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Microsoft has their own Windows Phone in the works

wpcentral.com

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Re: Microsoft has their own Windows Phone in the works

#31

Post by illicium »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #24
cooldeal wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Android is free As I noted in another comment in this story, this is wrong. AOSP is open and free, but it is not very useful without access to the half million apps in the Google Play store, Maps, Navigation, Youtube, Google Now etc. >In other words, OEM WinPhone users are already cornered into producing only the stock vanilla experience, and now they're competing against the platform owners themselves who are allow…

It's not the same brand as open source "free", but access to the Google apps is indeed free.

It's not free (as in beer) to OEMs, who have to pay buy a license to put Google Play and/or apps onto their devices.

Re: Microsoft has their own Windows Phone in the works

#32

Post by IanDrake »

potatolicious wrote: post #30
IanDrake wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I can't imagine an OEM wanting to sleep in Microsoft's bed when they're going toe to toe with the people who build the OS themselves. So, are you saying if Apple opened up and allowed OEMs to license iOS, no one would sign up? I think every phone maker would jump on that.

Honestly, if Apple opened up iOS to OEM licensees, but made clear that they were still going to ship their own devices? Who in the blue hell wants to go toe to toe with Apple on hardware? Granted, you'd still have a few (insane) OEMs willing to cough up the money to try, but mostly on the notion that they will convert a portion of the coveted iOS userbase to their brand - a userbase that doesn't exist in WinPhone lan…

>Who in the blue hell wants to go toe to toe with Apple on hardware?

Having owned 3 different iPhones, I can assure you there are other phones with better design and build quality. Not to mention phones with bigger screens. I know several people who want their iPhone bigger, smaller, with a removable battery, with a USB, with micro SD, etc...

There's plenty of ways to differentiate on hardware since Apple only offers one option.

Also, no OEMs have abandoned their Win8 tablet development since MS announced the Surface. I'm not sure why WP8 would be so different.

Re: Microsoft has their own Windows Phone in the works

#33

Post by fname »

IanDrake wrote: post #32
potatolicious wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, if Apple opened up iOS to OEM licensees, but made clear that they were still going to ship their own devices? Who in the blue hell wants to go toe to toe with Apple on hardware? Granted, you'd still have a few (insane) OEMs willing to cough up the money to try, but mostly on the notion that they will convert a portion of the coveted iOS userbase to their brand - a userbase that doesn't exist in WinPhone lan…

>Who in the blue hell wants to go toe to toe with Apple on hardware? Having owned 3 different iPhones, I can assure you there are other phones with better design and build quality. Not to mention phones with bigger screens. I know several people who want their iPhone bigger, smaller, with a removable battery, with a USB, with micro SD, etc... There's plenty of ways to differentiate on hardware since Apple only offers…

To be fair, HP did drop out of the WinRT tablet race to focus only on Windows 8 x86 (non-ARM) hardware. I can't seem to find a link to back that up, but I do remember it being a story a few months ago.

Re: Microsoft has their own Windows Phone in the works

#34

Post by dm8 »

If that's the case then MSFT will simply buy Nokia in year or two. Nokia are great at hardware. And they have already doubled down on windows phone OS. Not sure whether Nokia's all in strategy on windows phone OS worked or not. Looks like it is disaster in hindsight.

Re: Microsoft has their own Windows Phone in the works

#35

Post by cabbeer »

mtgx wrote: post #22
untog wrote: post #3

Don't get too excited just yet- they might just be making dev hardware for now. Nokia's "all in" on WP means that they have a great hardware partner for the time being, I'm not sure they'd want to jeopardise that just yet.

Nokia's "all-in" strategy with WP, means it's "bye-bye Nokia" if Microsoft makes their own phone, though. The others can and will still rely on Android for the bulk of their sales anyway. What will Nokia rely on? Nothing.

If that means Nokia will reconsider android, then I think it's a win win.

Re: Microsoft has their own Windows Phone in the works

#37

Post by freehunter »

cooldeal wrote: post #28
drivebyacct2 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not the same brand as open source "free", but access to the Google apps is indeed free.

>but access to the Google apps is indeed free It certainly is not free. Either the OEM who sold the device to you paid off Google for your access(i.e included in the hardware cost you paid the OEM) or you have to violate copyright(along with whoever uploaded them to the host who is vulnerable to a DMCA takedown) to get those apps. Can you find me a legal link to some or any Google apps .apk file(s) to load on to, say…

I don't know about legality (although I know they're widely distributed on reputable sites and Google hasn't taken them down), but my HP Touchpad has the Android market installed including access to all Google apps.

Re: Microsoft has their own Windows Phone in the works

#38

Post by Apocryphon »

potatolicious wrote: post #30
IanDrake wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I can't imagine an OEM wanting to sleep in Microsoft's bed when they're going toe to toe with the people who build the OS themselves. So, are you saying if Apple opened up and allowed OEMs to license iOS, no one would sign up? I think every phone maker would jump on that.

Honestly, if Apple opened up iOS to OEM licensees, but made clear that they were still going to ship their own devices? Who in the blue hell wants to go toe to toe with Apple on hardware? Granted, you'd still have a few (insane) OEMs willing to cough up the money to try, but mostly on the notion that they will convert a portion of the coveted iOS userbase to their brand - a userbase that doesn't exist in WinPhone lan…

iPhone is a relatively high-end smartphone. There is room for lower-end iOS phones in this hypothetical scenario.

Re: Microsoft has their own Windows Phone in the works

#39

Post by freehunter »

eckyptang wrote: post #36
moistgorilla wrote: post #4

I don't see a reason why to be honest. The lumia seems great.

Agreed. Got aa 710 and an 800 here. Nice phones for the money.

I was really interested in the 920 until I saw that it has capacitive hardware buttons. Right now I have a Samsung Focus, and when someone else grabs my phone to look at a picture, I have to do the awkward "no don't hold it there, hold it here, oh no you touched one of the buttons here give it back while I figure out which one you touched now don't hold it there again" dance.

That's embarrassing to me and embarrassing to the brand. People see it and think "oh these Windows Phones are complex and finicky". Nope. Not touching any phone with capacitive buttons ever again. I'll be upgrading to the nicest WP8 device with actual, real buttons.

Re: Microsoft has their own Windows Phone in the works

#40

Post by georgemcbay »

potatolicious wrote: post #2

If true, this signals a huge shift in WinPhone strategy. Up until Microsoft's (ostensible) goal has been to secure a place for a proprietary, commercial OS that runs on OEM hardware (pretty much the Windows model on mobile). Microsoft jumping in with their own devices would probably signal the end of that, and the whole business will become much more Apple-like (vertically integrated, no OEMs). I can't imagine an OEM…

"If true, this signals a huge shift in WinPhone strategy."

This is a huge shift in their phone strategy, but I don't find it particularly surprising post-Surface-announce.

If you asked me a year ago if Microsoft were more likely to produce their own hybrid laptop/tablet or phone I'd have said phone in a heartbeat and I'd have thought you crazy for even suggesting Microsoft would build a laptop. There are far fewer serious OEMs for them to piss off in the Windows phone market than there are in the laptop space.

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