NEWS

Lenovo Microsoft reached a patent license

Release time:

2016-08-24 16:23

According to Nanjing Huaxun reported that on Monday, Microsoft and Lenovo reached a Andriod smartphone patent licensing agreement announced. Under the cross-licensing agreement, Lenovo will pre-install Microsoft's Office app in some high-end smartphones. Thanks to Microsoft's Andriod operating system-related patents, it has benefited a lot from Andriod smartphones. However, due to the recent decline in shipments of smartphone manufacturers that have reached a patent license with Microsoft, Microsoft's revenue has stagnated.

However, Microsoft's patent licensing transactions are still staggering. It recently reached a patent license agreement with Lenovo. Under the cross-licensing nature of the agreement, announced on Monday, Lenovo will use core applications developed by Microsoft in some high-end phones. While it is not yet clear which devices will be installed on which, Lenovo promises millions of shipments of these devices "in the next few years.

These applications include Microsoft Office applications, OneDrive cloud storage services, and enterprise-class chat application Skype. There is no doubt that encouraging users to use these services will also increase Microsoft's profitability.

In recent years, Microsoft has reached similar agreements with mobile phone manufacturers such as Asus, Samsung, LG and Xiaomi.

According to Nanjing Huaxun, Google sold Motorola to Lenovo in 2014, and its related technology was used by Lenovo as a barrier to refuse to pay Microsoft's intellectual property fees. But the new patent licensing deal includes Motorola devices.

Microsoft's corporate vice president Nick Parker (Nick Parker) said, "Microsoft is very excited that our productivity applications will be installed on Lenovo's high-end smartphones." Lenovo CEO Christian Zheng (Christian Eigen) also said that this pre-installed application deal will "bring added value to consumers around the world."

Although the company's application installation program is notable, it is still an extension of Microsoft's patent licensing program. Microsoft's latest quarterly earnings report showed a 27% year-on-year decline in revenue, due to "the decline in licensed equipment revenue".

In recent years, Microsoft has benefited an average of $2 billion a year from these patent licenses, and smartphone manufacturers such as Huawei, OPPO and Vivo do not have Microsoft's patent license agreements.

Lenovo's position in China's smartphone market is in jeopardy, with sales falling 33% recently. However, it still has hope of making a comeback, and being able to reach a patent license with it is also an important victory for Microsoft.