Microsoft: Android More Expensive

As mobile takes an increasingly central role in all aspects of computing, the leading vendors fight unflinchingly for market share. Here’s Microsoft’s latest roundhouse in the ongoing drama.

As the launch of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 devices nears, the company has been telling those who will listen that one of its prime competitors’ mobile operating system — Google’s Android — is more costly than its own offering, even though the open source OS is free.

Earlier this week, industry commentator Henry Blodget published a short list of “gotchas” that he said a Microsoft source trotted out to explain how “free” isn’t really free when it’s Android, while Windows Phone 7, at a reported cost to OEMs of $15, is more economical.

High on the source’s list is the question of whether Android infringes on any other company’s intellectual property (IP). That’s illustrated by the lawsuit filed last month by Oracle, which now owns the rights to Java, against Google for patent infringement in its Android operating system.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer also briefly raised the infringement red flag during an interview with CNN Money regarding Android in May.

“There’s nothing free about Android,” Ballmer said at the time. “There’s an intellectual property royalty due on that and whether they charge for that or not is their decision.”

Read the rest at Enterprise Mobile Today.