Microsoft paid us $250m in Q4 to use Windows Phone

Microsoft paid Nokia $250m in Q4 2011 for adopting Windows Phone, the Finnish company’s financial results today have revealed, the first of a “platform support payments” scheme expected to eventually account for billions of dollars. The two companies have always declined to put an exact figure on the “significant investments” Nokia would receive, though this new stat lends weight to earlier talk of over a billion in Microsoft subsidies.

“Our broad strategic agreement with Microsoft includes platform support payments from Microsoft to us as well as software royalty payments from us to Microsoft” Nokia said in its results today. ”We have a competitive software royalty structure, which includes minimum software royalty commitments.”

The deal suggests Nokia could well be paying Microsoft significantly less to use Windows Phone on each of its handsets than other licensees, such as HTC and Samsung, are. Comments from ZTE earlier this month indicated the company pays Microsoft around $27 per Windows Phone it produces.

“Over the life of the agreement” Nokia says, “both the platform support payments and the minimum software royalty commitments are expected to measure in the billions of US Dollars.”