Microsoft Now Collecting Protection Money on Half of All Android Devices

Add Compal to the list of mobile device manufacturers paying Microsoft a fee every time it sells a smartphone or tablet running Google’s Android and Chrome operating systems. Over the weekend, the Taiwanese company signed a patent licensing agreement with Microsoft that will see it paying undisclosed tribute to Redmond to avoid being sued by the company for allegedly infringing its patents.

This is the 10th Android-related licensing agreement Microsoft has signed in the past 18 months alone in what is fast evolving into a significant revenue stream for the company. Indeed, according to some estimates, Microsoft will collect about $444 million in fiscal 2012 from Android device makers compensating it for use of its patent portfolio.

Not all that surprising, really. As Microsoft brags in a blog post today, it now has patent license agreements with companies accounting for more than half of all Android devices.