Mark Bridge writes:

The past few days have seen the arrival of two familiar seasons. Not only has the sun peeked its head from behind the clouds in an approximation of Spring but the mobile industry has been releasing its quarterly results.

Microsoft has agreed a worldwide patent licensing deal with Hon Hai, the parent company of Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn. It’ll cover Hon Hai for producing smartphones, tablets and smart TVs that use the Android and Chrome operating systems.

Full details are confidential but Microsoft will receive royalties from Hon Hai.

Nikon Corporation is the latest company to sign a patent licensing agreement with Microsoft. It covers a number of Nikon cameras that use the Android platform.

Full details aren’t being disclosed, although Microsoft has announced it’ll receive royalties from Nikon.