Microsoft has No Plans to Build Their Own Smartphones
posted Sunday Jul 1, 2012 by Nicholas DiMeo
With the previous week Microsoft just had, you might assume they will end up taking over the gadget and tech worlds like never before. Microsoft's Surface announcement definitely shocked the industry and caused competitors like Google to play catch-up and release a tablet of their own. More importantly was the fact that Microsoft was now "manufacturing" their own tablet, which we all know is them just putting their logo on the new device. Later in the week, Microsoft announced the new Windows Phone 8, which raised the bar for mobile operating systems.
That is where this week's comments from Microsoft's senior marketing manager for Windows Phone, Greg Sullivan, have impact. Sullivan said that Microsoft specifically has no plans to build their own labelled smartphone, which goes against analyst predictions from last week.
This opens up a very interesting scenario for Microsoft. We go into detail after the break.
A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed Sullivan's comments, adding that,
We are big believers in our hardware partners and together we're focused on bringing Windows Phone 8 to market with them.
As of right now, Nokia is the biggest manufacturer and Windows Phone 8 looks to reel in more companies, like Samsung, to produce handsets for Microsoft's new mobile OS. However, the statement that Microsoft has solid confidence in their smartphone manufacturers says a lot for their tablet line. Windows 7 tablet sales were very minimal in the grand scheme of things and there seemed to be no solidified message or branding behind what they could do.
Trying to bring in Samsung to build smartphones when Microsoft is clearly unhappy with the tablets they (and other manufacturers) have produced puts both companies in somewhat of an awkward position. Would Samsung, currently the largest manufacturer of Android smartphones, come on-board to make WinPho8 devices after Microsoft's decision to completely control and define their tablet development? Granted, there is a possibility Samsung is actually making the innards of the Surface and Microsoft's logo is just slapped over the top of it. It should be noted that Samsung produces the SUR40 with PixelSense as well as the Windows 8 developer device.
I'm very intrigued to see what will happen next through Microsoft's bold moves and announcements in the past week. However, now we do know that they are on top of providing standards for the Surface - similar to what we saw in WinPho7 and 8 - and have so far entrusted third parties to follow those guidelines on their upcoming smartphones. What do you, the reader, think is going to happen here? Will this help or hurt WinPho8 smartphone sales? Is this whole thing really a non-issue at the end of the day? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.
