPhone wannabes of the world (because Apple certainly shows no signs they intend to license the real thing). So, thanks to Google’s over-the-top hubris, Microsoft just might luck out still.