Microsoft has been making patent agreements with a number of Android-based smartphone and tablet makers. Last week, the company announced its newest deal with LG. Now it appears that the next smartphone company that could be making an agreement with Microsoft is Pantech.
The South Korean news web site Yonhapnews.co.kr reports that a Pantech spokesperson has confirmed, "We are in talks with Microsoft over the patent use, but specific details have not yet been decided,"
As we have reported before, Microsoft has now made patent agreements with 11 Android-based smartphone and tablet makers, including Samsung, HTC, LG and others. These agreements usually mean that Microsoft gets money from the sale of every Android-based product made by those companies where it has secured patent deals.
Pantech is South Korea"s third largest smartphone maker. It recently began releasing smartphones here in the US. That includes the Pantech Breakout, which is at the moment the cheapest smartphone from Verizon that support the wireless carrier"s LTE network. At CES 2012 last week, Pantech announced its first tablet device, the Pantech Element, that will be sold via AT&T on January 22.