Well this is peculiar. It looks as if Microsoft has tried, in effect, to use some of its influence to prevent Asus and Acer from creating Android- and/or Chrome OS-based devices. It’s doing so by tacking on royalty fees for Taiwan-based manufacturers (such as Asus and Acer) in order to use some of their patents relating to e-mail and multimedia. HTC, the other big Taiwan manufacturer, has agreed to the new licensing regime.
Digitimes suggests that Microsoft is doing so in order to prevent, or at least make that much more difficult, Asus and Acer from releasing devices that run alternative operating systems. It’s not as if Asus and Acer only create products for the local market, right? So imposing, all of a sudden, a new patent licensing fee ties the hands of Asus and Acer.
Sources told Digitimes that the licensing fees total around $10-$15 per handset. And when you’re shipping many, many of these handsets those $10-$15 quickly add up.
What could be more exciting than high-level business feuds?