'Microsoft to make its own Surface phones' - mutterings
Source of rumours predicted 5 of the last 2 surprises
Microsoft has, apparently, signed up with iPhone manufacturer Foxconn to build its own handset next year, extending the Surface brand into mobile telephony.
The rumour comes from Digitimes, and tells us that "upstream suppliers" claim to be supplying parts for a new phone from Amazon too, which should make 2013 an interesting year for hardware if not the platforms on which it runs.
Digitimes has a spotty history at best, telling us that Apple would be launching a TV ready for Christmas this year, and that we’d be buying Nokia tablets (running Windows 8) by now, not to mention busy typing stuff on the fold-out keyboards the iPhone 5 is equipped with. But Digitimes did get the screen size of the iPhone 5 right, and predicted the iPad Mini with surprising accuracy, so can't be dismissed out of hand.
It would be remarkable for Microsoft to launch its own phone, given the job Nokia is doing as Redmond's hardware arm. Microsoft launched Surface (the tablet, not the table) because manufacturers were being too conservative in their designs, but Nokia's Lumia range is innovative and if Windows Phone fails it won't be down to lack of hardware.
Amazon, on the other hand, has every reason to get into the phone business so shouldn't be discounted - Kindle users often have Android phones, opening them up to an ever-present alternative to Amazon's offerings in the form of Google Play, so removing that temptation makes sense. ®
COMMENTS
So, you could have a PC that runs Windows Windows, a tablet that runs tablet Windows that isn't Windows Windows, a phone that runs phone Windows that isn't Windows Windows, and now possibly a tablet that runs tablet Windows that isn't phone Windows or Windows Windows?
Ahh, I get it now!
Why not go the whole hog and introduce Kin Windows and Zune Windows devices too?
All options covered, can't fail. Cash or cheque is fine, Mr Ballmer.
Nokia went with Microsoft ..
Nokia went with Microsoft instead of Android, putatively to avoid competition from Android - and now it will be competing directly with... Microsoft itself.
OEM's will be keenly aware that Microsoft are making tablet/laptop things, now phones, and in the future no doubt desktops. MS do not have to play licence fees of course, and they control the software and the rights to use it, giving them a massive competitive advantage. The OEM's now view MS not as a partner but as a direct competitor that is attempting to take their business from them. The OEMs will be looking for a new partner - and indeed have found one - Google.
This will mean that MS will lose it's income from licences, and, unlike Apple, it will not be able to charge a premium for its hardware. The market, when they think of Windows, think of virus scanners, windows rot, malware and general poor quality they have to put up with at work.
Yay!
I hope the new phones come with Clippy, everyone's favourite little metallic friend.
My productivity at work has plummeted since he was decommissioned. Although the internet might have had something to do with that.
Exciting times
Seems the MSFT grip on hardware makers is about to dissolve.
Is it possible to get shares in Canonical?
Foxconn?
What's wrong with Nokia - I thought Microsoft had 'bought' Nokia to build their phones? Well, at least they've bought Nokia's senior management;-)
