14 DAY TRIAL // The rumor mill has always been one of the most interesting sources of news for the tech industry, no matter if the speculation proved to be true or not, and now some new sources are suggesting that Microsoft could be giving up on Windows Phone for… Android.
As shocking as it might sound, replacing Windows Phone with Android is not such a terrible idea, especially because Microsoft keeps investing millions of dollars in a platform that still sits at 3 percent market share worldwide, so the company might indeed be looking into different ways to become relevant in the mobile industry.
A letter that CEO Satya Nadella sent to the troops last week also suggested that “tough changes will come,” so it’s pretty much natural to at least think that Windows Phone might not have a future in Microsoft’s lineup.
But as far as Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research, is concerned, that’s not going to happen. At least not now. Microsoft needs Windows Phone, and both the Lumia devices and the operating system are essential parts of a business that can’t survive without any of them.
Lumia devices running Android?!
If Microsoft kills the Lumia lineup, the whole Windows Phone ecosystem is doomed because 95 percent of the entire business is made of Lumia devices. On the other hand, killing Windows Phone and going forward with Lumia devices is also pretty difficult because it’s hard to believe that Microsoft devices can ever compete in the Android business (as weird as that might sound) with Samsung.
“There’s every indication Nadella was one of the board members who opposed the acquisition [of Nokia] at the time, and I suspect he feels like it’s the one part of the business he’s inherited that’s going to be almost impossible to turn around, so it must be tempting to just ditch it,” Dawson explains.
“I’m skeptical that Microsoft would drop Windows Phone at this point, because it feels like Windows 10 is the last big opportunity for it to turn things around in mobile.”
While it’s hard to say right now if Windows 10 is indeed that big opportunity that Microsoft has been waiting for in the mobile business, what happens is what’s even more important for Windows Phone users.
It’s not a secret that Microsoft has been pumping lots of money in the development of Windows 10 Mobile and new Lumia devices, and all sources say that all these projects still exist and they are scheduled to reach the market as initially planned, later this year.
But some say that Windows 10 Mobile and the revamped Lumia lineup could be Redmond’s last attempt in a difficult side of the business, so we’ll just to wait and see if Redmond’s tough choices also include Windows Phone’s demise or not.