Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC Android phone

This is interesting. Google makes no revenue from Android operating system sales, but Microsoft does (Android OS is free for any OEM). ZDnet article reports "Microsoft is getting that money thanks to a patent settlement with HTC over intellectual property infringement". The downside of a late entrant into a crowded market, such as Google Android into mobile space, is that many essential intellectual property rights are taken by earlier entrants.
Because Google needs to catch up with competition the company is trying to buy Nortel patents for almost $1 billion and has paid $4.9 million to acquire the patents of defunct Israeli phone maker Modu.