Microsoft had some pretty strong words to say about Google and their Android mobile operating system this week.
During a presentation at Deutsche Bank's Technology Conference 2010 in Los Angeles, Microsoft’s CFO of their Mobile Communications Business Division, Tivanka Ellawala, was asked if Android’s open-source model was a problem for corporations like Microsoft who charge licensing fees for the use of their operating system software.
Ellawala responded to the inquiry with a dig regarding the recent patent infringement allegations filed against Google by Oracle.
“It does infringe on a bunch of patents, and there’s a cost associated with that,” he said. “So there’s a... cost associated with Android that doesn’t make it free.”
The lawsuit filed by Oracle last month accuses Google of infringing on intellectual property contained within Java applications and frameworks when they built Android. Oracle’s accusations are particularly interesting since Java is generally looked upon as an open-source technology.
Google has publicly responded to the suit by stating that it is “baseless” and pointing out the fact that they used a series of workarounds during Android development for the specific reason that they were trying not to infringe on Java’s intellectual property.
Ellawala’s comment seems pretty harsh considering that Microsoft is currently fighting over 50 of their own patent infringement cases.
Microsoft will be launching their new Windows Phone 7 mobile OS this fall, likely on October 11th. The company is hoping that they can gain some ground on the popularity that Android has enjoyed since its launch last year.
I’ve seen some Windows Phone 7 previews and they actually were quite impressive. The challenge that Microsoft now faces is the ability to overcome the lackluster reputation that they’ve built over the past several years with their Windows Mobile platform. And, of course, trying to win their own numerous lawsuits.
