The Truth about Licensing Fees (with Android)

Odd as it is to hear about HTC paying royalties to Microsoft for the use of the latter's software patents on Android devices, this could have an adverse effect on other Android supporters such as Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

Is Google Android an open-source mobile operating system? According to all we've heard, it is. But the recent announcement by both Microsoft and HTC, with the latter forking out licensing fees to the Redmond company for the use of its software patents, sheds some new insights onto the mobile OS.

Let's review this, shall we? HTC, paying Microsoft royalties, for using specific software within its devices that utilizes the open-source Android OS. There isn't a clear indication of how much of Microsoft's patents were employed by HTC's Android device. The real question is - how will this affect the other vendors looking towards Android?

The promise of using an Android device is the absence of licensing fees being paid. This translates to more competitive (read: cheaper) prices being tagged onto mobile devices. With this new agreement between HTC and Microsoft, it could affect the plans for future Android devices.

One such company that might go on guard is Motorola, which has recently announced the availability of its Motorola Backflip in Singapore. Motorola has been on the comeback for the past few months, and it's apparent that they're putting all their eggs into one basket, that being Android. In doing so, we've seen more affordable Android smartphones by Motorola. Case in point – the Motorola Milestone was only priced as high as S$198 with subsidy from StarHub And with the Backflip, you can also expect it at $0 with the right SingTel price plan, starting from May 1st.

With this new agreement amongst HTC and Microsoft, it stands that Motorola could be affected. But know this, should it come to pass for Motorola to get into a licensing agreement with Microsoft, consumers should feel the pinch on the monetary aspect.

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