Apple and HTC reached a patent deal

Apple announced that it has reached a global settlement with the phone maker HTC that includes a dismissal of current lawsuits and a ten-year license agreement that covers both current and future patents. Sounds very refreshing after the Samsung episode.

There could be multiple  reasons for settlement.

• It is very likely that both Apple and HTC must have realized the costs of patent disputes and long drawn court battles.
• The other possibility is that the threat level  is so low that signing a deal is indifferent from no deal.
• Though it is highly unlikely, both of them got a real good deal and that they can’t refuse.
• One of them just wanted to close the deal before the situation gets any worse. Most likely HTC wanted to be safe than sorry.

In my opinion, the deal could be a mixture of good and safe deal. Most likely HTC wanted to be safe and on the right side of the game before launching a new wave of smart phones. As per reporting by TheVerge  there is no material impact on HTC financials, which essentially could mean that it is a cross-licensing deal both wanted. In anyway, we will never know the truth about the true impact on the Apple financials or Android ecosystem.