Interesting read from Jean-Louis Gassée that refutes the notion that Samsung (and other Android devices) will now need to assess an Apple Tax on consumers for settling licensing and lawsuits. As Gassée points out, this is nothing new:

> Last year, Apple and Nokia settled an IP “misunderstanding” that also resulted in a “Tax”…but it was Nokia that played the T-Man role: Apple paid Nokia more than $600M plus an estimated $11.50 per iPhone sold. Where were the handwringers who now accuse Apple of abusing the patent system when the Nokia settlement took place?

He goes on to point out that Samsung is already paying huge sums per phone and tablet to Microsoft, yet no talk on a “Microsoft Tax” in the media.

Of course Nokia and Microsoft are not nearly as page-view-link-bait driven as bad mouthing Apple is, so there’s that.

I think the most interesting to thing to find out, right now, is what Google is saying (if they are saying anything) to their hardware “partners”. I mean think about it very carefully: Google owns Motorola and just watched Samsung be effectively bitch-slapped by a Jury. Is Google telling hardware partners to “keep calm and carry on”? Not likely.

And if Samsung is already paying Microsoft $10-15 per Android device, how much would it cost to just license Windows 8? It cannot be that big of a gap.