Robert Pogson

Much has been written on the web about M$’s taxation of Android/Linux but M$ mentions little but lawsuits in its recent 10-Q report. In fact, there we read, “there are approximately 60 other patent infringement cases pending against Microsoft.” Nowhere is there a number showing revenue from royalties levied on Android/Linux. While noting the risk of consumers buying gadgets not running M$’s stuff M$ never mentions royalty income from those gadgets. It must not be substantial because hundreds of millions of units running Android/Linux were sold but royalty revenue by M$ was not enough to prevent a decline in revenue by their client division.

If M$’s tax on Android/Linux were even $10, revenue from the “70% of Android/Linux” devices sold in USA would have been around $100 million, barely a blip in the 10-Q. Still, globally, the amount should have been significant but was not registered. Clearly, the taxation of Android/Linux by M$ is not impeding growth of Android/Linux in the least and is not affecting M$’s financial health. If any segment of Android/Linux were affected by royalties it would be the low-end devices, which are having explosive growth.