Thanks to the Apple-Samsung trial, we've now learned that Apple asked Samsung for $30 per smartphone, $40 per tablet to use Apple's patents.
As with any negotiation, this could have been the starting point. Apple may have started high, then Samsung could have come back with a lower bid, and then the two could have met in the middle.
Reading over Ina Fried's excellent coverage of the trial, it doesn't look like any details came out about whether or not there was a negotiation, or how far the negotiations got.
Regardless, it's interesting to see how much Apple wanted per smartphone.
For some context, Microsoft reportedly gets $12-$13 in patent royalties from Samsung's Androi phones. A source familiar with the situation tells us that estimate is "overstated," but wouldn't say how overstated. Let's just round it down to $10 which is what Microsoft reportedly gets from HTC.
Even if it's $10, that means Apple wanted three times as much money as Microsoft for its patents.
We're throwing it out there because it's interesting, but the truth of the matter is that it's ultimately not a perfect apples to apples comparison. We don't know what kinds of patents Microsoft was licensing, as compared to what Apple was licensing, and as we've already noted, we don't know where Apple and Samsung were in terms of negotiations.
Still, the bottom line is that Apple thinks its smartphone patents are worth 3X what Microsoft thinks its patents are worth.
To see how Apple asked for the money, check out the full presentation here >
