Saturday, September 01, 2012
Unknown
Less than one week after a jury handed down a decisive win for Applein its case against Samsung, the Korean company now appears to be moving away from its embrace of Android to the relatively safer waters of Windows Phone.
On Wednesday, I argued that Microsoft was set to gain from the verdict due to its position as an alternative to Android. The Redmond, Washington company was smart enough to sign agreements with Apple for some of the same patents that Samsung was found guilty of infringing upon. Now according to a report in the Korea Times, it sounds like Samsung is finding Microsoft to be a much more attractive partner for that exact reason.
Some further evidence of the company’s shift may be found in its announcements this week at the IFA tech conference in Berlin.
The debut of its Windows Phone 8 powered device on Wednesday came as a shock to some. Given Microsoft’s tight partnership with Nokia, it was pretty much assumed that the first WP8 devices would have appeared there. But that wasn’t the case.
As its patent fight dragged on with Apple, Samsung may have seen the writing on the wall and begun to switch gears as Microsoft settled its own claims in the form of licensing agreements. While it’s certainly not raising the white flag here, it seems to at least acknowledge that getting the verdict completely overturned may be impossible.
Indeed, the Korea Times says that Samsung officials say that they are actively working on partnerships to get around Apple’s design claims, as well as a closer working relationship with Microsoft. This means the Android OS will likely appear on far less new devices while Windows Phone will become a bigger factor, again due to the patent protections it provides.
This is probably the smartest business move overall for Samsung. If it does get the ruling overturned, it will be business as usual and the company will be free to do as it pleases. But if it does not, and it needs some type of protection from further legal action, Microsoft’s Windows Phone is certainly a good alternative.
Such news has to have people in Redmond happy
0 comments:
Post a Comment