Microsoft continues to sign up companies that make Android and Chrome OS products. The last such announcement were made in July, when Microsoft said that two more companies, Aluratek and Coby Electronics, signed on the dotted line to use Microsoft"s patents in their Android products.
Now Microsoft has made another similar deal, this time with Honeywell. In a press release, the company announced that the well known hardware maker has now joined with the vast majority of companies that have agreed to pay Microsoft a royalty fee to use their patents inside their Android products. Specific terms of the deal were not announced.
The most interesting part of this particular deal is that Honeywell just announced their first Android-based product today. The Dolphin 7800 Android device is being marketed as a digital assistant for enterprise workers.
Microsoft either heard of Honeywell"s plans to make an Android device ahead of time and pressed them to sign a patent agreement, or Honeywell decided to be proactive and approached Microsoft themselves and made a deal ahead of their Dolphin 7800 Android announcement.
As we have reported before, the only major maker of Android products that has yet to sign a Microsoft patent agreement is Motorola, which is now owned by Android"s creator Google.
Source: Honeywell press release