Column: Google, Microsoft make peace with their partners

It was in 2010 that the mobile era first began to take after a soap opera -- the year that Steve Jobs called Android a "stolen product," and pledged to destroy it. That spring, Samsung Electronics released the first Galaxy S smartphone, which would later become the subject of a contentious legal battle with Apple. It was also in 2010 that the smartphone patent war went global, with the number of lawsuits increasing tenfold over the previous year.

More back-stabbings followed. Google bought Motorola in 2011, threatening to compete with partners like Samsung. In turn, Samsung threw its resources behind competing operating systems like Bada and Tizen, threatening to leave Android. Similarly, Microsoft angered hardware vendors by diving headlong into computer gear with the Surface tablets. The OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) responded by abandoning netbooks, embracing Android, flirting with Chromebooks, and more recently, experimenting with Steam Boxes.

Full story at Minyanville.