Microsoft found its latest mobile goldmine and it is not Windows Phone. The company doesn’t even need to make or sell the product. It is Android, which is a mobile phone platform made by its rival Google. In the last nine months, Microsoft went after several companies that manufacture Android tablets and smartphones. It has filed lawsuits or asked the companies to pay licensing fees for technologies found in the Android platform. Microsoft claimed that it owns the patents for the technologies involved.
Four companies agreed to pay licensing fees to Microsoft for selling smartphones and tablets running on Android. One of them is the major Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC, which entered a licensing agreement with Microsoft in April. It agreed to pay $5 per Android phone made. Microsoft has also in discussion with Samsung, the world’s biggest Android smartphone maker. Google, Microsoft and Samsung decline to give any comments with regards to the issue. Microsoft chief attorney Brad Smith said that the company is happy to entertain licensing agreement deals with companies that make Android smartphones and tablets. Once Microsoft can get every Android device maker to pay $5 for every device, the company could earn up to $913 million a year. That’s based on 500,000 new devices a day.
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