Google believes Microsoft’s Android patent deals will backfire

By Tom Warren, on 13th Oct 11 10:32 pm with 121 Comments

Google vs Microsoft

Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page revealed on Thursday that he believes Microsoft’s Android patent deals will ultimately backfire.

Page revealed his feelings in an earnings call on Thursday. Google reported third quarter earnings of $2.73 billion on Thursday, earnings of $8.33 a share. The search giant now has around 190 million Android devices activated and continues to push forward in market share. Business Insider reports that an analyst asked Page about his plans to protect the Android ecosystem. Page responded with the following:

“We see no signs the patent attacks are effective. We think other companies’ actions there will alienate customers….We announced our intention about Motorola, we’re serious about protecting the Android ecosystem.”

Page did not reference Microsoft in the call but he clearly feels that Microsoft’s patent deals will backfire. Business Insider points out that when Page refers to “customers” he means “partners” who licence and manufacturer devices. It’s possible that partners might be reluctant to market Windows Phone following Microsoft’s move to force them into royalty payments. Microsoft has successfully convinced nearly all the main Android manufacturers to pay them royalties on each Android device they sell. The exception is Motorola Mobility. Microsoft has previously inked patent protection deals with Quanta Computer, Wistron, General Dynamics Itronix,Velocity Micro, Onkyo, Acer, Viewsonic and Samsung. The agreements are all similar and provide cash royalties to Microsoft. Samsung’s deal also includes a Windows Phone marketing aspect that will see the companies work closer on Microsoft’s mobile platform. HTC also have a similar deal with Microsoft.

Microsoft is chasing Motorola for a similar Android patent deal. Google announced in August that it plans to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. Google CEO Larry Page noted at the time of the deal announcement that Microsoft and Apple are “banding together in anti-competitive patent attacks on Android.” Google hopes its move to purchase Motorola Mobility will better protect Android in the future. Microsoft kicked off its trial at the International Trade Commission (ITC) in late August by seeking to block imports of the Droid 2, Droid X, Cliq XT, Devour, Blackflip and Charm. Microsoft’s Motorola ITC case is ongoing and the administrative law judge, Theodore Essex, will release his initial findings in the case on November 4. The commission will complete its full investigation by March 5.

http://www.jeffkibuule.com Jeff Kibuule

How does a patent deal backfire? They refuse to pay?

http://www.winrumors.com Tom W

Well when it comes to marketing Windows Phone, the partners might recall the time when Microsoft forced them to pay royalties.
Revolutions

It seems, though, that the patent deals are at least partially mutually beneficial. At least, it’s better than Microsoft suing the hardware manufacturers; add the fact that the OEMs have, at least publicly, showed that they were glad these deals were made (I recall a press release in such a tone), and I don’t think it’ll be much of an issue.

Besides, if it is, it’d be an issue with Samsung and HTC–Nokia’s in this for the long run.
http://twitter.com/majankajan majankajan

Microsoft wants to force you to use wp7
Adam

@twitter-386111011:disqus you’ve posted this twice. didn’t make any sense the first time, doesn’t make any sense this time.
Anonymous

majankajan – with iPhone so ridiculously popular how is anyone being forced into WP7?
Revolutions

@twitter-386111011:disqus Joke’s on them, I already have a Windows Phone.
Anonymous

That doesn’t make any difference anyways. There is no Windows Phone advertising. It is up to Microsoft and Nokia to advertise.
http://www.winrumors.com Tom W

Heh true. I think that will have to change though from all partners, not just Nokia and MSFT. We’ll see though.
OMG55

Tom, I understand what you’re saying to an extent, but to be honest, that’s the problem. Had they marketed WP7 like they have for Android & Apple, maybe MS would have let manufacturers go and gone after Google alone. Can you honestly say that WP7 is getting its fair share of marketing??? And please don’t say MS should do it alone, because there are plenty of web advertisement/commercials for Android & Apple sponsored by device manufacturers as well as cellular carriers but basically none for WP7. For a platform to have a chance, it needs this type of support and so far, it’s been lop-sided. Furthermore, I believe this is why Samsung was given a leniency in their deal; because they agreed to provide marketing for WP7 and I believe many of the others have a similar deal in place. And remember many of these manufacturers generate revenue on PC’s, Desktops, and laptop running windows.
Anonymous

@creamhackered:disqus I just don’t think OEMs are that sentimental or at least as sentimental about google as Larry Page would like them to be. Page would naturally be sentimental and biased towards google and would like to think that business partners value good intentions and specifically his good intentions and overlook common business sense. The reality is that it comes down to the value proposition that Microsoft is making to OEMs and the market with the Windows Phone offering.

With the current direction of the tides, there is nothing google can do to unlock additional potential in Android as a product. They already spent $13B in 2011/2012 to keep the momentum going. The game is Microsoft’s to lose, which in a way can put the pressure on Microsoft not google. If I am reading what Page is saying, he’s betting on Microsoft effing up somewhere along the way and that remains to be seen. I would even go as far as saying that they’re playing the waiting game which is a method Microsoft mastered over the years. I just don’t understand what is google waiting or hoping for?
Anonymous

Google thinks that by MS forcing OEM’s to pay them licensing fees for patents that Android violates that they will alienate those OEM’s. I think Google is being just a tad bit selective as those same OEM’s probably view the acquisition of MMI with a bit more suspicision than they do MS’s license fees.

Perhaps it would be best if Google focused on the biggest threat to Android, which is Oracle, considering that case is not looking very good for Google so far.
http://twitter.com/majankajan majankajan

Show the world the patents Microsoft. This is not fair.
Guest

FO spambot.
http://www.searingarrow.com AlienSix

How about Google actually denying that they aren’t infringing anything. Oh that’s right they don’t. They jump to the Microsoft can’t compete metric to mask the fact that they won’t pay for their infringing OS.
Anonymous

Fair? Let’s discuss the concept of fair shall we?

Straight from the Horse’s ass (Andy Rubin):

“If Sun doesn’t want to work with us, we have two options:
1) Abandon our work and adopt MSFT CLR VM and C# language
- or –
2) Do Java anyway and defend our decision, perhaps making enemies along the way.”

Guess which of the two choices is fair, and then guess which one they chose?

HINT – They went with the one the one that prompted Oracle to sue for willful infringement.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NZRPL7DK7DFQQO44J5TM4PQLGU Harvey

Yeah, I would like them to put it to bed too. Just show the violations. Or maybe MS is just letting it ride to get more money for nothing . But dang, Oracle AND Microsoft both says Android is infrigning? Ain’t gone be nothing left in Android … lol
Guest

Nobody shows the world their patents, shill. That’s the nature of patent battles. You keep your patents close and only divulge them privately with the parties you’re seeking a negotiated settlement with. And guess what? Most of the companies who have had that access have chosen to settle.
Anonymous

Those patents are private property and the fact that so many oems agreed to the terms Microsoft proposed and continues to propose around android are more than fair.
Sarah_gilbert

Why should the world care? The world is not losing money. The OEMs should care and MSFT is showing them what they are. Who the eff are you? You can go to USTPO site and search for all MSFT patents and guess. May be Google them and you will find ou.
http://twitter.com/SCGreyWolf GreyWolf

That’s not what this deal is for. This is for when everyone discovers that Android is infringing on Microsoft patents. The OEMs in this deal won’t have to worry because they already licensed the violating code.
Dsrikanth

Fair? This is not wild west to take away whatever you like and make money of it! The issue which I do not understand is that a company (Google) that has never delivered nothing more than beta products with no support can comment on companies that are always on available to support their customers (for the free products that they offer too)!
Anonymous

they obviously showed the patents to the OEMs who agreed to pay royalties. It’s perfectly fair.
BucksterMcgee

They mean that they think people will continue to buy Google’s products to spite those that are asking for OEM’s to pay for the patented property Google stole.

Like, “I’m not going to buy a Windows Phone, or Windows 8 tablet… because Microsoft has an agreement to get paid for the patents Android abuses….”

The problem with Google’s statement in that it’s “not effective” is that Microsoft isn’t trying to kill of Android as much as just get paid for the intellectual property Google blanty steals, as well as point out that Google’s claim that Android is “Free” is lie and a misdirection.

Apple on the other hand is trying to shut down Android products that infringe on patents they own. In that case, it is closer to an attack to remove the competition from the Market, which is what they are doing with the Samsung Products.

Google thinks they are the victums here, when in reality they were getting away with theft, and only now are being caught and prosecuted for it.

In the end it’s a win win for Microsoft, if Android continues to sell well, Microsoft gets paid for Android’s use of their patented technology, and if OEMs or people stop using Android or if courts contiue to show how Google is abusing intellectual property, then Android becomes less of a competitor, opening more room for Microsoft’s products. Interestingly enough, atleast on the tablet side, Android is making themselves less of a competitor simply by being crappy, regardless of what patents they infringe.

PG

Backfire?? You mean like buying Motorola and showing all your ‘customers’ that you can produce your own phones and don’t need samsung, htc, etc? Buying your own OEM simply means you are competing against your own ecosystem.

Yeah thats whats going to backfire on Google and then when other oems realize they are paying Microsoft more for android for patent fees then they would for WP7 then it’s quite clear = continue to write the checks to Microsoft and use WP7 for less money and dump Android in the garbage where that laggy OS belongs.

Anonymous

Now consider if Oracle wins its case against Google, and they are forced to charge licensing fees for Android to cover the fees Oracle will charge Google. I think any OEM when faced with having to pay both Google and MS for licensing will probably opt out of Android.
Guest

If? It’s a given. Google will lose. The only question is how much the resulting settlement will be.
Anonymous

I agree that Google will lose (badly). What I’m interested to see is what punitive damages Oracle gets for Google’s willful infringement.
http://twitter.com/OldCongress Gamer

I must say, Oracle must have stuck a gold mine already.
They must be laughing hard at Google for copying their Java source code.
Guest

Crap, then they’ll only have their search business to fall back on.
PG

Microsoft never purchased an OEM in the early days of Windows to compete against their own ecosystem, and PC vendors did not have numerous patent lawsuits against them, nor did they have two other juggernauts Apple or Oracle suing them to prevent their devices from reaching the shores of other countries. Google on the other hand is facing all of this with lagdroid. Different situation completely.
Sarah_gilbert

Hey stupid MSFT provides indemnity. OEMs don’t need to worry about getting sued on the platform because all is original including wp7.
Matthewprince

Lagdroid? My galaxy S2 has no lag. stop being such a stupid fanboy! Yes i prefer my Omnia 7 but the galaxy is just as fast and in lots of ways faster!
HeatherL

That is what iFans said about early Windows, how did that work out….
PG

Microsoft never purchased an OEM in the early days of Windows to compete against their own ecosystem, and PC vendors did not have numerous patent lawsuits against them, nor did they have two other juggernauts Apple or Oracle suing them to prevent their devices from reaching the shores of other countries. Google on the other hand is facing all of this with lagdroid. Different situation completely.

http://twitter.com/efjay01 Ef Jay

Most of those companies rely on microsoft for a substantial amount of other revenue, so they are unlikely to be in a hurry to piss MS off.

EL_RoyMcCoy

Is that why OEM are trying so hard to push WP7, NOT
Anonymous

I think he’s referring to Windows for dekstops and office. Not WP7
Gabriel

It doesn’t matter if they’re pushing wp7, the fact is that google is a disingenuous company who doesn’t protect manufacturers. If they cared about manufacturers, they would settle with MS themselves and not pass their infringement charges on to hardware makers. If there was nothing to this patent thing, manufacturers would not be settling, but testifying in court alongside Google.
Anonymous

you could say that about nearly any hardware manufacturer…have you seen the video of all the different systems that use MS software as the backbone? MS is really everywhere.

Anonymous

“We see no signs the patent attacks are effective”
I’m sure their Microsoft and the Android OEMs’ bank balances say otherwise.

Anonymous

Yeah, Google being the teenager that they are seems to think this is an attack to cripple Android. In reality it is just MS making money off of their own IP and that seems to be going pretty well for them right now.
Port

you know…the patent attacks are not effective, but we buy Motorola….

“just in case…..”
Avatar Roku

These patent attacks are ineffective yet they just wasted 13 billion on a hardware manufacturer that was failing (losing $70 million a quarter) and millions more on IBM patents that have done nothing to protect Android thus far. Half of Google’s payroll will be a hardware manufacturer with employees that don’t fit the hiring requirements at Google. Yeah things are really going according to plan over at Google.
Anonymous

No kidding, 13 billion for a company they could have had for a fraction of that only a couple of years ago.

There’s a reason Motorola Solutions wanted to be rid of Mobility, but I guess Google didn’t get that memo.

Anonymous

Once again, I think we can translate this to “Wwwwaaaaaaahhhhh!”

http://www.winrumors.com Tom W

Ha!

PG

So Google’s plan to protect Android was to reply with empty threats that customers will turn on them. It’s time to put up or shut up Google. You have a history of IP theft and OEMs realize it; thus they have all signed up to pay Microsoft royalties.

The reality is Microsoft makes more money off Android than Google does. Google realizes Android is a lost cause but is hoping somehow to find a way to monetize it; if it did make any money for Google they would protect their OEM’s like Microsoft protects their OEM’s.

Android is a clusterf**k laggy mess.

Joe

Microsoft doesn’t make more money off of Android than Google does, they make more money from Android than they do with WP7. I imagine Google makes quite the heafty sum from Android and all related ad revenue.
PG

Microsoft makes over $444 million off Android patent licensing, thats not including some of their recent patent licencees. How much does Google make off Android again?
Sarah_gilbert

About $1billion
Guest

Android isn’t about new revenue creation, it’s about protecting the existing search monopoly. And it’s doing that very effectively.
PG

sarah – where do you get this number at? made up from thin air?

http://investor.google.com/earnings/2011/Q3_google_earnings.html

NO where does it show Android makes them any money whatsoever. What it does show is that they make ALL of their money from advertising from their search engine. Look at the section – Interest and Other Income, Net; it equals $302 million. That is from all their other products combined, I guess none of their other products really sell at all so we could say $302 is android and thats being generous.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NZRPL7DK7DFQQO44J5TM4PQLGU Harvey

I don’t think Google makes any money off Android. Android is supposed to be free ( MS thinks otherwise ). I don’t think google charges for Android, they make money from search / ads.
Duh

You’re a full-on, opinionated retard. You should do a bit more research, and/or give a fuck less about legal issues between these companies and enjoy what you like. Also, grow up.

http://twitter.com/majankajan majankajan

Microsoft wants to force you to use wp7

Anonymous

That’s just stupid.
Anonymous

don’t pay mind to him, he’s just a troll bot… most likely one of those fandroids…
Joe

How many times do you need to post this in the same thread?
Guest

Look at his activity stream. The guy is full time MS troll. He even makes Arrow look like a slacker.

I wonder what these doorknobs will think on their deathbeds when they realize they wasted years or in some cases even decades of their life trolling?
Guest

Time to adjust your tinfoil hat.
PG

Google wants to force you to steal from others and click on ads all day.
Guest

Even in your addled brain, how does securing a royalty fee on Android force consumers to use WP7? MS has been securing these deals for some time now. What’s been happening to Android sales?
http://twitter.com/SCGreyWolf GreyWolf

Who’s forcing you to repeat yourself?
Anonymous

I don’t think he’s repeating himself. He’s posting from his Android device.

It’s either a glitch or a google search improvement feature. Can’t really tell just yet…
Sarah_gilbert

GOOG Employee? You definitely don’t get platforms

moonman

Waaaah! (again)
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3OIDXOI5OEMTX6Z3O5YUBFSISA Diego3336

MS firstly pursued Google regarding this patent issue and as far as I remember, Google told “we just bundle the software and offer it for free to OEMs, go after them to collect this bill”.

If I was an OEM, I gonna be more pissed with Google than with MS, Oracle and others…
Guest

Larry can afford to be cocky. His company is still growing at a healthy pace and has a bright future. MS, not so much.

Anonymous

Yet Google is cringing at the shadow of Oracle.
Guest

After tomorrow, they can buy them.
Anonymous

LOL! Not likely at all.
Guest

@BadManDuke:disqus

Kidding. They might need a nother year or two before they can do that.
Anonymous

No. Not even close. GOOG’s entire market cap is just over 20B north of ORCL’s. The cash they have on hand is a pittance compared to that, especially given that about $13B of it is tied up with the MMI acquisition.
Anonymous

@Guest – in another year or two, (then onward) Oracle will be collecting (substantial) royalties from Android, so no, they will NEVER acquire Oracle.
Anonymous

Google will be left to acquire broken companies like MMI.
PG

Another idiot predicting the death of Microsoft, we’ve heard this for 20+ years now. Is it also the year of linux on the desktop? Foolish troll. Look at Microsofts latest earnings, up up up up and no sign of any slow down. PC sales were up 3% just this last quarter too, what exactly is slowing MS down again? FOOL
http://twitter.com/SCGreyWolf GreyWolf

Yup… they’ll be dead as a doornail in a few days. Hold your breath.
Guest

No, just continued slowing growth, declining relevance, more executive and employee departures, decreasing market value, and eventually more layoffs but this time really large ones. And who knows, maybe at some point they’ll get their Steve Jobs and have an impressive turnaround. But Gates seems pretty happy with Ballmer. Why, I really can’t understand. So a new CEO looks like it’s a ways off. And then the new person would need a few years to get things turned around even the most optimistic scenario. So what’s that? 2015+?
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KTAHVKS2RNDWTQPHQEJALLRNEQ Adam Paris

You are really disilussional. Windows 8 will bring a lot of money for the upcoming 6 years. 95% of people in this world cant afford gadgets but they can at least have a pc. And guess who is making money.
Sarah_gilbert

Prove it MS is not growing at a healthy pace. 12% increase revenue and 23% increase profits. What do define as healthy. MSFT is currently transforming into a diversified company and therefore is not focussed on 50% growth. Previously it was only Windows and Office, now there is Server & Tools (23 billion) and then Entertainment & Devices (this will be another 20 billion in the next 2 years). The only one remains is Bing. Look at the next 10 year view and you will see. Last yeat MSFT was 70 billion, next year, 80 billion (without Windows 8). With Windows 8, 90+ billlion in 2013. What’s bad with that and at the same time diversifying. If you have survived the dotcom bust and the real estate bust, you will understand that what goes up fast falls fast.
Guest

I doubt you’ll see even 12 & 23% this quarter. MS is more diverse than Google and still slightly more diverse than Apple, at least for now. But most of MS’s core has limited growth prospects and faces long term secular threats. MS is now a niche player in mobile and tablets, two markets it helped pioneer. Xbox has decent growth but isn’t profitable enough to make much of a difference for MS overall. And the console industry generally isn’t very healthy. I’d expect Apple to eventually make a serious bid for the living room. They’ve tried and failed a few times already. But I’d be surprised if they don’t eventually find success, probably with an iPad type device. And that really leaves Bing as the great white hope. But so far Bing is looking like a big white elephant.

Add it up and you get decreasing growth and limited future growth prospects. And instead of working to fix that, Ballmer just made MS’s largest ever acquisition to buy serially unprofitable Skype of all people. Look, if they had great growth Skype would be an okay thing to do. But with <10% growth, Skype isn't the answer. It's not even in the ball park of the answer.
Anonymous

Explain me how Apple will make a “serious bid” for the living room above and beyond what Microsoft is doing with XBox Live/XBox TV/Kinect and all the integration with WP7 and Windows 8? Microsoft is going to OWN the living room soon!
PG

They tried with the Pippin and it failed horribly in the late 90′s. Are they going to compete with an upgraded apple tv? They will need to charge much more for that device with an upgraded gpu and real controllers; if they think people are going to play a console with touchscreen they will fail horribly. touch screen games are a joke among the gaming community; the gaming market is over 70% consoles so the majority of gamers play hardcore games not touchscreen garbage. Apple thinks its going to succed again Sony or Microsoft in the hardcore genre? If they do go in the living room they will target casual players with touchscreen garbage games and that will be the demographic Nintendo is in, not Microsoft or Sony.

PC’s are up 3% just this last quarter on year over year sales, when Windows 8 is released those numbers wil be higher as well. Tablets are the current fad, at this point only 30 million ipads have been sold in 1 1/2 years; in under 30 days over 50 million pc’s are sold with Windows – with around 600 million PC’s sold per year. Lagdroid tablets dont even register at all. Where is this big decline in PC sales you keep speaking about?
Sarah_Gilbert

mobile is just getting started. <25% have smart phoned.
Your problem is that ms doesn't have a core anymore u don't get it. Goog has core only search. Aapl has core only consumer electronics.
how big is the tablet market do you know?it has not even started. Ultimately platform will win not products. Products are purchased by discretion, platforms just happen.
Guest

@c2cfff51996ca1ce408f154663163f40:disqus

You’re expecting mobile licensing to be the growth engine? You’re kidding, right? Let’s be super optimistic and say MS goes from selling maybe a couple million WP7 devices this year to 50M next. Most of those will come from Nokia, where you can bet licensing is less than $10 per. So that’s an incremental half billion of revenue minus MS’s huge mobile development costs. It’s a rounding error on revenue and even less on profits.

MS doesn’t have a core anymore? Of course they do. Windows, Office, Servers still drive most of the profit, just as they did a decade ago. Why do you think growth is so poor right now? Because the company is still almost totally dependent on PC sales and those suck.

Tablet market? Like mobile, MS is now a niche player. Apple and Android dominate. Licensing per unit will be less than on PCs. Maybe even less than on netbooks following Amazon’s announcement. What’s made in tablets will probably not even cover the higher margin business being lost as consumers purchase those over PCs. Remember, a lot of Office goes out OEM too. No PC, no Office OEM revenue.
Guest

@3e295f1e8d025df06148541176650ec8:disqus

As I said, I would guess an iPad-like device. Yeah, Pippin failed. So did Newton. How has iPad done following that? Apple is patient. They’ll re-enter in a big way when they think they have the right product. And they will re-enter. The living room is one of the last great big markets, and a company Apple’s size needs big new markets to move the needle.

Forget hard core gaming. The bigger market is casual gaming. And the even bigger market is cable/home entertainment. If Apple is true to form they’ll try and make the Xbox obsolete rather than be stupid and attempt to compete against it directly. They leave those sorts of stupid losing contests to Ballmer, who has never seen one he doesn’t love.

PCs are up a whole 3%? Golly, that’s incredible. Macs are up 22% and Apple is growing at 70% even though they’re now bigger than MS. And if PC sales are up just 3% with 50M iPads selling, what happens next year when they sell 100M?
Anonymous

Guest is just waiting for the next Apple Messiah! He/she is hedging on things that apple itself hasn’t promised.

What cracks me up is that apple is trying to find a way to be where Microsoft is not the other way around. The valuation of apple has made some people drunk.
Guest

Blah blah blah. MS is spending 8x Apple and growing 1x as fast. Those are the facts. Apple will grow nearly an entire MS this next year alone. Is any of this getting through?

And iCloud just pwnd Skydrive and every other competitor’s service. It’s syncing done right, meaning automatically and without user involvement. And that’s *the* killer app for the cloud. Even MS recognized that, which is why they have been putting lots of money into it for years. But as usual it took them too long, they couldn’t even capitalize on the failure of MobileMe, and now Apple will take the lead and leave them in the dust.

So every group in MS, and every competitor, is going to be scrambling trying to duplicate it. If you’re the WP7 guys who were already behind and playing catchup, you now need this because it will soon be seen as a requirement. If you’re the tablet team, same. Even the Windows team is going to need something as automated or else lose more share to Mac.

Look, this isn’t even a contest. There’s Apple and then there’s everyone else.
Guest

1x>.1x
Anonymous

Hahahahahaha dude you just made the joke of my day by comparing Skydrive to a beta iish iCloud. Dude the main platform iCloud is running on is “WINDOWS AZURE”.

Skydrive has been around for years with 300 million + users on it. Then we get 25 GBs FREE with perfect backup and sync between ANY device.

If anything iPhone is catching up to Android’s back up service and Windows Skydrive, thenApple only offer 5 Gbs (lololol siphoned users are going to need a iJump for their iCloud.)

Skydrive, Sharepoint, and total intergration with all services $h!t$ on iCloud anyday all day. Microsoft is driving the engine of the CloudBus that Apple just made it to trying to cool bout it.. lol
Anonymous

I’m not sure you are aware that Google is not Apple. Nice attempt at misdirection though when you got contradicted.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NZRPL7DK7DFQQO44J5TM4PQLGU Harvey

LMBO!
Anonymous

Android is not free. Google never said it was. The whole open license was by design intended to shield google the organization from legal battles which according to the latest deals and sales figures I would have to agree with them, it’s working. Whether it’s sustainable is a different story…

OMG55

If they never said it was free, then they should just pay up and stop leaving the manufacturers out in the cold to fend for themselves. Maybe they knew this from the start and being selfish set manufacturers up to take the financial burden of a product they knew would incur charges if anyone found out they were infringe upon patents. Face the companies make billions of dollars and best paid law firms in the world monitoring this. Maybe they weighed in and decided, “The reward was worth the risk”……Their market share says it was, but it doesn’t justify treating manufacturers this way.
Anonymous

They can’t pay up. They released software that makes them no money. In other words the courts wouldn’t be able to prove that google is injuring microsoft and infringing on its IP. Unlike what google did to Oracle which is a clear and deliberate infringement on Sun’s IP which is now owned by Oracle.

I think and I am purely speculating here, that google bet that Microsoft wouldn’t have the balls, and the skills to hold OEMs accountable, afterall it’s a weird relationship if you think about it. On one hand Microsoft is flexing its legal muscles while on the other hand it’s offering goodies. One could speculate that google underestimated Microsoft’s pull in the marketplace. It takes more than an idiot who ran Sun into the ground going on stage at a tech conference and declare that Microsoft is no longer relevant (Just in case you’re not getting the reference, I am talking about Eric Schmidt naming the gang of 4 who are most relevant in the tech industry today during All Things D earlier this year and he clearly doesn’t think Microsoft belongs in that quartet).

It almost seems to me that google’s mission statement these days reads something like “We must rid the world of Microsoft. It’s a do or die”. Instead of focusing on making and selling better products, to compete with Microsoft google is learning that they need a gynormous portfolio of products, offerings, services, platforms, etc. So they started to quickly churn out one thing after another. 1st it was gmail, then docs (a few times restarted), then wave, then android, then docs again, then apps, then chrome, then chromebook. And none of these products have a vision, a mission or a purpose other than to compete with Microsoft.

Google was largely successful in the begining when they launched search because they solved a need. Today they do not focus on solving a need. They simply wanna be a “me too” type shop. Google plus is a prime example. In some cases they come across as total fools when they ask multimillion dollar organizations to substitute them in wherever they have Microsoft instead of looking to plug themselves in where they provide value.

They placed themselves on a collision course with Microsoft not the other way around. Over the last couple of weeks there were many articles about the late Steve Jobs. In one of his interviews when he talks about what changed his view on the relationship with Microsoft in 1997, he explained that if the game was to be a zero sum game between apple and Microsoft then apple would be the one losing not the other way around. Google should listen to that man talk. I am not saying that Microsoft is eternally unshakable, far from it. But time has shown us that only Microsoft can beat Microsoft. The rest can pretend to try.
Anonymous

Bravo bravo.. i loved every word ..!!!

Avatar Roku

I don’t think MS royalties are going to matter much when Apple and Oracle end up getting Android devices banned in every country.

Frylockns86

Anyone else feel like Andorid is dumped into the market illegally?
Guest

If Google is every found to have a monopoly, probably. Particularly since Google itself is on record saying that Android only exists as a new way to drive revenue from their existing search business. That could be construed as monopoly maintenance, and it would be illegal. Indeed, that’s what MS got busted for.

But as long as Bing and Yahoo exist as competition, however weak, the DOJ will have a hard time making a case. The EU has a much stronger one because Google’s share in Europe is >90%+. In fact I’m surprised they haven’t seen a big pot of gold there and gone after them already
PG

The EU is already investigating Google and there are quite fa few companies siding with the EU – Microsoft being one of them. It’s just a matter of time before google will be paying a tax to the EU.

http://twitter.com/OldCongress Gamer

If its not effective, why would Samsung with the second largest patent port folio choose to sign the agreement with Microsoft? Google is just whinning.
Anonymous

Larry Page is like a teenage brat who suddenly has his allowance taken away for his incessant bad behavior. The parent being Microsoft.
http://twitter.com/oolong2 oolong2

Well so far they have been “effective” at putting millions of dollars in Microsoft’s pocket.

And the real intention for the patent deals is to get support for WP7 devices. Obviously we haven’t seen the reselts of those deals yet accept from HTC who released the TITAN….
http://profiles.google.com/kroenen.karl Aurélien Ramondou

Who cares about what Google believes ?
Gabriel

Google followers stop crying about the patent infringement deals and ask Google to settle themselves. What do you think Google was going to do to MS When they accused MS of using some of their search engine technology?? Hug & kiss MS and tell them use our technology anytime???
http://twitter.com/Rocklee99 Austin Agli

we should combine all the top operating systems and make a super OS, its okay if they dont get along, you can keep what you have now, and just make a forth OS, it would be classy, have very good specs and run very smooth, yep, i think that would work
http://twitter.com/JoshMartin7 Josh Martin

People still chuckle when I say Windows Phone is going to be big. This is just yet another sign of that momentum building. Just wait…

http://twitter.com/OldCongress Gamer

Agree
http://twitter.com/azzlsoft Azzl

Yep.

The hardware, not the software was the major problem in 7,0. 7.5 brought some much needed improvements but those are minor compared to the abysmal hardware selection. Nokia will change that or Nokia will die.

Anyone who thinks that the fragmentation and update issues won’t plague Android in the near future has a very, very short memory. The rest of us remember a former market leader called “Windows Mobile.”

Microsoft has been doing a lot of things right. Watching xBox, Windows, Windows phone, and Azure come together in the last couple of years has been pretty phenomenal. Who knew that Microsoft could *actually* execute on three screens and a cloud?

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-Boyd/576666141 Jason Boyd

190 million devices activated? Is this number acurate? or is it like every other activation number Google puts out and includes rooted devices as new activations?
Monkey D Black

ok
Shiro

And naysayers said that Microsoft could not crack the console market. Don’t forget that the Windows phone is Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Office Compatible. These are two big reason for business users to drop the crackberry habit.

Guest

And it only cost them around $8 billion in losses.
Shiro

It takes money to make money, dude. Luckily Microsoft has Windows 7, Office, and its server divisions to bring in the money while they expend into other markets.

http://www.facebook.com/richeymeister Mark Richey

Google the MS patents. Nice.

Kinda like Westborough Church Tweeting their intentions on the late Steve Jobs’ funeral protest from their iPhones.

Google forgets how they got to the table and they think they served the banquet.
http://twitter.com/abhi1manyu Abhimanyu Jamwal

to me the problem is google’s inability to prove that “they are cheaters”. google should come out and publicly declare themselves as pirates. “Only copy, and paste too and than blame others for being unsporting” As writely explained, you cannot just go out and tell Microsoft, we will beat you, kill you or whatever. Many have tried and suffered. I love the Microsoft games, the way they killed netscape, OSX, mocked Linux, doomed Wii and PS ranges. The thing is, microsoft is really good at making the compition believe that “they are the unde-dogs but can go for the kill”. Once the competiton gets this in there head, all they try to do (apple, IBM, netscape, Sony and now Google) is start considering themselves as the “better product” which eventually becomes….rare product while microsoft goes on to earn marketshare and money.

Google is thinking that they are fighting the “evil empire” but in reality the evil empire is just poking them here and there…WP7, bing, skype, cloud services, office web and others……which eventually will make the google erds so frustrated that they will start believing the apple-olgy which is “we invented this and we did that while Microsoft copied and did better and earned more money than we ever could have”

The last few years have proved that microsoft can be sleepy head…but they can rise up anytime. So instead of blaming microsoft, they should try and figure out a way where motorola pays microsoft before google buys them or its going to really funny when google inks a license deal with microsoft for “android from google’s motorola supported by microsoft” logo
http://twitter.com/gamefm gamefm

Business men fell and pick themselve up with loads of credits. Kids fell and cry, hoping someone would pity them and carry them up.

Anyway we have no view on the exact deal. what if the actual deal is not what everyone speculated. ;)
http://twitter.com/abhi1manyu Abhimanyu Jamwal

to me the problem is google’s inability to prove that “they are cheaters”. google should come out and publicly declare themselves as pirates. “Only copy, and paste too and than blame others for being unsporting” As writely explained, you cannot just go out and tell Microsoft, we will beat you, kill you or whatever. Many have tried and suffered. I love the Microsoft games, the way they killed netscape, OSX, mocked Linux, doomed Wii and PS ranges. The thing is, microsoft is really good at making the compition believe that “they are the unde-dogs but can go for the kill”. Once the competiton gets this in there head, all they try to do (apple, IBM, netscape, Sony and now Google) is start considering themselves as the “better product” which eventually becomes….rare product while microsoft goes on to earn marketshare and money.

Google is thinking that they are fighting the “evil empire” but in reality the evil empire is just poking them here and there…WP7, bing, skype, cloud services, office web and others……which eventually will make the google erds so frustrated that they will start believing the apple-olgy which is “we invented this and we did that while Microsoft copied and did better and earned more money than we ever could have”

The last few years have proved that microsoft can be sleepy head…but they can rise up anytime. So instead of blaming microsoft, they should try and figure out a way where motorola pays microsoft before google buys them or its going to really funny when google inks a license deal with microsoft for “android from google’s motorola supported by microsoft” logo
http://techin5.com Jubbin Grewal @Techin5.com

So what is Google going to do.. buy all the other OEM’s? I hardly think it’s going to backfire, especially with Microsoft giving companies like Samsung Money to advertise (especially since Samsung pays Microsoft now for Android systems).
Gabriel

Use some common sense. When you create a product, do you have to spend money to do so (that’s why it’s a called an investment)?

I guess in your eyes, Apple didn’t spend millions creating the iphone/ipad? Apple just doesn’t advertise their total spending during the creation process. So do we really know when they recouped their initial investment? No we assume because of its current popularity.

Is a product immediately profitable? No, because it takes time to catch on. Its also funny how people like you forgot that MS saved Apple from going under and that the only reason MS has been quiet the last 10 years is because of DOJ sanctions. So, if Apple or Google gets too big, they will be accused of being a monopoly just like MS was. That’s really why you hate MS because their the largest company in the world and has been smart enough to invest in many different things other than windows, office, and windows phone.

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Google believes Microsoft’s Android patent deals will backfire