Samsung, Microsoft expand smartphone partnership

By Lee Youkyung
SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea's leading electronics firm, said Thursday that it has signed a cross-licensing agreement with Microsoft Corp., which will give the Korean firm wider access to mobile patents and reduce its reliance on Google Inc.
Under the agreement, Samsung will pay royalties to Microsoft for the patents in Android smartphones and tablet PCs. The companies will also cooperate in the development and marketing of the devices based on Microsoft's mobile software.
With the latest agreement, Samsung joins HTC Corp. and other Android-based phone makers that have struck patent cross-licensing deals with Microsoft.
"The Android camp has a weakness in patents so Samsung's response was appropriate. Samsung also secured better terms (with Microsoft) than HTC did," said Seo Won-suk, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities Co.
Microsoft has been demanding Android handset makers pay fees for using several of Microsoft's patents in their devices that use free software from Google.
While Microsoft's patent talk with the Android camp did not go to court, Samsung, the world's No. 2 mobile-phone maker, and HTC, Asia's second-biggest smartphone maker, are under attack from Apple Inc. with lawsuits under way in the United States, Asia and Europe.
The Korean firm's initial reliance on Google to produce the Galaxy series of smartphones and tablet computers catapulted it to become the world's No. 2 smartphone maker in the April-June period, trailing only behind Apple.
Although Google's announcement to purchase Motorola Mobility Ltd. will help reinforce the patent portfolio for Android partners, it also signaled threats to Motorola's hardware rivals, according to market analysts.
"Samsung needed to diversify its operating system outside of Google's Android," said the NH Securities analyst.
The deal with Samsung also gives Microsoft support in its struggle to regain its wireless market share lost to Apple and Google.
"That leaves Motorola Mobility, with which Microsoft is currently in litigation, as the only major Android smartphone manufacturer in the U.S. without a license," the U.S. company said on its Web site.
Samsung is scheduled to release next month in Europe the Omina W smartphone based on Microsoft's latest Mango software, it said.
ylee@yna.co.kr
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