Microsoft’s Nook Deal Boosts B&N, Challenges Android, Doesn’t Help Consumers

So much for Barnes & Noble’s standing up to Microsoft’s “anticompetitive scheme” against Android. One year after their nasty patent spat flared up, Microsoft and B&N have buried the hatchet with a “strategic partnership” that has Microsoft dumping $300 million into a new subsidiary company. It’s a smart investment for Microsoft, since allowing ambiguity to fester around Android’s patent status earns it far more than the $300 million it’s putting into B&N.

The terms of the deal have Microsoft settling its suit with B&N, giving the company a royalty-bearing patent license for the Nook line. Microsoft is putting a $300 million investment into “newco,” an as-yet-unnamed