Google has held preliminary discussions with InterDigital about a possible acquisition of the wireless technology developer and licenser, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. Bloomberg reported separately that Apple is also considering a bid for the company. InterDigital has confirmed it's considering strategic options that could include a sale of the company. Google was recently beat by a consortium of rivals in the bidding for Nortel's patent portfolio. They paid five times Google's initial bid of USD 900 million for the intellectual property. Google is hoping an expanded patent portfolio will better protect its Android mobile OS from lawsuits. Part of InterDigital's decision to explore a sale was spurred by Google's interest, and the two companies have been in touch in recent days, the WSJ said. Both companies declined to comment.
