PCMag: A new report from Goldman Sachs says that Microsoft stands to make $444 million this year by charging licensing fees to manufacturers of Android smartphones. Manufacturers that have agreed to pay those fees include HTC, Velocity Micro, General Dynamics Itronix, Wistron, Acer, ViewSonic and now Samsung, but not Motorola, which is being purchased by Google.
According to the report, Microsoft isn’t in the licensing business for the money, as the licensing fees represent just 4 percent of the company’s revenue. Instead, Goldman Sachs says Microsoft intends to use the fees as negotiating leverage to get manufacturers to put Windows Phone 7 on more of the devices they sell.
