Apple is famous for defending their product portfolio at all costs, even if it means going to 'thermonuclear war' against the competition. But believe it or not, that actually came close to changing back in 2010, when Apple offered to license its iOS patents to Samsung.
For a mere $30 per phone, or $40 per tablet, Samsung could've been churning out their own iPhone and iPad-like devices, according to AllThingsD. The revelation comes from the testimony of Apple executives in their high-profile legal battle with Samsung, whom Apple accuses, as you probably already know, of copying their iPhone and iPad devices.
“Apple would have preferred that Samsung request a license to do this in advance. Because Samsung is a strategic supplier to Apple, we are prepared to offer a royalty-bearing license for this category of device," Apple told Samsung back in 2010, after the unveiling of the Galaxy S. Rather than immediately going to thermonuclear war over the Galaxy's similarities with the iPhone, though, Apple tried to talk Samsung into entering a licensing agreement.
Apple was even willing to drop the price of the $30/$40 licensing scheme by 20% if Samsung would cross-license their patents to Apple. That would've brought Samsung's licensing costs for each Galaxy handset down to about $24. That's definitely nowhere near as much as Apple makes from an iPhone, but in the aggregate, it could've ended up representing a pretty decent amount to their bottom line in the aggregate. It would've also saved both sides from the endless litigation they're now facing.
There's one more really interesting thing about the revelation: it shatters perceptions that Steve Jobs was completely opposed to any sort of licensing agreements with Android handset makers. Since it's something that Tim Cook has admitted to being open to, this means that it probably can't be said that it never would've happened under Jobs' watch.
Source: AllThingsD
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