OEM Licensing
By Dave Whittemore · Updated September 29, 2026 · 4 company case studies
What is OEM Licensing? The company licenses its software or service to hardware or device makers, who ship it inside their products so buyers get it with the device.
How OEM Licensing works Shipping inside other makers' devices puts the product in front of every buyer of that hardware without a separate purchase decision.
How companies won with OEM Licensing From the win chains in Strategy Canon case studies: what the winner did, and what its rival did at the same step.
vs. Blockbuster · 2007–2011
Netflix Unlimited streaming in the subscription creates new viewing demand
What it did Instant viewing added at no extra charge (Jan 2007) on partners' devices (Roku 2008, consoles and TVs 2010) Blockbuster Bought Movielink, a per-title download store with 3,300 titles (Aug 2007) Read the Netflix case study → vs. Quark · 1982–87
Adobe Innovation: PostScript, one device-independent page language licensed into every printer
What it did Warnock and Geschke had designed Interpress at Xerox PARC Quark Quark began as an Apple III word-processor maker (1981) Read the Adobe case study → vs. Apple · 1976–85
Microsoft Hardware-independent OS licensed to every PC maker
What it did Gates had licensed Microsoft BASIC non-exclusively to TRS-80, Apple II and PET makers (1977–78) and won arbitration over MITS's attempt to block licensing to others Apple Macintosh (Jan 1984) shipped only on Apple hardware Read the Microsoft case study → Also tagged: Autodesk
The question to ask of a company Which makers ship it inside their devices, and how much of its reach came that way?
Who names it — 2 of the canon
Author What they call it / where it appears Christensen Modular components carried by others' products Thompson Distribution through OEMs
Note. Near miss: An app in a phone's app store. Does not count: A software partnership with no hardware; an app available for download on a device.