Microsoft demands Samsung to pay $15 per Android device sold

By Rich Edmonds
last updated

Yet more royalty charges from Microsoft (remember the report of HTC paying Microsoft $5 per device?), this time it's for Samsung, the largest Android OEM. The software behemoth is requesting a royalty fee of $15 per Android device sold by the handset manufacturer. This would prove to be a monster of a revenue stream with analysts forecasting Samsung selling around 19 million units between April and June alone this year.

The Maeil Business Newspaper quoted unnamed industry officials saying that Samsung would likely attempt to negotiate the fee and lower it to $10 in exchange for presumably more Windows Phone 7 devices and a 'deeper alliance' with Microsoft.

Via: AndroidCentral (opens in new tab), Reuters (opens in new tab)

Rich Edmonds
Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.

9 Comments
  • Holy cow!. Now that's just greedy Microsoft.
  • Sure, if you were Microsoft, you would everybody let to use your patents for free. You would try to make batter world starting with ruining your own company. That makes sense.
  • You call it greedy. They call it leverage. The $15 p.u. would be nice, but a promise of strong support from Sammy for WP7 is even nicer.This is probably the best news for since Nokia.
  • GOOD for MS im glad they doing this and i hope they continue doing it.Apple is the biggest Patent **** in the world , this is gona allow MS to catch up or at lease keep up now :P lol by putting a patent on NEW innovative things , that way IOS6 won’t be able to steal as many Ideas as Ios5 , cause we all know apple has not made anything innovative sints the iOS1 ( being the *app store* and multy touch )but why exactly is Samsung having to pay MS? its not very clear in this article and Samsung saying they want to lower it to 10$ in exchange for making more wp7!! ,, Galaxies S 2 from yesterday any 1? Lol
  • Samsung have to pay because Android infringes on Microsoft's patents and Google does not indemnify Android against patent claims (basically if there is any intellectual property issue with Android, the OEMs are on their own - something which is not the case with WP7 where Microsoft assumes all responsibility.)As for Galaxy S2 - considering that it is not even released yet in most countries, I'd say it is hardly a bad candidate for a WP7.5 phone ;-)
  • futurix hit it spot on, I should have mentioned it in the article, apologies.
  • As Microsoft protects itself, which it has a complete right to, we should keep our eyes open to the long term effect this may have on Windows phones. As I keep up with Pre Central as well, the headline over there is the idea of HP getting other hardware providers, Samsung by name, to put out WeBOS devices. If Samsung can get a cheaper deal set up that doesn't punish it for using Droid OS as well, and can also use WeBOS as control software in a variety of it's other products like appliances, they may not see W7 devices as a necessary partner. That would be quite a blow to Microsoft. Not predicting, just thinking out loud....
  • This is actually becoming a weird phenomenon. Software patents have been around forever, and so have patent licensing deals. In fact, all the big tech companies routinely pay to license software from numerous companies (even their competitors). Thus, the question becomes, when did licensing deals become, well, such a huge deal?The breakdown is simple. Microsoft owns the patent (and uses it)Google used said patent in AndriodOEMs sell Android, MS patent includedOEMs *should* pay licensing deal for patentIf you're wondering why MS doesn't go after Google, the key difference is that Google does not *sell* Android devices. They give the software away for free to OEMs and the OEMs sell Android devices. Now, while I agree that the patent system needs to be revamped, patents do serve a legit purpose and cannot be dismissed. Furthermore, companies have every right to protect their patent portfolio. In fact, two companies signing a run-of-the-mill licensing agreement should be the exact opposite of news. Here's why this deal is news:A) People hate Microsoft and the more ammunition the betterB) People hate Android and the more ammunition the betterC) People hate Samsung and the more ammunition the betterD) People really think Android is free and magical. Oracle disagrees... Plus, when you say demand (the same headline Neowin ran) it sounds like Microsoft is trying to force Samsung to pay using some sort of bully tactic. Chances are the deal (if there is one) is probably much more civil.
  • This software patent bullshit has to end (I'm not saying this because of Microsoft).