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Over the weekend news broke of a licensing deal between HTC and Apple. The exact details of the 10-year agreement, which sees the two smartphone makers cross-licensing certain technologies related to mobile devices, were not released, but an industry analyst claims to have a bit of inside information. Shaw Wu of Sterne Agee says he has learned that Apple will pocket $6 to $8 in fees for every handset HTC ships.
While both sides will earn the rights to implement various features without fear of infringing on any patents, a source speaking to the Wall Street Journal confirmed that Apple would come out ahead. With HTC predicted to ship near 35 million handsets in 2013, this could equate to $280 million dollars in the bank for the maker of the iPhone.
HTC executives are apparently relieved by the truce in an otherwise brutal patent war, but HTC cannot afford to lose anymore money on their smartphone business. With quarterly financials looking more and more dire, the Taiwanese company will need to turn around their fortunes if the added licensing fees are to be easily absorbed.
Apple, on the other hand, might look towards the deal drafted with HTC as a model for future settlements with the likes of Samsung and Motorola, though attempts to reach such agreements in the past have been fruitless.
[via CNET]
It is about APPLE realizing it was facing a LOSING patent infringement battle against HTC and its LTE patents that could have lead to a sales injunction against all iPhone 5, iPad Mini and iPad 4 LTE models in the US.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-09-06/htc-patents-challenged-by-apple-probably-valid-judge-say
So I don’t think it is HTC pay to Apple, or payment will be on equal basis
Fruitless… I get it.
Already lost patience with HTC myself.
They’ll have to turn out an amazing phone for my third Android handset to be a hat-trick for HTC.
Updates and driver releases coming far too slow being the primary reasons.
You actually went with a brand other than the Nexus hoping for speedy updates and other goodies? No one to blame but yourself bud…
“HTC cannot afford to lose anymore money ”
Is there evidence they are losing money on their phones? They reported profits of $137M last quarter, it infuriates me when people equate “disappointing profits” with “losing money”.
But doesn’t that mean that now they will be Losing money after that stupid amount of money that will pay for that retarded “Bouncy” patent?
that “bouncy” patent was invalidated already
Then what the heck is that hype is about and what is HTC paying apple for!!
Yeah, Samsung or LG next time … Or whoever pays the least to Apple… Sigh
Samsung’s been trying haven’t they? Its Apple who won’t comply because they want their competition wiped from the face of the earth. They know HTC isn’t a threat. (To them)
lol…its funny since this is the exact opposite of the truth…its Samsung that doesn’t want to settle…
I guess those news articles posted over the summer were all lies then. Just because they’re fed up with Apples shit now doesn’t mean they havent tried.
According to another article, this includes Windows Phone as well, which is strange since I thought that Microsoft was supposedly providing indemnity on their software. Also, Apple and Microsoft have a cross-license agreement anyway, so I don’t quite follow that. Maybe this only covers Android. Regardless, it’s odd that HTC did this; Apple’s utility patents are regarded to be pretty weak and some have already been invalidated.
HTC is Apples brother-in-law.
They dont make anything back?
So one less reason to buy to HTC: Paying an Apple tax.
Now I’m really passed that HTC came to this agreement. While I don’t know the details I feel comfortable saying Apple should not be getting that much for patents that are, in all likelihood, not even valid. You shouldn’t be able to patent the crap out of everything that crosses your mind whether you intend to use it or not just to try and stifle competition. That’s the exact opposite of the patent systems purpose.
I dont care who pays who how much money. Just release phones worth buying and stop burning those customers by rehashing them every few months and people will buy them. Period.
People are seriously thinking that if HTC makes the best phone in the world they wont buy it because an unconfirmed rumor for some guy who says he has inside info on confidential documents says HTC will pay Apple $6-8 from the $600-700 paid for the phone that cost $200-300 to make?..
I guess everyone forgot that they said the same exact thing when HTC struck a similar deal with Microsoft… lol
Everyone complains about the lawsuits and litigations n then when they come to an agreement to stop said lawsuits and litigations those same people complain. Make up your minds.
Wait… HTC barely making ends meet as it is already… now they gotta stake out $280 million per year?
HTC: quietly raped.
Oh sad..
So exactly what features does this allow HTC to use in their smarphones?