Microsoft could get even more royalty payments from another Android-based smartphone company if current negotiations go Microsoft's way. The Guardian reports that Victor Xu, the chief marketing officer for Huawei, has confirmed that it is in talks with Microsoft concerning patent agreements surrounding Huawei's Android smartphones and tablets.
Microsoft has been making patent agreements with a ton of Android-based smartphone and tablet makers over the past several months, including Samsung, HTC and others. Microsoft gets money from the sales of every Android-based product made by those companies where it has secured patent agreements.
Xu said in an interview this week, "We always respect the intellectual property of companies. But we have 65,000 patents worldwide too. We have enough to protect our interests. We are a very important stakeholder in Android." That would seem to suggest that Huawei is on the fence when it comes to forming a patent agreement with Microsoft.
If an agreement is signed with Huawei it could be a huge windfall for Microsoft if Huawei sells a lot of Android smarphones. Xu says, "Over the next three years we are aiming to be in the top five smartphone makers, and in the top three in the next five years. We have established very aggressive targets in the market."
So far Huawei hasn't made much of an impact here in the US with Apple, Samsung, Motorola and HTC leading the pack in terms of smartphone sales. It sounds like Huawei wants that to change very soon.
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