14 DAY TRIAL // Windows Phone hasn’t managed to gain too much traction on the market, although it was made available on shelves over a year ago.
Apparently, those to blame for this are wireless carriers and mobile phone makers, at least this is what ex-Windows Phone GM Charlie Kindel notes in a recent blog post.
According to him, Microsoft was keen on taking all of the decisions on Windows Phone updates, apps and hardware specs, thus leaving operators and handset vendors aside.
Basically, Microsoft imposed its own rules when it came to the delivery of software updates to Windows Phone users, which might have upset some carriers out there.
Similarly, the software giant imposed specific hardware requirements for handsets running under the platform (the well-known Chassis variants).
“WP says “here’s the hardware spec you shalt use” (to the device manufacturers). And it says “Here’s how it will be updated” (to the carriers),” Kindel says.
Operators appear to have been hit the most by this. The result was that Windows Phone was not pushed to users as other mobile OSes were.
“The money is provided by the other sides of the market: OS providers & device manufactures, but the carriers get to spend it; they are the aggregation point where the money actually gets spent,” he continues.
“The carriers choose what devices get featured on those TV ads. They also choose what devices to train their RSP (retail sales professionals) to push. They choose to incent the RSPs to push one device over another.”
Although it did not fare well when compared to Android and iOS, Windows Phone remains a superior product, Kindel notes.
Chances are that Microsoft’s investment in Windows Phone will eventually determine carriers to change their hearts towards the platform.
New Windows Phone handsets should become available next year and, as their number increases, so should the awareness on the platform. The application ecosystem surrounding Windows Phone is expected to greatly expand as well.