LG Electronics could ink a patent-licensing deal with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) next month covering its smartphones running Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android platform, according to a report in the Korea Herald.
The report, which cited unnamed "industry sources," said that LG Vice Chairman and CEO Koo Bon-joon will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hawaii in November. The report said that Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, will also be attending the event. The report said LG might wind up paying Microsoft around $3 for every Android phone it sells, similar to what Samsung Electronics pays Microsoft.
LG spokesman Ken Hong told FierceWireless that "reports of a deal being discussed with other companies regarding phone patents are speculative and unsubstantiated."
The report comes on the heels of an announcement Monday by Microsoft that Android ODMs responsible for 55 percent of the worldwide Android market now license Microsoft patents. Microsoft inked a wide-ranging patent pact with Samsung in September. Samsung, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, will become the world's largest smartphone maker in the third quarter. The Samsung deal, coupled with contracts with HTC, Acer, Winstron, Quanta Computer and others, means that the companies behind 53 percent of U.S. Android shipments in the second quarter license Microsoft patents.
LG and Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI) are two major Android players that have not signed patent-licensing deals with Microsoft for Android. Google announced plans in August to acquire Motorola for $12.5 billion, in part for its patent portfolio.
For more:
- see this Korea Herald article
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