As it gets ready to unveil its own operating system next, Microsoft is taking careful aim at its closest competitor: Android.
Through patent licensing deals and lawsuits, the Redmond-based computer giant is trying to cover all its bases, aiming for a situation where it wins whether a customer chooses a Windows phone or an Android one.
But it’s too soon to tell whether the strategy will pay off.
On Monday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said he looks forward to collecting revenue from Android handset makers, including HTC, which has a licensing agreement with Microsoft.
For handset makers that don’t show HTC’s willingness to do it the easy way, Microsoft can do it the hard way, too: Microsoft sued Motorola this week, alleging patent infringement around Motorola’s Android-based smartphones. The suit charges Motorola with allegedly violating patents related to synchronizing email, calendars, contacts, scheduling meetings and notifying applications of changes in signal strength and battery power.
“One reason that Microsoft is going after Motorola is that if patent infringement is found it is easier to establish damages against a company that is selling a product than Google, which is giving the OS away for free,” says Robert Sloss, intellectual property partner at Farella Braun + Martel.
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