Guess who earned $792 million in revenue from Android handsets sold? Microsoft!
Microsoft’s smartphone phone revenues alone from the last quarter stood at $792 million.This $792 has come from Android and not from Windows phones. This amount is a collection of tariffs from HTC and Samsung in lieu of the patent royalties that Microsoft holds.
Microsoft’s smartphone phone revenues alone from the last quarter stood at $792 million. You must be of the impression that these figures cannot be authentic because Windows phones has not penetrated much and in fact Android has! True and this $792 has come from Android and not from Windows phones. This amount is a collection of tariffs from HTC and Samsung in lieu of the patent royalties that Microsoft holds.
Actually the revenue must be even more according to analyst firm Terifs as this number accounts for only Samsung and HTC givings. Samsung paid $12 per Android handset and HTC paid $10. Microsoft has patent deals in place that brought in royalties for more than half of all Android smartphones sold in the U.S. Earlier in 2011, two Microsoft bloggers confessed that companies accounting for more than half of all Android devices have now entered into patent license agreements with Microsoft.
Back in October 2011, Goldman Sachs did predict a huge revenue for Microsoft only from patents, but the $792 million mark is way ahead of their prediction of $444 million. That’s probably because Android handsets have sold significantly down the line. At the Google I/O events this year, the Mountainview company announced that 350000 Android handsets are activated every day.
This is synonymous to inorganic growth I would say, generating money from Android rather than the own Windows phones. Otherwise the Windows phones sales wouldn’t be 4.3% (5.1 million) compared to the 107.8 million Android managed. This might propel many people to think that it’s high time Microsoft should innovate if money isn’t their only intention!
Ankur
