Nortel has several 4G LTE-related patents in the pool(http://mobile.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/RIM-Not-Goog...). Those are HUGELY valuable to Apple, RIM, Sony Ericsson and Nokia. I would be very surprised if none of those companies came out with 4G phones in the next year or so. Getting control of the patents can save them a pretty tremendous amount of money on licensing fees.
These were probably the ones that those companies wanted, and the entire reason that the price is so high. They simply could not let Google be the sole owner of the patents, because that would give Google way too much power in the mobile space.
Out of all the companies, MS is probably the only one that did it specifically to hurt Google. However, this also could signal that MS is going to make their own WM7 phone.
>"MS is probably the only one that did it specifically to hurt Google"
Exactly what is the basis for this?
As you noted Nokia with whom Microsoft shares some interest would benefit from owning those patents. In addition, Microsoft as owner of Skype now has a substantial interest in patents applying to telephony networks.
How exactly would Google owning "several" patents on LTE translate to them being a sole owner of the technology? My understanding is that there are a couple of thousand patents on parts of LTE, with companies like Qualcomm, Nokia or Ericsson controlling hundreds of patents.
These were probably the ones that those companies wanted, and the entire reason that the price is so high. They simply could not let Google be the sole owner of the patents, because that would give Google way too much power in the mobile space.
Out of all the companies, MS is probably the only one that did it specifically to hurt Google. However, this also could signal that MS is going to make their own WM7 phone.