And yes, the legal news just continues to come. With high-profile lawsuits going on in the world of technology (Nokia vs. Apple, Apple vs. HTC), we really can’t get around lots and lots of news about the subject. This latest tidbit we have for you is most interesting, and only serves to further confirm the rumours that Bing might become the default on the iPhone: Microsoft has more or less endorsed Apple’s lawsuit against HTC.
Brier Dudley, writing for the Seattle Times, details a speech given to an audience of IP and copyright lawyers at the Washington State Convention Center. The speech was given by Brad Smith, Microsoft’s General Counsel and Senior Vice President, Legal and Corporate Affairs. In it, Smith approved of Apple’s lawsuit against HTC.
“After explaining how crucial patent protection is to innovation and progress, Smith gave a nod of support for Apple’s patent suit against HTC, the Taiwanese company that makes most of the Google-powered smartphones,” Dudley details, “Smith suggested taking a broader and more sympathetic view of Apple’s case, saying “the fact that there’s litigation in this area is not necessarily a bad thing”.”
Of course, Microsoft is a company built on licensing, and as such, the mobile space sorting out who owns what on both the hard and software front is a good thing. About 5.5% of a smartphone’s cost is licensing costs to Qualcomm for the radio technology, while another 1 or 2% goes to licensing media software (codecs, I’m assuming).
“Now the question of the day is, how will patent licensing work for the software and other information-technology layers that actually make up an increasingly large percentage of the value of a smartphone,” Smith wondered. He claims it will be about 5-10% within three to five years.
After the speech, Dudley asked Smith about the HTC lawsuit specifically. “I think it’s premature to endorse or offer any other reaction to it,” Smith replied, “But as I mentioned, the fact that there are efforts to sort out these issues are on balance a positive development for the market because they typically take an important role in sorting this kind of issue out.”
“[Apple and Microsoft] have a lot of close ties and good relationships,” Smith added, “It doesn’t mean we always agree on everything. But it means we have the ability to talk and understand what we’re each trying to accomplish.”
And you’re still wondering whether or not Microsoft is trying to get Bing on the iPhone? With Jobs’ sense of betrayal regarding Google, I wouldn’t be surprised to actually see Bing as the default in the next iPhone OS update. We geeks might like to think it’s Apple vs. Microsoft, but despite the occasional bump in the road, the two companies have always been relatively friendly towards one another, a relationship further solidified in 1997. The two giants mostly work around one another, as evidenced by the meticulousness with which Apple avoided angering Microsoft in the HTC lawsuit.
The big question is this: will we still be able to switch back to Google, or does Jobs’ hate run that deep?
So after two decades of rivalry and squabbling, Apple are back to endorsing Microsoft?
It’s funny how things come full circle.
HTC did buy a lot WinMo licenses from MS in the past, didn’t they?
That is what you get for being a MS customer. They don’t really care when their imaginary property is at stake.
I really do hope Apples pointless software patents will be invalid due to prior art.
They still do, they continue to develop and ship WinMo phones. HTC are not a Android only shop. I think they still are the biggest supplier of WinMo phones.
Obviously MS would prefer them to drop Android, and go back to become WinMo only. So nothing really surprising here.
Microsoft like any large supplier hates it’s customers having an alternative replacement for it’s products.
I am willing to bet HTC is getting a better deal per unit from Microsoft under the present situation, there is no way that they would drop Android for that reason alone.
And Microsoft has 20 years of screwing over their most close partners.
How is it currently, is it possible to switch from Google to Bing now?
If it’s already locked down, there is no doubt it will stay that way even if they change the default.
It’s not possible to switch to Bing, but you can choose between Yahoo and Google (with Google being the default). So, since there is already a mechanism to switch search engines, the logical choice for Apple, if they were to change the default to Bing, would be to keep Google as an option.
Of course there is always the Wrath of Steve to keep in mind, but I don’t think they would completely remove Google as an option.
Nokia, Apple and Google (with HTC as proxy) tearing each other apart with lawsuits. I bet MS is ecstatic about that.
HTC should dump Windows Mobile all together, then license Simbian or WebOS instead as an alternative smartphone OS to Android. That would piss off MS wouldn’t it? Plus it would help Palm if they licensed WebOS.
Not that any of that would happen, but it would certainly be a punch in the eye for Microsoft and would be down right funny if several of the other Android phone makers followed suit to avoid the same pitfalls.
I think dropping WP7 for Palm’s WebOS would be an idiotic business decision that would be complete fail for HTC.
I agree it would be interesting for HTC to make WebOS phones or Symbian phones however are they big enough to dedicate enough resources behind each platform?
Why would it be a bad move for HTC to buy WebOS? Palm is about to close shop. Their IP will be sold at fire sale prices.
No one said anything about HTC buying WebOS, or Palm selling off it’s IP.
Edited 2010-03-17 14:47 UTC
They are too small to make it work, and there will probably be other larger suitors and hedge/private equity funds who will be interested.
And its a hard job to integrate new people, that takes time and usually slows the company down.
Who said anything about Palm closing shop, selling it’s assets off or being bought out?
Well it would be a likely scenario, as they lost 45 % of their share value in one month, at those prices someone might bid or buy them out.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/191932/palm_prime_for…
HTC was already gradually changing the balance of it’s products from Windows Mobile to Android, and was most likely to drop Windows Mobile at some point. This development will bring that point closer.