Foxconn to pay Microsoft licensing fees for every Android device it produces

Microsoft may not be tearing it up in the consumer mobile electronics market these days, but the company hasn’t lost its acumen for rent seeking. Microsoft on Wednesday announced that it has reached an agreement with Foxconn parent company Hon Hai in which Microsoft “will receive royalties” for all Foxconn-produced “devices running the Android and Chrome OS.” Horacio Gutierrez, the deputy general counsel at Microsoft’s Intellectual Property Group, said that the company is “pleased that the list of companies benefitting from Microsoft’s Android licensing program now includes the world’s largest contract manufacturer.” Microsoft has long padded its balance sheet with Android licensing fees and starting in 2011, the company is reportedly making more money from Android devices than it makes from its own Windows Phone platform.