Measuring a profit can be a complicated thing my accounting friends tell me. For example, Google, which controls Android, is certainly making money from it, but how much? But, what if you’re making $444 million from Android and you actually didn’t have to spend any money on research and development or programming? You’d be doing great wouldn’t you? Well, welcome to Microsoft’s business plan for Android.
According to a Goldman Sachs‘ tech analyst note, as reported by Business Insider, that’s exactly how Microsoft is cashing in on Android. Goldman Sachs estimates that Microsoft will pick up $444-million in revenue from its Android patent deals for fiscal year 2012. For those of you playing at home, that’s $3-$6 per Android device. Yes, that may well be more than Microsoft makes from its own troubled mobile operating systems.
That’s nice work if you can get it. We still don’t know exactly how much Microsoft is getting from its cross-licensing patent deals with Samsung and other Android manufacturers. We don’t even know what patents Microsoft is being paid for.