Microsoft and Xiaomi have reached an agreement for cross-licensing patents. In the latest partnership, the software giant will have its Skype and Office apps and services installed on the Xiaomi devices in return of the 1500 patents sold to the Chinese OEM.
The same was announced by the company VP, Hugo Barra on Twitter.
Expanding the Xiaomi-Microsoft partnership: new deal for Office & Skype pre-install, IP cross-license and patent transfer agreement
— Hugo Barra (@hbarra) June 1, 2016
Starting September 2016, Xiaomi devices which include the Mi 5, Mi Max, Mi 4s,Redmi Note 3, and Redmi 3 will ship with Microsoft Office and Skype pre-installed.
“We are excited to be working closely with Microsoft on a broad technology collaboration partnership,” said Xiang Wang, senior vice president at Xiaomi. “As demonstrated by this agreement with Microsoft, Xiaomi is looking to build sustainable, long-term partnerships with global technology leaders, with the ultimate goal of bringing the best user experience to our Mi fans.”
Microsoft and Xiaomi have shared a close relationship since the two companies partnered to launch Windows 10 on Mi Pad and fuel Mi Cloud service using Microsoft Azure few months ago.
On the new deal, Microsoft quoted, “People want their favorite apps and experiences to work seamlessly on the device of their choice, and that’s exactly what this partnership offers.”
This deal falls in line with the new strategy Microsoft has adopted under the reins of Satya Nadella. The company had signed similar deals with Samsung in the past which clearly shows software and services are ahead of the hardware prospects for the Redmond giant.