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Microsoft Reportedly Launching Its Own Windows Phone Smartphone
zacharye writes "When Microsoft announced earlier this year that it will launch an own-brand tablet to compete directly with its various vendor partners working on Windows 8-based tablet PCs of their own, there was some backlash. Privately — and sometimes even publicly — long-time Microsoft partners took it as an attack on their businesses and questioned why Microsoft would be so brazen. But with nowhere else to turn thanks to Windows' overwhelming PC dominance, these vendors had no choice but to continue developing Windows 8 devices and compete directly with their software supplier. Though events may play out a bit differently in the smartphone market, where Microsoft has yet to stage the comeback it promised two years ago, BGR has learned that the Redmond, Washington-based company plans to release its own Windows Phone 8 smartphone in the coming months."
And Microsoft has always loved doing what works for Apple.
That's good to know. Will the Windows Phone Smartphone be based on Personal PC Computer technology, or will they be copying Apple's iPhone Smartphone phone?
Microsoft's engineering management will fuck it up.
Look at what they did to Danger.
Microsoft designed. Windows OS. Lame.
Film at 11...
Will it run Linux?
0 = 1 + e^(Alt something)
Get Skype on a Windows mobile and I will consider.....
These idiots JUST DON'T GET IT.
For a measly $500K per year I could save them many millions, simply by telling
them what they are not good at doing.
With Microsoft building Surface, it was inevitable they would branch into building other hardware too.
Microsoft's mobile future is too important to Microsoft to leave it entirely to third parities.
It'll be interesting to see how Microsoft manages to make this balance work, although Google seems to be doing fine so far with Nexus devices vs. what everyone else sells. In that regards there's not much third parties can do, since both Google and Microsoft compete against them it's a wash.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
They buy Nokia, and now they think they're Google?!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Who is going to want a ZunePhone?
They might want to first get some penetration in the smartphone market before spending in even more money.
Oh well, this is the modern MS, spend desktop and office money on markets that someone else dominates and keep spending till you compete. Never mind the fact that even 360 has not paid the Xbox bills.
If I was an investor I would be pissed. If you are just going to waste the money pay it out as dividends.
Take a high end Windows phone, add side loading capabilities and other Dev friendliness including the ability to install mods and market it as the SurfacePhone or similar.
Maybe they aren't evil, power hungry, or nakedly greedy. Perhaps they just have a really ambitious sense of humor (Microsoft Tweet), and competing with their customers is just how they do. Their next step will be announcing they are launching an own-brand laptop in a retail store made entirely of painted glass windows.
I never saw that coming...
That Jolla phone a few stories below sounds about 10x more interesting than this win devices.
Microsoft has had their share of unsuccessful hardware (Zune comes to mind) but they are capable of getting it right sometimes too. They make a really good mouse and keyboard for example. XBox is successful, albeit after years of losing money on it. I think they are able to build technically successful products but what kills them time and again is poor marketing and an inability to make anything perceived as "cool" by the hip generation.
The Zune was a really good MP3 player (better than the iPod in many ways) but it had that horrible brown color and MS put no marketing behind it. This is a lesson that gets lost on hard core techs sometimes - it doesn't matter that your product is technically superior if you can't sell it. This is what Apple excels at - superior marketing.
If MS hopes to be successful with their branded phone they are going to have to hire some people that know how to sell stuff. First thing I would do? I'd get rid of all of those idiots behind that series of ridiculous Seinfeld ads. Remember those? Yeah, nobody does and that's the point. Complete waste of time and money. Next thing they have to do is design something that looks cool and is easy to use and is well built. Number three - develop some features that set them apart from IOS and Android. Give people a reason to buy an MS phone instead of the default choice of Apple or Android. Otherwise why bother? Just get one of those two and call it a day.
This is Microsoft's last, best chance to get back in the mobile game. If they blow this one then they might as well throw in the towel and accept their fate as the leader in an increasing dying industry (desktop pc's).
if there's one thing I've learned, it's that BGR really can't be trusted for its exclusive leaks. SO many of them just don't pan out, it seems like like an accident one one of them actually does.
In this case, we have an unconfirmed source saying that MS is planning its own phone but it doesn't have a release timeline for them. Seems like an easy way to get page hits to me.
Doesn't Microsoft already make a few hardware peripherals?
Like the Keyboard series, and Mouse series. Maybe even a game console and accessories or two?
I haven't seen the presence of Microsoft mice keep me from buying a more stylish, equally functional non-rebranded Logitech product, or even a cheap knockoff product that I got to be disposable (and to remind me why brand name stuff is sometimes better).
The more choices, the better, right? I hope they come up with some interesting hardware that sets the bar so the real OEMs can give us something even nicer.
Now, Microsoft is just raping the Finnish corpse.
I do hope Nokia proceeds with 'Plan B' (re: Android), fire Stephen Elop and all the pro-Microsoft sycophants in Nokia (e.g. Chris Weber).
The sooner Nokia ditches the 'turd ecosystem' and the vomit-inducing Metro tiles, the better.
Now, when MS shifts directions in the mobile phone market, they leave their HW makers drowning in their wake. If MS is in the HW biz themselves, then they'll have to think harder, else they'll be shooting themselves in the foot.
Google did the same thing with Android and Nexus. I certainly don't see anyone complaining there.
Perhaps there were complaints, but the market has borne out no doomsday scenario for third party manufacturers. On the contrary, there has been an explosion of Android devices.
Therefore, it is highly unlikely that Microsoft will cause some kind of market upset by using the same tactic.
1) ShitCan Elop
2) Allow the new CEO to work from anywhere (not only Helsinki) – which is why they didn’t get anyone better then Elop
3) ~try~ and rebuild a team of MeeGo developers
4) Ensure that the new CEO is a stickler for quality, and focus on developing one phone that rocks and does not have all the normal Nokia UX/UI abominations
5) Play whatever dance the US phone oligarchs demand so that you can get the handsets sold in the States (lock them down, whatever). Just supply the same phone unlocked overseas.
6) Don’t introduce another new phone until all the normal Nokia UX/UI abominations are again cleared out. (don’t be afraid to be a dick (like Jobs) to your people when demanding excellence.)
7) Slowly build the company back up.
Google did the Google Nexus 7 and it hasn't upset Android makers as far as I can tell. But it does upset carriers who capitalize on their ablity to have devices locked down so that they can take the most advantage of consumers possible.
I think what Microsoft is doing will give the new Windows Tablets/phones the best possible opportunity for success (or failure) by setting the bar at a particular level. OEMs are free to exceed the Microsoft model, but it would upset consumers to not at least meet the standards set out there by Mocrosoft's base model. And when software/firmware updates come out for the Microsoft device, they had damn well come out for the OEM phones and tablets too. In the end, it should upset carriers more than it should upset manufacturers.
Much like Zune, no one wants the crappy Windows 8 phone. Give it up. You failed, you are NOT apple.
Find your own niche, and enjoy it.
Your like the kid that is always a year or 2 behind the fashion of the other kids. You think you are cool, because you are wearing last years fashion, but the other peeps are laughing at you.
Be seeing you...
With Microsoft building Surface, it was inevitable they would branch into building other hardware too.
Microsoft's mobile future is too important to Microsoft to leave it entirely to third parities.
It'll be interesting to see how Microsoft manages to make this balance work, although Google seems to be doing fine so far with Nexus devices vs. what everyone else sells. In that regards there's not much third parties can do, since both Google and Microsoft compete against them it's a wash.
If I am a handset manufacturer, now the only game in town is Google's Android, since the Microsoft is considering moving into hardware on this front.
Has Microsoft realized that they just can't manage Phone manufacturers [1] ? Microsoft has repeatedly backstabbed it's "partners" to it's own detriment later on. Is there anyone laying down the law in Redmond? - seems like Lord of the Flies when it comes to internal discipline and ability to execute as a group.
[1] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/01/06/microsofts_masterplan_to_screw_phone/
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Friends begged with you to stay away from MS but No, you not only didn't listen to them but went on to install an MS Virus in our Top Management. Sow as you reap! Noika RIP!
Question: What happens if IKEA partners with MS?
Answer: IKEA will have no chairs to sell.
I'm so glad the Microsoft has availed itself the opportunity to eat its own dog food. I can't wait to see what their owned people produce in-house, other than the opportunity to prove the value of big-budget advertising and marketing utilizing highly skilled attorneys.
If I were Nokia, I would respond by switching to Android.
Microsoft has poured money quite a lot to Nokia and surely former is not that dumb that it would not mitigate risk being left out cold by its parter it's pouring money at. Read: Nokia would have to pay back all that and shelling out top of that breaking the contract.
Long story short. Nokia is and has been a goner since gave it's pinky to the devil. Anyone worth his salt knew this from day one we heard deal announced between them.
Nokia is finnish or Finnish ? Now can be both!
It will be different from the iPhone 5 because it will have a wonky camera and GPS navigation that doesn't work properly.
Wait a minute...
Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog's back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.
"You fool!" croaked the frog, "Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?"
The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drowning frog's back.
"I could not help myself. It is my nature."
As quoted by Samuel Beckett Does it not seem odd that Microsoft is trying to create a smart phone? I think someone has already done that. Would it not make better sense for Microsoft to do A) broaden and increase the X-Box market where their money is or B) re-invent a cumbersome technology to capture the market share from those who do it badly?
Select from tblFriends where interesting >= 4;
The only difference between a computer and a phone is: with a phone its a computer that makes calls. Besides Microsoft won't make the hardware Foxconn will!
Maybe they are buying up all of those phones from Android that Google won't let them sell and rebranding them?
because they didn't build a huge ecosystem around it the way Apple did with the iPod.
They tried - they had Zune Pass, and quite a bit of music accessible.
The real reason they failed is that instead of building the Zune they should have Zunified Windows Mobile phones with a music ecosystem and better playback/discovery experience, seeing ahead of Apple that standalone music players were a short-lived niche that smart phones would eventually overtake.
But Apple saw before Microsoft did that the standalone music player would be eclipsed by the personal phone, even though Microsoft was producing them long before Apple... very odd.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm sure people at Nokia feel really good about their "cooperation" with Micro-fuck-everyone-over-once-they're-no-longer-useful now.
What I think is going on is that MS thinks the smartphone market will work like the console market did when they entered it - there were two large competitors, and in almost every market there's always room for a third. By throwing tons of money at it, you can from there start to compete with the juggernauts and if they blunder, you're there to take over (almost happened to Sony with the PS3).
It'll be interesting to see if this works out for the smartphone market, because Apple/iOS and Google/Android aren't the same kind of competitors.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Dear Nokia,
I guess you don't watch a lot of American movies or TV shows, but when you sell your soul to Satan in exchange for something, there's always a catch. For example, the guy who got eternal youth had to "enjoy" it in prison while facing a life sentence. If it makes you feel any better, nobody will probably like Microsoft's own branded phones any more than they do yours, but that's not much consolation as all you'll have left is being the king of the garbage section of the industry that makes "phones that are only phones". Nice knowing you.
Microsoft is reportedly launching it's own windows phone smartphone.. It's expected to land somewhere in the pacific..
the MicroPhone
> If I am a handset manufacturer, now the only game in town is Google's Android,
> since the Microsoft is considering moving into hardware on this front.
Did you miss that Google has already moved into the hardware with their purchase of Motorola Mobility?
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
"I can understand Microsoft may be frustrated with partners not following through on a long term strategy"
:)
Hee eee hey...
AccountKiller
Did you miss that Google has already moved into the hardware with their purchase of Motorola Mobility?
Apparently you missed that Android is open sourced. That means that there are at least three major competitive ecosystems (Amazon ; Barnes and Nobel and the major Chinese app market places) as well as innumerable minor ones (e.g. CyanogenMod and all the small independent market places). Any or all of those would welcome a major manufacturer as a partner.
Google has to compete for favour from Mobile manufacturers. Microsoft is setting its self up to completely mess them over. Probably, it will buy one of the more successful ones with a Windows phone (HTC? LG?) once it has driven Nokia and co bankrupt whilst stealing their ideas.
Remember the strategy; Embrace and cooperate (Burn the platforms memo) Extend (provide Windows 8 with Nokia and other people's functions and ideas) Exterminate (Windows 9 / 10 has special "Microsoft only" features; Windows 11 barely works on partners phones).
Even if Android from Google went closed source tomorrow, there is enough weight of developers outside Google to overtake it within two releases.
=~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
android is great (no flames please) but it has a highly fragmented hardware base. Angry Pig Temple Run 2.0 (my soon to be conceived and quickly canceled game project) can be tuned to run on ios 6 on an iphone 4 (4s and 5) which has a ginormous install base.
finding the performance sweet spot on android is much like PC game programming back in 97. Do you have a VooDoo card? Soundblaster?
(really showed my age there)
y'all know what I mean
Apparently you missed that Android is open sourced.
And you missed that Google pulled the Android rug right from under a vendor in China who was about to release a huge product, because they didn't like Baidu being involved.
You can do anything you like - as long as Google approves, or else you have to fork as Amazon has done.
Google doesn't have to compete for anyone's favor. You as the handset maker serve at the pleasure of Google.
Probably, it will buy one of the more successful ones with a Windows phone (HTC? LG?)
Why not Nokia itself? That has made the most sense all along.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The droid line has nothing to do with Google directly
I was off in my timing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Droid
But Motorola did make a Droid, that was what confused me...
Even though that was before the Google purchase of Motorola Mobility, it does not mean Motorola does not continue to make many Android phones, all of which compete directly against other carrier phones.
So my point stands.
Microsoft is not going to be buying handsets and branding them
Are you sure? Them making the phone at all is only a rumor, why would Nokia for example not make one to spec?
what google does with the nexus line and what verizon does with the droid line.
And not what Google does with any Motorola Mobilty Android phone which they make directly.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The droid line has nothing to do with Google directly.
Had to followup after I found this at the motorola link:
Motorola Droid.
GottaBeMobile's Best smartphone CES 2012.... Buy it link works.
So how again does it have "nothing to do with Google"?
Point stands, now unaltered.
That's the last time I doubt my understanding of the Smartphone market over a post from some random guy on Slashdot...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You can do anything you like - as long as Google approves, or else you have to fork as Amazon has done.
What's your point? From the moment you start to do anything different you have effectively "forked". Having long running independent forks is a clear fear for Google. What this means is that any handset manufacturer can threaten a fork and that's all they need to ensure that Google stays onside.
Probably, it will buy one of the more successful ones with a Windows phone (HTC? LG?)
Why not Nokia itself? That has made the most sense all along.
Nokia no longer has the level of smartphone sales to be useful; they have destroyed most of their manufacturing base and closed their most important factories. They also seem to be in an agreement where they have to give their Windows Phone improvements back to Microsoft in any case. Microsoft has nothing to gain from bringing them on board. They have plenty to lose from the cultural clash it would cause. Even the stupidest of Nokia employees is realising that they have been totally taken to the cleaners by Microsoft.
=~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
The Shape of Things To Come, or What Will a Windows 8 Phone look like.
Probably a dododecahedron. Either that or Mobius Strip that hangs from your ear like jewelry.
Full of the Look and Feel of Microsoft B.O.B. it will be a bouncing baby boy that had an entire OS written for it, while gutting the desktop OS, instead of sensibly keeping them separate.
It will come in two colors: Rave Green and Puke Yellow. But if you pay $200 extra you can get one in light blue.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Faster, bigger, with more heat generated than a thousand suns, it's the iBOB.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
A Youtube clip that explains you corporate relationship with Microsoft:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT5WYSwET28
Have a nice day.
* Carthago Delenda Est *
Unless Microsoft is keen to take heed to the mistakes made by their Kin phones (HA!), this may well fail just as miserably. Kin phones didn't even make it two months before getting pulled off the shelves.
Fifty watts per channel, baby cakes.
This is one thing I can't see MS copying properly from Apple. Apple based both OS-X and iOS on FBSD/XNU, and so portability is not much of an issue for them - something they've fine-tuned from the NEXTSTEP days and then had porting experiences first from Motorola 68k to PPC, then PPC to x86 and finally x86 to ARM. In fact, Apple could stage a coup by doing one more leap from x86 to ARM, using either a Radeon or an NVIDEA GPU for any compute heavy loads that they need. The fact that ARM is still 32-bit won't matter - they can make it a muticore w/ several localized memory attachments of 2MB each to build up whatever is needed by the system.
But w/ MS, since Android has the mainstream phone market and Apple the glamor phone market, MS's only hope is to leverage the Wintel advantage, and include some way of running PC apps on phones. So that people who want to install the software they bought & are using w/ PCs on their phones have at least that rationale for buying a Windows phone, be it from MS or from Nokia. As Google has shown, if they can sell a Razr and a Xoom and yet be fair to the likes of Samsung, HTC, Sony, et al, there is no reason that MS can't do the same w/ Nokia, Dell, HP and others. But they have to define that strategy right. If they just slap Windows RT on an ARM phone, it'll be simply another disaster waiting to happen.
If that's what it takes to jumpstart the OEMs into making great hardware with cutting edge technology then I'm all for it. The Surface has caused several manufacturers to rethink their existing designs. I really hope they do it.
Microsoft products themselves have shot themselves in the foot. Remember when they tried to implement "Plays for sure" DRM which nobody liked and then ditched it later leaving all those who bought media left in the dark? Marketing has always been one of their strong points. Call me troll, but look at the evidence of trolling on slashdot and "positive" reviews by like-minded people. Maybe if Microsoft actually did it right and tried to be more open without squashing their partners and competing on merits of their products they would have the crowd follow along automatically instead of once every quarter. Kinect looks good and original, and unlike Linux and co, they always test their products from a user-centric side and not a programmers. If they could get all that gunk that is going in Microsoft Research that would allow them to cannibalize some of their mainstay, but not forward looking, products *read Windows and Office like Apple does, then they could be a company of the future. So blame it on Blamer or the top down bureaucracy and the consequent inability to innovate. If you build it, they will come. Good luck Microsoft.