Half your Androids are belong to Microsoft

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And another one bites the dust. This weekend, Microsoft announced a new patent licensing partnership with Compal, an original design manufacturer (ODM) of Android-powered smartphones and tablets. This new partnership means that Microsoft has licensing agreements with manufacturers that account for more than half of all Android devices produced.

The agreement with Compal, like the multitude of agreements that Microsoft has pressured other Android manufacturers into, requires the company to pay Microsoft a licensing fee for each Android tablet or smartphone that it produces. The exact amount of the license fee or terms of the agreement were not revealed.

More importantly, this agreement puts Microsoft's hands in the pockets of companies that are responsible for producing 53 percent of the Android devices in the U.S. A number of the agreements are with smaller companies like Compal, but Microsoft has signed licensing contracts with big players like HTC and Samsung as well. The only major manufacturers left that have yet to be wooed by Microsoft's patent licenses are Motorola and LG, and with Google planning to take over ownership of Motorola, it could be interesting to see how that plays out.