Xiaomi to preinstall Microsoft apps and services on Mi devices

In September, Xiaomi’s mobile devices, including the Mi 5, Mi Max and Redmi 3, will come pre-installed with Microsoft Office software, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, as well as Skype.

Microsoft as a company has around 60,000 patents in its hands.

Xiaomi will purchase the patents from Microsoft for an undisclosed sum, said Wang Xiang, Xiaomi’s senior vice president of strategic cooperation, in an interview.

Xiaomi’s deal with Microsoft means that Americans may soon see Xiaomi officially launching smartphones and tablets in the U.S.in the near term.

As part of the agreement, Microsoft is selling about 1,500 of its patents to Xiaomi, while the deal also includes a cross-licensing arrangement for other patents.

Curiously this move comes right before the highly anticipated entry of Xiaomi, the popular smartphone company from China in the United States smartphone market and other western markets.

Currently, rumors say that Xiaomi was anxious to expand to the U.S. and Europe because of weak stash of patents that could have exposed it to a long and tedious legal battle.

Microsoft has been facing some antitrust investigations over allegations that they bundled some of their software.

Xiaomi sells smartphones in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, India, Indonesia, and Brazil, but has been eyeing an worldwide expansion.

“This is much broader than some of the other partnerships we’ve had”, he said.

In its most recent Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, released in late April, IDC reported that Lenovo and Xiaomi had been pushed out of their previous fourth- and fifth-place positions on the global smartphone market by two up-and-coming Chinese firms, Oppo and Vivo.

The new collaboration also includes a cross-licence and patent transfer agreement that could enable Xiaomi to boost the features of its range of phones by using some of Microsoft’s technology.

For a long time, Xiaomi has been planning to enter into the developed markets of USA and Europe.

Jonathan Tinter, corporate vice president at Microsoft, said the company was keen to tap into Xiaomi’s young, affluent and educated users by having its products pre-installed on their devices. Xiaomi is also growing quickly, and expanding internationally as it goes.