Over the past few weeks Microsoft has been inking deals with several manufactures over royalties when producing Android handsets. And now Microsoft is going after Samsung, and they are asking for $15 per handset sold that is running the Android platform.
According to Reuters, Microsoft is demanding that Samsung pay $15 per Android handset sold to Microsoft for royalties on patents that they own. It is also being reported that if Samsung were to form a deeper alliance with Microsoft, the payment could drop to $10 per handset.
These high royalties are a backdoor method to persuading manufactures from producing Android handsets. It is obvious that Microsoft has the information needed to force royalty agreements after several large companies have already agreed to Microsoft’s terms. While we don’t know if the $15 per handset is true, any royalty is a big win for Microsoft as they can now profit off of Android phone sales too.
If Microsoft is successful, we could begin to see more Windows Phone hardware in the marketplace as it could become cheaper for manufactures to adopt Windows Phone rather than Android. Either way you look at it, Microsoft is benefiting from Android sales, something Google surely can’t be happy about.