HTC Is Buying Out S3 Graphics

[phoronix]

Phoronix: HTC Is Buying Out S3 Graphics

HTC, one of the popular Taiwan-based mobile phone vendors, is going to be acquiring S3 Graphics from VIA Technologies. For around $300 million USD, HTC will have its hands on S3 Graphics and their intellectual property portfolio...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=OTYzOQ

[crazycheese]

"from AND and NVIDIA"

Typo.

[werfu]

I think this is more a defensive move for HTC than a real interest into S3 graphic capabilities. They could use S3 patents to free up from Android leavy.

[cl333r]

I think this is more a defensive move for HTC than a real interest into S3 graphic capabilities. They could use S3 patents to free up from Android leavy.

What Android levy? Do you mean the Microsoft imposed tax of 5$ per Android phone?

[werfu]

Yeah, MS 5$ per phone. And Apple possibility to attack them for patents infrigments. Or Nokia... Owning usefull patents make them more air from big corporative bullies.

[FireBurn]

HTC and Via have the same chairman Cher Wang so I doubt anything will actually change

[bug77]

What Android levy? Do you mean the Microsoft imposed tax of 5$ per Android phone?

Last I heard, M$ is asking for $15 per handset. And HTC isn't open source friendly: their software only works on Windows and can only sync with Outlook.

[cl333r]

Last I heard, M$ is asking for $15 per handset.

Afaik that's what M$ is charging for its OS - WP7, not for Android.

Afaik Google pays them (the hw manufacturers or the carriers) a fraction of the advertising revenue from each Android phone - which makes M$'s 5$ tax less of a burden, maybe that even makes for a profit. This could explain why M$'s mobile OSes keep going down in terms of market share and Android keeps rising up, also does this 5$ tax make Android hw manufacturers hate M$ and not want to do business on M$'s software?

[droidhacker]

That's the "HTC is a retard" tax, not an android levy. MS had nothing, HTC should NOT have bent over.

As for the IP and possibility of a free license... hard to say. HTC has historically been quite hostile towards anything open, and only reluctantly released kernel GPL source after some major community uprising, but even still, they don't distribute their source changes in anything even remotely sensible... i.e. a patch. Instead, what they have is a crazy mix of several different kernel versions with a whole slew of their changes mixed in, and distribute it from their website in a tar file. Normally, you would be able to do a diff against an archive from kernel.org, but that only works if there is a single version that the patch is against... not like their ugly mess.

The only possible light is their new policy (yet to actually be implemented, so we will see how it goes....) of shipping all phones with unlockable bootloaders.

Now if only they were smart enough to tell MS to go eff themselves.......

[droidhacker]

Afaik that's what M$ is charging for its OS - WP7, not for Android.

No, MS sued HTC re Android IP. Stuff that HTC would have won on. HTC stupidly settled for $5 on every Android device they sell.

Afaik Google pays them (the hw manufacturers or the carriers) a fraction of the advertising revenue from each Android phone - which makes M$'s 5$ tax less of a burden, maybe that even makes for a profit.

No... HW makers pay google for "google experience" -- which is basically the inclusion of google market application.