Google offers Android firms a helping hand

MOBILE SOFTWARE HOUSE Google will be there for companies using its Android operating system and wherever they are it will find and help them.

That message came from Google's chairman Eric Schmidt, who is taking a bit of a tour and making a lot of comments along the way.

Earlier while roaming South Korea, Schmidt said that Google's upcoming acquisition of Motorola would not make it a favourite amongst its Android partners, and he criticised Microsoft's litigation against phone makers that are using Android. Today in Taipei, he has gone further.

"We tell our partners, including the ones here in Taiwan, we will support them. For example we have been supporting HTC in its dispute with Apple because we think that the Apple thing is not correct," Schmidt told reporters during his first visit to Taipei, according to Reuters.

Schmidt said that the support offered will include information sharing, industry expertise, and possibly most importantly, access to Google's patents.

Google has rather reluctantly built up a war chest of patents, and has said that it has only done so because its competitors like Microsoft are acquiring patents. Using these to help out its partners and supporting firms makes sense and could help them fight off patent lawsuits.

Microsoft is probably highest on the agenda here and that firm makes no effort to hide just its interest in Android. However, Schmidt suggested that Microsoft might not be able to cash the cheques that its mouth has been writing.

"Microsoft is not telling the truth on this issue," he said yesterday, "and they are using tactics to scare people because they are scared of the success of Android." µ