While it's struggling to make in roads into the league of leading smartphone platforms with Windows Phone,
Microsoft is earining good money through rival platform Android, if a new report is to be believed.
According to a new note by Rick Sherlund, an analyst with the firm Nomura , Microsoft is
generating $2 billion per year in revenue from Android patent royalties, as noted by Business Insider .
The analyst believes that the Android revenue has a 95 % margin, large chunk of the profit . He adds that the money helps in making the cash Microsoft is burning on Xbox and windows phone products as the company reports the Android royalty payments under revenue and operating losses of entertainment and Devices segment (that includes Xbox and windows phone ). If the Android royalty is removed from the particular segment, it would reflect losses on account of Xbox, skype and windows phone.
It's worth pointing out that Microsoft has signed patent deals with Android OEMS like LG ,samsung, HTC and Acer for their Android and chrome OS based products . Vendors who sign deals with the redmond gaint pay and undisclosed licensing fee for using its patents, as Android and chrome OS allegedly infringe on them .
Some estimates suggest taht Microsoft could be earning anywhere between $1 to $8 per Android device. According to Gartner, Microsoft could generate about $430 million in 2013 from these royalties.
No comments:
Post a Comment