The year 2011 has not been a great year for Windows Phone, but 2012 may be different. Now there is a decent selection of Windows Phone devices that are out there, including the Nokia Lumia 900. Morgan Stanley is expecting shipment of Nokia’s new Windows-based devices to hit about 37 million units in 2012 and 64 million in 2013.

It was only a couple of days ago that the U.S. ITC ruled that some of HTC’s smartphones was violating several of Apple’s patents. HTC has already started testing out new phone models that work around technology that was cited in the patent lawsuit that was won by Apple.

A judge with the U.S. International Trade Commission had made a ruling yesterday that HTC is guilty of violating Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) patents. The ITC banned HTC from importing several models of their smartphones as a result. The ban is supposed to take effect on April 19th. The patents are related to two patents related to “data tapping.” Apple had accused HTC of violating about 10 patents total. Fortunately for HTC, they will be able to get around the patent by making a few shifts in the user interface. In other words, it’s a quick fix and they can get back to business as usual.

Carrier IQ is software that has been installed on about 150 million smartphones, which tracks personal information about users. Security researcher Trevor Eckhart discover the software and posted a video about it on YouTube. People were outraged by what they saw on the video and Carrier IQ was thoroughly investigated after that.

Samsung, HTC, and Carrier IQ has been sued for violating a federal wiretapping statute. Currently there is controversy surrounding an issue about Carrier IQ using tracking software on mobile devices. The class action lawsuits have been filed in Chicago and St. Louis. The class action lawsuit is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of all U.S. residents who have had mobile devices containing Carrier IQ software.

Adult film production company Vivid Entertainment, LLC has sent a cease and desist letter to HTC about the HTC Vivid device for using that name. Vivid’s lawyers said that they are afraid that somehow consumers will think that the HTC Vivid smartphone is connected to the adult video company. Wow.

The HTC Edge is going to be HTC’s first quad-core processor powered phone according to sources with PocketNow.com. The HTC Edge is expected to have 4.7 inch screen and will measure at 10mm thick. It will have 720p resolution, 1GB RAM, backlit 8-megapixel camera, and a 28mm, f/2.2 lens. The Edge is also expected to have an AP30 Tegra 3 CPUS from Nvidia, which offers four 1.5GHz cores. The internal storage is expected to be 32GB with Bluetooth 4.0. The Edge will most likely sport Beats Audio speakers too. The HTC Edge would be connected to the HTC Listen music store, the HTC Read bookstore, and the HTC Play gaming hub. The Edge is expected to arrive in Q1 or Q2 of next year. [PocketNow]

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has announced a cross-licensing deal with Samsung Electronics. Microsoft will receive royalty revenue on every Android tablet and smartphone sold by Samsung. Microsoft has a similar deal in place with HTC.