Microsoft aiming to take advantage of the Apple vs HTC suit

Looks like my thoughts/predictions are turning out to be true. In my post titled “Apple vs HTC: Why not sue Samsung & LG ? Is it good news for Microsoft?” I suggested that Apple’s attack against HTC/Android can be seen as an oportinity for Microsoft to promote the new Windows Phone 7 Series OS:

….what’s interesting to me here is Microsoft’s new position in this case. One thing that HTC isn’t happy about lately is the fact that they can’t add their Sense UI on top of the newly announced Windows Phone 7 Series OS, but this could be a “good thing” for them in the long run if Apple manages to stop them from selling devices featuring Sense (in the US). The most logical “solution” for them would be to develop Windows Phone 7 Series handsets (no Sense or any other OEM UI on there). Unless Apple decides to go against Microsoft this is a win-win situation for the software giant. Microsoft can now say to OEMs all over the world that if they don’t want to get in trouble with “sue-happy” Apple they should use WP7on their smartphones and ditch Android.

This has now been confirmed by Oppenheimer’s Yair Reiner who issued a behind-the-scenes report on the Apple vs HTC story:

Even before the lawsuit, handset makers were having second thoughts about Google, which with the Nexus One had become a direct competitor. Now their faith in Android as the easiest and cheapest way to counter the iPhone has been shaken, says Reiner. The unintended consequence, he suggests, is to send them into the arms of Microsoft (MSFT) and Win7 Mobile.

“Our checks,” writes Reiner, “indicate that Microsoft has been quick to sniff out this burgeoning opportunity and has begun to aggressively promote the strength of its own IP portfolio, as well as its willingness to join battle with customers that come under IP attack.”

An other thing I I talk about was the reason why Apple attacked HTC:

Apple isn’t going to commit suicide and sue the companies that help them build their own products, that’s why they decided to attack a company that is in no way related to them.

Reiners take on this :

Why pick on HTC? Reiner speculates that as the earliest and most aggressive user of Android, HTC was the perfect proxy for Apple’s real target: Google (GOOG). It helped that Apple and HTC didn’t have any supplier relationships that could be disrupted by a protracted legal battle.

You check out more of his thoughts and background on the whole Apple vs OEMs subject here