Microsoft Sells 1,500 Patents To Xiaomi To Build 'Long-Term Partnership' (reuters.com) 66
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Software maker Microsoft Corp is selling about 1,500 of its patents to Chinese device maker Xiaomi, a rare departure for the U.S. company and part of what the two companies say is the start of a long-term partnership. The deal, announced on Wednesday, also includes a patent cross-licensing arrangement and a commitment by Xiaomi to install copies of Microsoft software, including Office and Skype, on its phones and tablets. Wang said the acquisition of Microsoft patents, which included voice communications, multimedia and cloud computing, on top of some 3,700 patents the Chinese company filed last year, were "an important step forwards to support our expansion internationally." Florian Mueller, a patents expert who consulted for Microsoft in the past, said it was rare for Microsoft to actually sell its patents, adding "it's possible Microsoft found it easier to impose its Android patent tax on Xiaomi as part of a broader deal that also involved a transfer of patents."
Someone didn't do their research (Score:1, Funny)
Has a phone deal with Micro$oft ever worked out for anyone? Other than the competitors, of course.
Re:Someone didn't do their research (Score:5, Funny)
It has worked out for Nokia. They happily sold their business to microsoft, which is now dead in the water, while they themselves build another phone business.
Re: (Score:3)
You need to urgently get out from below the rock you're living in. Nokia was gutted from top position to utter collapse, and the remains of the phone business it still had were sold to Foxconn.
Nokia is down to being just a network company now.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Remaining Nokia reported 1,2B € earnings last year with decent operating margin.
You might disagree how Flop handled the sell-out to MS but the overall result is what Nokia has been the last ~150 years, a company that can reinvent itself when necessary.
Re: (Score:3)
Flop, lol. I'd be very worried if I were a Telstra shareholder.
Re:Someone didn't do their research (Score:5, Interesting)
Nokia was formed from three divisions. Approximately 2/3 of the company was the mobile phone division, about a quarter was networks and remains was the navigation.
Mobile phones collapsed and is now dead, with remains sold off to foxconn after the rights to the brand name came back from microsoft. Navigation business was there to help the mobile phone, and it was sold off asap. The only part that remains of nokia is the network business, which was a completely separate division within the old company with little to no synergies with the rest of the business.
Which is why it survived.
Re: (Score:2)
NSN was always a part of Nokia as a whole. While it was co-owned by Siemens for a while, it was never separated from Nokia itself as far as corporate structure goes.
Re: (Score:2)
Nokia dumb phones were still selling very well before that microsoft plant stepped into the ceo position.
Nokia dumb phones were in a shrinking market and had a razor thin profit margin. They existed primarily to build the Nokia brand and get people to buy Nokia smartphones, which wasn't working. Nokia had been making year-on-year losses for several years before Elop took over. Prior to that, they'd identified that their existing platform (Series 60) had problems (it had a nice modern kernel design and a userland crippled by being heavily optimised for devices with under 1MB of RAM). Their solution to this
Re: (Score:2)
Only one maker of high end Android smartphones is making a substantial profit: Samsung. The rest are scraping by or losing money. Low cost smartphones are increasingly turning it into a commodity business where the profit margins will be thin and nobody outside a low-cost production environment like China will be able to make any money. Companies like Xiaomi and Huawei may be able to show a profit, but HTC and LG are in trouble.
Some years earlier Nokia was in the same bind with dumbphones. Any hope of conti
Worked really well (Score:3)
Microsoft get's a lot of money from other people's phones.
I think this deal is about finding a way to squeeze every other chinese vendor even harder. Microsoft can't sue from the outside because the Chinese gov't knows how to tilt the tables. But if a chinese company sues another one, that's a whole different ball game. MS gives Xiaomi some exclusives and now they all of a sudden want to keep them exclusive. Xiaomi is an ambitious hungry company that is competing at the low end the market. Not just for
Comment removed (Score:3)
Re: Death Spiral in 5...4...3...2...1... (Score:2)
but they're not ruthless predators.
Better not tell the shareholders; fiduciary duty and all that...
Re: (Score:2)
This reminds me of AOL two decades ago. They had a big image and were writing contracts left and right with venture capital startups. Their policy was, "F--- them out of their money." A startup that got 10 million would give most of that to AOL for some worthless "partnership". Then they would run out of money and AOL would say "
Quote Quote Quote (Score:2)
<quote>Quotes <i>seem</i> to</quote>
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I think it's more likely that Mi will start producing the Surface Phone.
Having severed ties with Finland and the Lumia, MS need a manufacturer while Xiaomi are seeking a mainstream market entry into North America, hoping to get a leg up on Chinese rivals Lenovo, ZTE and Huawei.
Re: (Score:2)
>I can only hope someone has warned the executives at Xiaomi about whom they are dealing with, but apparently they either don't know or don't care
Oh they do, and historically, they are not going to get hurt - in fact they are likely to make quite a nice bundle of cash out of the process. It's everybody ELSE in the company who will end up jobless. Microsoft's destruction of 'partner' companies are usually done in a way that benefits the executives of those companies - that's exactly why they keep going al
Thanks for telling us who microsoft is (Score:1)
Thanks for explaining to us who microsoft is, they are new here.
Mueller? (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:1)
Because he is an expert, which means if he is wrong it was just a rare mistake, unlike you if you are right it means you are very lucky, because you are not an expert. This is literally how it works.
Re: (Score:2)
How the hell does this guy still have credibility after his 100% wrong calls, for years, on SCO's claim on Linux?
As soon as I saw the name, "Florian Mueller," I stopped reading. Given his track record, I can only assume that the entire article is worthless prattle; infected by Muelleritis (nonsensical, factually incorrect, crap sprouting from the shit mound of wishful thinking).
Governmental pressure? (Score:2)
"it's possible Microsoft found it easier to impose its Android patent tax on Xiaomi as part of a broader deal that also involved a transfer of patents."
Perhaps "easier" in the sense that the PRC government hinted that Microsoft could find itself highly inconvenienced in China, if it acted otherwise? Or perhaps they didn't hint anything, and Microsoft is choosing to be pro-actively obsequious.
Start of a new relationship? (Score:2)
I can't see Microsoft as either Humphrey Bogart or Claude Rains. Peter Lorre, maybe if I squint hard enough... but if I was going to pick someone from that era to be Microsoft, it'd probably be Oliver Hardy.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"Louie, the bombing begins in five minutes."
This is a smart move for Microsoft. (Score:5, Insightful)
There is no such thing as the Google Play Store in China (yet). So Xiaomi has filled the void with their own Mi Store.
So now's a perfect time for Microsoft to catch a ride on the hottest smartphone train outside iOS. Google Play will be joining the fight later this year, so this is a move by Xiaomi to strengthen their position before that.
Re: (Score:2)
skating to where the puck is going to be (Score:1)
With MS giving up on the phone wars, why not sell patents related to things you already lost in exchange for getting your next generation of software out there? The next market is when the device goes away, and MS needs to be there not on it's own third rate phones.
The next MS catch song will be (Score:3)
...Backdoor Lover. Or at least it should be with this new partnership.
Microsoft still evil (Score:3)
Microsoft still evil, still stuck in quasi legal twilight zone. Xiaomi was introducing Linux laptops, hence this new trust making activity. Same old Microsoft, same old tricks.
patents to Xiaomi (Score:1)
I'm a little scared. (Score:5, Interesting)
I got a Xiaomi phone recently. At first I was a little wary, but it grew on me immensely.
First - it comes pre-rooted. The built-in "Security" app can be used to simply grant root to any app that requires it. The bootloader is fully unlocked too, if you choose to replace the whole OS.
Then - Extras. Dual Sim, SD slot, FM radio, and all the typical essential goodies, plus some extras like gyroscope. A HUGE battery. IR sensor/LED for using as remote. A normal, generic earphones jack. Decent camera and a strong LED which you can use as a flashlight without installing 3rd party apps or risking damage.
And then a similar Samsung of the same release date and the same price has half the features. Xiaomi has roughly 2x the screen resolution (although not AMOLED), 8 cores instead of 4, 2GB RAM instead of 1.5, twice as much flash.
With entering the western markets en masse, I imagine Root and unlocked bootloader will get the axe first. Then the price will get jacked up to match phones of similar amount of features.
Re: (Score:2)
The Chinese government will have way less ability to abuse my private data than my own government.
Re: (Score:2)
Then - Extras. Dual Sim, SD slot, FM radio, and all the typical essential goodies, plus some extras like gyroscope. A HUGE battery. IR sensor/LED for using as remote. A normal, generic earphones jack. Decent camera and a strong LED which you can use as a flashlight without installing 3rd party apps or risking damage.
So the LED aside, all stuff you get from a decent Motorola phone these days...
Re: (Score:2)
Same for the LED. In fact, recent Android bakes in the 'use it as a flashlight nowadays', so I'm confused as to why this would be seen as a differentiator from any phone.
One thing I do like about my motorola is I can take it and shake it twice and the flashlight toggles, without having to open anything or use the screen to do it. That, the 'force wave to see current time' and the twist to camera gestures are handy features I don't see in other devices.
Re: (Score:2)
My phone is Xiaomi Redmi Note 2. It cost me 650PLN.
The only Motorola phone of corresponding specs (2GB RAM, octa-core, dual sim, SD slot) is Motorola Moto G4 Plus. 1100PLN.
So - yes, you can get all that stuff from a decent Motorola phone, for about twice the price.
Did you load third party ROMs on it? (Score:2)
Which model specifically?
Are there projects to get third party ROMs available for it?
Did you try loading third party ROMs on it?
Something like OmniROM for example?
Re: (Score:2)
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2. I was comparing it to Samsung Galaxy Note J5, which was released at about the same time, is a really popular dual-sim phone nowadays, and costs about the same.
I installed the official Europeized MIUI from https://miuipolska.pl/download... [miuipolska.pl] following the procedure on the site (place the file in /sdcard, rename it to update.zip, reboot holding volume down, pick "English", "Install update.zip to System One")
The original's English support was... uh, "scarce". Like, the message is in English,
Re: (Score:2)
err, holding volume up :) Volume down enters fastboot.
Skip to the end... (Score:3)
Who dug this idiot up again? Next story.