I knew it the day these speculations began. I believe Apple could be paying HTC more than what HTC is paying apple themselves, only because the number of patents don't matter, but the quality of the patents do matter.
Even a judge once said[1] that Apple will have a hard time convincing everyone that Apple doesn't infringe on two of HTC's patents, which is why I believe this settlement occurred in the first place.
If you've used a HTC Android phone before, you'll realize they make some of the market's amazing high-quality android phones. Unfortunately, their financials aren't that great for some reason though.
HTC had a clear advantage 2-3 years ago but misplayed their leap by their model naming confusion. After "Desire HD", (which I still own) I could not recommend anything to my friends due to model naming confusion. Samsung was clearer and you knew Galaxy S,2,3 was the flagship. HTC One series tries to solve it but simply added more options and it seems to be too late. Even Sony has a better chance moving forward, I bet.
This is one of the biggest issues in Android phones to date, there are several names for every model phone based on market, carrier, and included feature set. This confuses the hell out of consumers. Compared to the iOS phones which go by a single name iPhone and a single capability moniker (3, 3G, 4, 4S, 5) with an intuitive versioning scheme (bigger numbers are better, number + letter is "better" than just "number") I noticed Google trying to do this with the Nexus brand (although they have Nexus + size rather than version/generation)
Considering Sony has never (as far as I can remember) had a competing Android flagship, not to mention the financial state of Sony in general; I somewhat doubt Sony will pose any threat to HTC.
> If you've used a HTC Android phone before, you'll realize they make some of the market's amazing high-quality android phones
Eh, really? I've got an HTC Supersonic. The charge management circuitry downright sucks. First, the phone won't even operate without a battery present - the AC adapter alone is not sufficient. Second, leaving it plugged in while using a continuous load (wifi AP, for instance) has outright destroyed my battery. I speculate the charge manager is unable to sense that the battery is in fact draining slowly (as the phone is using more power than the attempted trickle charge is supplying), leading to a deep discharge (kills battery life) followed by unexpected shutdown. It could be that all phone manufacturers have given up paying attention to such details these days, but it's highly annoying to discover outright design negligence like this well after the return period has expired.
Is it bothering anyone else that the picture talking about paying Apple 6-8 bucks for Android has a Windows phone by HTC? Did they not notice the obvious windows logo on the bottom of it? Really no one had a picture of an iPhone next to an HTC Android phone?
Even a judge once said[1] that Apple will have a hard time convincing everyone that Apple doesn't infringe on two of HTC's patents, which is why I believe this settlement occurred in the first place.
If you've used a HTC Android phone before, you'll realize they make some of the market's amazing high-quality android phones. Unfortunately, their financials aren't that great for some reason though.
[1]http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-06/htc-patents-challen...