XpresSpa Group Inc (XSPA)

[xlt leader]

It's all about Microsoft. Some see the settlement comments are mere licensing of Lang's technology but whatever the deal is it also involves Yahoo, since Bing powers Yahoo search. I have also researched how much Microsoft detests Google. There is a rivalry here. These comments are in reference to Microsoft/Yahoo' search alliance.

Listen to these comments, Balmer can't even say Google's name in a commentary:

And he expects that opposition to be lead by Google, though apparently he is unable to say Google’s actual name unless Walt Mossberg works magic upon his mind. He just kept saying “competition” today:

We’ll certainly face — we suspect we’ll face some opposition from the competitor [GOOGLE] — I would say competitors but it’s really the competitor who may not like more competition, because we actually think this is one of these cases where us coming together will actually provide more effective competition to the market leader, not less. So, certainly we would expect the competitor to be aggressive.

The question no can answer other than Microsoft and Vringo's lawyers is the scope of the deal being discussed. It's easy to say is only about licensing the patents but there is scope for a bigger deal and this is one reason why the S/A article reasons Google will settle. One can take the approach of its not possible but there is uncertainty on that front. Those competing positions will be battling it out over the next few weeks I suspect.