Microsoft to continue charging fees for Windows Mobile

According to Reuters, Microsoft's Steve Balmer today said that his company has no plans to make the Windows Mobile smartphone operating system royalty free. One of the attractions of the Android OS from Google is that it is open source and available to manufacturers for no cost. Nokia likewise has plans to make the Symbian OS, which it recently purchased from its co-owners, available for free as well.

Microsoft, for its part, is believed to charge somewhere from US$8 to $15 per handset that runs its OS.

Balmer was quoted as stating the following in relation to the discussion on royalty fees:

Handset makers are skeptical of Nokia, operators are skeptical of Google, I think by actually charging money people know exactly what our motivations are.