14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft pretty much acknowledged the death of its own mobile platform, saying that Windows Phone would no longer receive new features and hardware, so the company can switch to plan B in order to remain an important player in mobile.
With the focus now on Android and iOS, Microsoft wants to make all of its apps and services available on these two platforms, as this could allow customers of non-Windows phones to continue using its products without any compromise.
But at the same time, Microsoft is also reconsidering its device strategy, and while Windows phones are slowly but surely disappearing from the company’s stores, Android phones are already taking their place.
After the Samsung Galaxy S8, which landed in the Microsoft Store earlier this year, here comes the turn of Razer to bring its new Android phone right on Microsoft’s own playground. As we announced earlier this month, the Microsoft Store was listed as one of the locations where people would be able to buy the Razer Phone, and as it turns out, the device is now available for order from Microsoft’s online store.
Microsoft’s Android apps
As it was the case of the Galaxy S8, Microsoft uses the Razer Phone listing to highlight some of its Android apps, like the Microsoft Launcher.
“Microsoft Launcher, available from the Google Play store, gives you the ability access your calendar, documents, and recent activities in your personalized feed. You can even open photos, docs, and webpages on your Windows PC with a Microsoft account or work/school account, so you can be productive across all your devices. A single tap on a file in the Android home screen feed will trigger it to launch on a PC, allowing you to work seamlessly between your Android phone and Windows computer,” the firm says.
The Razer Phone can be purchased from Microsoft for $699.99, and it goes without saying that this is just another sign that the software giant is slowly becoming fully committed to rival mobile platforms, including here not only software, but also hardware.
Without a doubt, this could be a very effective plan to boost adoption of its apps in the Android ecosystem, but for hardcore Windows phone fans, this can’t be any good.