14 DAY TRIAL // Following the first public demonstration of Windows 8, and its support for System-on-a-Chip architectures, including ARM-based systems, questions started emerging related to a possible overlap with Windows Phone. Microsoft has so far insisted that Windows Phone is tailored to a specific set of mobile devices, and that Windows 8 will power non-smartphones form factors, being designed for everything from Tablet PCs / slates to full desktop PCs.
Still, remarks such as those from Intel CEO Paul Otellini, that the CPU maker was gearing up to put Windows 8 on phones contributed only to spark additional speculation about a possible competition between Windows 8 and Windows Phone in the future.
I sent some questions to the software giant on how they plan to position Windows 8 in relation to Windows Phone, but I’m yet to receive an answer. I’ll make sure and provide an update when that happens.
Not that I’m actually expecting Microsoft to provide straightforward answers, or to share a sneak peek at their strategy regarding a possible overlap between Windows 8 and Windows Phone.
Today’s strategic alliance between Nokia and Microsoft however manages to provide a guarantee that Windows Phone will survive despite the form factor democratization that Windows 8 will introduce.
The fact that companies such as Intel will be able to put Windows 8 on mobile phones is bound to mean little in the context in which Microsoft has an investment to protect with Nokia, and profit from potentially tens of millions of WP smartphones sold by the Finish company, if not more, by the time that Windows vNext is out.
The software giant can block the installing of Windows 8 on specific hardware via licensing agreements, and there’s not that much that OEMs can do in this regard.
I’m extremely curious to see whether Microsoft will permit manufacturers to produce Windows 8 smartphones, especially in the context in which they’ll be able to, or if the company will limit them to using Windows Phone to ensure that its mobile platform remains unchallenged, at least not from another flavor of Windows.
Considering the efforts that Microsoft, and from now on Nokia as well, will pour into increasing Windows Phone’s market share, as well as expending the platform’s application and services ecosystem, I find it very hard to believe that the Redmond company will allow for its own Windows 8 to be a disruptive force.
But at the same time, there are more ways than one to overlap. With Windows 8 coming to more form factors and Windows Phone continuing to evolve, there might come a time when it will simply make sense to use the core of the Windows client for the mobile platform as well.
Taking into consideration the rapid growth of hardware resources packed into modern smartphones it’s a safe bet to think that in just a few years they could be more than enough to accommodate the full Windows client, or a stripped down version re-packaged as Windows Phone.
There is one thing over which I continue to lose sleep. What’s the point of the Windows Everywhere strategy if “everywhere” doesn’t include smartphones?
What do you think? Should Microsoft produce a Windows 8 SKU tailored to smartphones? Or should the company keep the Windows client and Windows Phone completely separate?