>Realistically Microsoft could strike a deal and make an Android phone use Cortana by default
Zero chance for Google doing it but maybe one of manufacturers or Cyanogen?
Zero chance for Google doing it but maybe one of manufacturers or Cyanogen?
Window Phones are good tech. The phones are designed very well. The OS is fluid and it does things well. I just can't ever see it breaking into double digits of market share in the next 5 years due to public demand for Windows items and the lack of mind share. Maybe in 5+ years. I think MS has a better chance of just doing a Amazon and fork Android.
Maybe in 5+ years. I think MS has a better chance of just doing a Amazon and fork Android.
I would never, ever have thought that I'd say that, but since using a Lumia 1020 I have to grant that Microsoft created a damn good, flexible and extremely usable OS for mobile devices.
Remembering that atrocity that was Windows CE I never would have thought this possible and I really intend to stick with the platform. Despite the fact that software selection is somewhat limited compared to Android and iOS (which, practically speaking, is not really that consequential).
No, no, no. This war is won by distribution. Your mom doesn't go to the store to buy an android phone. She goes to buy a phone. Which phone? The one that the friendly employee at the store proposes. Which one is that? The one that the store manager tells the employee to push. Which phone is that? The one that corporate headquarters tells stores to push. Which phone is that? The ones with lucrative kickback schemes. Which phones are that? The ones that manufacturers decide.
Which phones will they decide on? The phones in partnerships with the company that changes their agreements and APIs every quarter? Maybe they will chose the company that they have a very profitable partnership going on for 3 decades. The company that has the power to waive a magic stick and turn them from unprofitable/breakeven to well into the green. Comapnies pay a lot of money to MSFT every year on patents. Samsung paid $1bn last year alone. Every manufacturer is losing money on smart phones because of that. Guess what? If you push our phone, we can share those patents with you. Oh, btw, we can subsidize those windows phones, give you some cash advance on the OS you sell for us just to stitch things up for the next few quarters.
Microsoft is all about business. Big business. Big partnerships. They suffocate competition in a very deliberate manner. Google hasn't competed ever with anyone. Moreover, Erick Smidt tanked Novel back in the day because of poor relationships with their partners.
On top of that, the OS will be good. Nobody will complain. Lots of phones will be sold in the lower end market. Some corporate deals will be done for the mid and high end markets and the ball will get rolling. Developers will be happy too. MSFT is making big progress in that lately. You also get the added bonus of developing for the windows PC and tablet platforms, in addition to the phone platform. Everyone will make lots of money. Except google.
People don't go to buy a "phone" in 2015. They go to buy an iPhone, a Samsung or Note4, than the other 1/3 of the market are people who buy the "free phone" which is a thing of the past. Now it is cheapest phone which people have already got burned on. People talk about what phone all the time. Not I got what the store sold me. If they sell you anything it will be an expensive iPhone or Note.
My friend's teenage kids both hated their Windows Phones because they weren't iOS and thought it was uncool. "It wasn't even a Samsung." They both broke the phones so that they wouldn't have to be seen with them.
I see Windows Phones at every store I go to.
Then how do you explain the lack of traction Windows Phones had the last decade? Did they forget to leverage all those super duper BIG partnerships?
This makes me wonder if investing in Cyanogen was a wise strategy for Microsoft? This way they could get past the gates of Google and into the land of Android.