Could Microsoft Be Working On Its Own Phone Too?

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ojas

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Feb 25, 2011
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interesting, interesting. You know, i think MS is pulling an Intel. Remember how Intel started making their own SSDs just so the SSD market will improve? I think MS is trying to do the same thing, get its partners to make better Windows phones/tablets.
 
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They might lose more money than they expect to make with this move. Right now they're charging $5-15 per Android device on a dozen companies to avoid patent litigation. When then make their own hardware, a dozen companies will go after them for patent protection fees.
 

jojesa

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[citation][nom]john_4[/nom]Why not, they copy everything else.[/citation]
Don't you say. I remember that before Apple there was nothing. The earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep...then Apple appeared.
Comment above = sarcasm (in case you don't get this either...read a little bit more, you can do it on that device you use to post nonsense)
 

TheKurrgan

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Why does this sound like a Ballmer panic move? This whole Windows 8 fiasco sounds like something that would come out of that dome of his.....
 

pedro_mann

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[citation][nom]jhansonxi[/nom]Considering their marketing department's expertise with product names I'm predicting "Kin III" or "Kin Vista".[/citation]
Or even worse, Windows RT? Such a snappy name, eh? Although, Vista as a name was not really bad, but their consumer products are usually odd sounding, like Zune, Kin, Windows RT? None of those really have a cool factor.
 

pedro_mann

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[citation][nom]TheKurrgan[/nom]Why does this sound like a Ballmer panic move? This whole Windows 8 fiasco sounds like something that would come out of that dome of his.....[/citation]
Actually, I have been dogging on MS a lot lately, and the only thing I can fault them for is taking so long, they are like 10 years late to market. So thta is going to hurt.

The other problem is completly trashing Windows 8 UI to make it act worse than a Mac. There is a reason we like windows, they have done tons of usability reserach and the desktop and start menu works great. But now, it is bet everything and try to follow Apple and Google. It ain't gonna work. Their consumer products won't have mindshare, and the gamble everything approach is going to leave business high and dry, and clinging to Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 for years to come. Once that platform ages, if they don't fix their mistakes in Windows 9, it will leave what market share hasn't eroded to their competitor to be filled by other competetors such as Linux. Think about it, if businesses are going to have to invest heavily and increase their TCO on the desktop, don't you think many might make the switch to Linux in order to offset the licensing costs? Any software that isn't compatible can be run through VDI using exisiting Windows licenses. This massive disruption in the food chain is a bad idea. Risk taking and calulated are not in balance.

I was trying to leave a positive post, but as I re-read it, it sounds more analytical than anything. To their credit, Xbox will be solid and cross platform integration will be a kickstarter, but leaving thier core OS with no legacy UI will be the mistake that makes this all fail. They are taking the grease out of the gears.
 

machvelocy

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i dont see a bright future for MS in phone market as it is stuffed with already stiff competition from android and apple. MS need to be wary by its recent manouver as they might make enemy from their own device partner, now they want to add nokia on the list of potential rival.

of course, what apple has achieve is making every company envy, however MS need to remember their past record with zune, and that apple is more like a cult than a brand.
 

webdev511

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I'm going to say No, Microsoft is not working on their own phone. The reason being is that unlike PC's or tablets, Windows Phone has a reference hardware spec already. Sure meeting the minimum isn't anything fancy. (I know that for a fact as I have an HTC Trophy) but if one of the handset makers wants to go whole hog, the blue print is already there for them.

I think a hardware rev of the Lumia 900 with all the Windows Phone 8 features & a 720p display would be pretty damn slick. No keyboard/cover required. :p
 

_TuxUser_

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Feb 10, 2012
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"The move may also be based on Microsoft's current track record with Windows Phone. Despite Nokia's success with the Lumia line"

What success? The Nokia N9 sold 3 times better than all the Lumia together. The Nokia CEO and microsoft employee Mr Elop has himself said that the sale of Lumia is far below expectation. No, the sales of Lumia has been a disaster and each sold unit in the USA is a big loss for Nokia (who looses around 11 million euro each day thanks to WP).

What microsoft wants to do is just copy Apple, but they do lack the charisma of Apple products and the carriers ain't going to promote any WP phones, even less when microsoft has decided to have free calls with skype.
 

back_by_demand

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Funny thing is, it doesn't matter what Microsoft does, if they stay out of the hardware market they get hate, if they enter the hardware market they get hate. The real problem isn't Microsoft, it is the Apple and Google fanbois that think Microsoft is some sort of boogieman that is going to eat your children. Microsoft has done more to unify the IT industry into a single entity than anyone. You can buy any machine from any vendor anywhere in the world, or build it yourself from parts with a million combinations and it all just works. That is what people really want and that is why ten times as many PCs are sold than iPads.
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So a tablet comes along, the iPad, which looks good and does what it does very well. Problem is what it does is very limited and essentially is a toy. A PC can do everything an iPad can do and more.
App Store? 650,000 apps
PC Software? Over 6 million
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So Microsoft wants to get into the tablet market, traditional business model is to wait for hardware vendors to make some good hardware and you roll out Windows and collect licensing fees. But this time around the hardware vendors have stabbed Microsoft in the back, they have all gone with Android tablets because it is free, but essentially they have created another toy, but in the majority of cases it is a cheap tacky toy made from shitty plastic. The very few tablet with Windows are either also clunky and cheap or so expensive that they have priced themselves out of the market. Top that, Microsoft also know that their traditional partners in the hardware sector have nothing lined up and giving a free pass to Apple and are content to fight for the scraps in the low-end toy tablet sector where with a few exceptions they are all clones with nothing to distinguish them from the competition.
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So Microsoft is in a quandry, does it continue to stay out of the hardware market and slowly become obelete through no fault of its own as an insipid laziness overcomes the industry? Or does it make its own hardware and risk alienating their hardware partners? I think we know the answer to that. Microsoft has been stabbed in the back so it owes nothing to these companies, that same companies that have made their own billions because they all agreed to be part of a singular interoperable platform, that spun on the axis of Windows.
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Microsoft has done the only thing it could do and push out it's own hardware and my god it is beautiful, if this had been released by Sony then the forums would be saturated with positives and thumbs ups everywhere. But instead people are nitpicking on things they either have no knowledge of, making things up, or fielding a personal negative opinion on something that a different person would find as a positive
No 3G / Wifi only? Initially yes, maybe, but most people will have a smartphone with a dataplan, I really don't want to have to sign up to a second data plan, I would really rather tether, other people have their own opinion and they are afraid to use it.
Battery life? - You don't know
RAM? You don't know
All these things will come in time and when they do you can comment, till then you just need to STFU
Price? You don't know
And frankly I don't care, if someone wants something they will justify any expense, the iPad is a classic example. A toy that cost a rather large amount of money and is almost totally incapable of being used for a serious business use. So it becomes a media consumption device. Windows 8 will do everything the iPad can, with more software, will be able to run your enterprise and be a workstation, but also feed you media in the manner it was intended, be that movies in widescreen or internet pages that still use Flash.
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So doing it themselves had to be done, if the backstabbing vendors change their minds and come back with their own beautiful creations then I am sure Microsft will forgive them, but if it were me at Microsoft i would use this as an opportunity to clean house.
 

techy74

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This can only be a good thing. This shows that microsoft is serious about the phone market. anybody in IT is more than happy to us the Microsoft branded Mice, keyboards and other accesopries. i am sure the quality of the phone will be great too.

Microsoft has a great product here, they deserve to do well. Haveing, does not make it a great product. The Microsoft phones are great products with great apps.

Once again they need to do something. Every phone store i go past is flooded with Android, or Apple and they might have 1 windows phone on display.
 
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