Microsoft's Android shock: What this new phone means for the future of Windows

[steven36]

Microsoft's willingness to build an Android phone shows how much the company has shifted its priorities.

 

 

 

The biggest surprise to come out of Microsoft's hardware event this week was not the new Surface devices -- not even the dual-screen Neo laptop, intriguing though it is. No, the most unexpected arrival was a Microsoft smartphone, running on Android.

 

The Surface Duo has two 5.6-inch screens, and is due to arrive late next year. Foldable smartphones may be the 'next big thing', but, in contrast to rivals like Samsung and Huawei, Microsoft has gone with two screens linked by a fancy hinge rather than one bendable screen. That's probably a wise move, given the teething troubles Samsung experienced with its Galaxy Fold. Perhaps a dual-screen device of similar size might find favour with a business audience: big enough to work on, small enough to fit in a pocket.

 

 

Of course, Microsoft has plenty of history when it comes to smartphones, stretching back to a couple of decades, but it has never really managed to make a breakthrough. Most notably, and expensively, Microsoft bought Nokia's smartphone business in 2013 for €5.44 billion, with the aim of breaking back into the phone market. But the company quickly realised it couldn't win against Android and iOS, and ended up slashing thousands of jobs and writing off more than the total cost of the acquisition just two years later. 

 

The last vestiges of that Windows-based smartphone dream are about to fade away as Windows 10 Mobile goes out of support in December this year.

 

For a long time it seemed that Microsoft had concluded that smartphones was a two-horse race that it couldn't even join, let alone win. Instead of trying to scale a version of Windows down to the smartphone, it would just provide its apps and services on top of Android and iOS.

 

 

But it seems that Microsoft just can't leave smartphones alone. Bill Gates recently said his biggest mistake at Microsoft was not creating a platform like Android (although there are plenty of reasons why that could never have happened). 

 

So what has changed?

 

The decision to make an Android smartphone more than anything else reflects Microsoft's changing priorities. The Surface brand is a now a success, generating over a billion dollars in revenue per quarter. Perhaps the brand is strong enough that there is now demand for a phone-sized Surface device, even if it doesn't run on Windows like the rest of the line. I'm not entirely convinced that's the case, but there will be some enthusiasts who will want to be Surface users, from handheld device to massive collaboration screen.

 

The other reason for a Surface phone is the success of Microsoft's app strategy, which has basically ensured that, even if you aren't using a Windows device, you can still get access to a wide range of Windows services. Microsoft, as my colleague Mary Jo Foley points out, already has over 150 apps in the Google Play app store. Having a phone to showcase those apps makes sense and may even encourage more developers to experiment with new versions that take advantage of those dual screens.

 

Supporting those two strategies is a higher priority than trying to make Windows smartphones happen again. In fact, it might be a higher priority than promoting Windows. Microsoft has come along way since it was 'the Windows company': now it's entirely possible to see it as a cloud computing and productivity apps company too. Perhaps that's why the Duo is being shown off so far ahead of its launch -- to emphasise that Microsoft is trying to take a different approach.

 

As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told Wired: "The operating system is no longer the most important layer for us," he says. "What is most important for us is the app model and the experience." 

 

None of that means Windows is going away -- it's still a vast profit machine that ties together all the rest of Microsoft's businesses. But Microsoft's willingness to create an Android phone shows just how far the company has rethought its strategy in the last few years.

 

Source

[zanderthunder]

I'm not surprising, since Microsoft has several apps on Android platform. And since they discontinue the mobile version of Windows 10, probably they see Android as viable replacement.

[steven36]

6 hours ago, Edward Raja said:

I'm not surprising, since Microsoft has several apps on Android platform. And since they discontinue the mobile version of Windows 10, probably they see Android as viable replacement.

It is surprising  Microsoft have just as many apps on IOS and MAC OS as well . MAC OS  even have more than Android .  I looks like after they lost billions on smartphones and had to cut thousands of jobs they would leave well enough alone . The Android Phone Market is already very fragmented  and here is Microsoft trying to introduce another niche phone who is going to buy Microsoft phones besides Windows fanboys?   They are cell phone vendors that been around before they ever made smartphones  and they dont sell very many , Right now the sale of smartphones have slowed down so it's not really a good time to try to reinvent the wheel.  Even on Windows most people try to avoid there modern apps . So i doubt they would sell very many too normal users . Me myself  I never use Microsoft apps since i was a new PC user a noob . I never used Skype even i tired MSN Messenger when i was a noob but i never liked it there were far better alternatives. Most consumers now days are using others besides Skype witch is mostly used by businesses witch is being phased out with Teams . Skype will be dead and gone and i want ever have used it       

 

I never use something because it comes baked in or pre-installed on a OS since the early 2000s . i always use what works best for me . Lucky for me on the OS I use witch is not Windows ether it has a minimal install so its not bloated with apps i will never use ,  it only has the apps i want to use.that i picked out.