I tell yeah...

trying to figure out how this 2 tier process is going to work is one puzzle.

1. HTC is the maker of the Google phone......HTC as a "manufacturer", is on our current list as a 1st tier consideration.

2. The Snapdragon processor platform(similar to TI's ARM OMAP platform) belongs to Qualcomm.

3. Google is a "marketeer" of the HTC phone....where the proliferation of the phone platform is minimal at this point.

Of the three connections, they all figure into the tier process at some point.

If we license HTC in the current process....depending on the negations, if they end up with all patents both foreign and domestic, including FlashR....then they are out of the picture. We are then down to a play of two, for tier 2. What would Google, as a marketeer, position be, seeing they are buying a product from a company that has already settled?

I have no idea what alliances e.Digital is after, however, seeing that this phone platform has not proliferated yet....perhaps in this scenario is a royalty starting with HTC....and we still have an option to go after Qualcomm.

Qualcomm would have to be where they make their stand on tier 2 for bucks, keep in mind Qualcomm is not only about the Google connection. IMO, that 512 internal flash(that was identified as ROM) I pointed out in prior post, is an axis for the processor platform....it's not used for just storage of the MSFT OS platform. Same for OMAP and the internal flash related to it.

lots of possibilities for sure.

doni