Microsoft wants a frictionless entry into the mobile market for Windows Phone 7 next week, at least that’s how things would appear, as the software giant buttons up a licensing agreement from Acacia for Palm, reports Ars Technica.  Though unrelated, the news comes shortly after Microsoft and Motorola put their differences aside (at least some of them), regarding a row of patent infringement cases.

“The licensing deal comes as Microsoft is seeking to stage a comeback in the smartphone market after several years of stumbles,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “On Monday, it plans to unveil a new line of handsets from hardware partners based on a new operating system called the new Windows Phone 7.”

The move is reflective of ongoing changes within the mobile industry, specifically as it pertains to dominant platforms that are structuring massive economies around mobile devices, all with aims to scale globally.  The platform space is quite fragmented, and at this point in its maturation process, Microsoft is another option on developers’ tables.

While Windows was an early entrant into the mobile platform market, it’s inability to truly converge many of its spanning applications gave Apple and Android an opportunity to make us all but forget about Microsoft’s earlier mobile efforts.  Teaming up with other platforms may be a far easier route for Microsoft to go.

Andy Rubin, VP of Engineering at Google, doesn’t think further fragmentation of mobile platforms is the answer either, even though Android is considered a leading cause of such disruption. I think the screen shots I’ve seen are interesting, but look, the world doesn’t need another platform” Ruben retorted when asked about the threat of Windows Phone 7 during a PCWorld interview.

It’s not necessarily bad news for HP either, even as HP ended up slightly rearranging its Palm tablet timeline in light of Android’s growth this past year.  Until now, we haven’t heard much about HP’s plans for Palm, though the company recently revived portions of the OS for all the big plans it has for next year.  Interestingly enough, they’re related to a mobile platform.