ZTE pays Microsoft around $27 for each Windows Phone made

How much does it cost to license Microsoft's latest and greatest mobile OS? A fair bit it seems. While numbers have been bandied around before, this is the first time a per-handset figure was to an internal employee -- this time, the portfolio manager for ZTE UK, no less. Pegged at $27 per ZTE smartphone, TrustedReviews managed to get those licensing beans spilled at the glitzy London launch of the company's first Windows Phone ZTE Tania. The fee flies in the face of open-source Android, which requires no price to install on handsets. Microsoft, however, is still keeping an eye on its Google rival, collecting patent licensing fees from several major phone manufacturers. ZTE hasn't yet commented on the figure.

ZTE pays Microsoft around $27 for each Windows Phone made originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.