While Microsoft might not necessarily have the largest market share when it comes to smartphones, they have played it rather smart and have been making money through the licensing of their patents. They have also tried to get in on other smartphones through apps and services.
For example last year Microsoft and Samsung entered a deal that would see Office preloaded on Samsung tablets, and now it looks like that same deal will be extended to Lenovo and Motorola handsets as well, at least that’s according to a recent announcement made by Microsoft on its website.
According to the announcement, “Microsoft Corp. and Lenovo announced on Friday a deepening of their strategic relationship. Lenovo will load Microsoft’s productivity apps — including Microsoft Office, OneDrive and Skype — on select Lenovo devices that use the Android operating system.”
Since Lenovo owns Motorola, the deal will also extend to select Motorola devices. “This expanded collaboration between Microsoft and Lenovo also includes a patent cross-licensing agreement that covers Lenovo and Motorola devices.” We suppose since Office is sort of free for mobile, this really just saves you the trouble of downloading the apps, although you’d still need to pay for an Office 365 subscription if you really want to take advantage of the apps fully.
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