14 DAY TRIAL // Redmond-based software giant Microsoft has been long refuting rumors regarding the possible launch of its own smartphone running under the Windows Phone operating system, and it did the same today.
Speaking at AllThingsD's Dive Into Mobile conference, Terry Myerson, corporate vice president of the Windows Phone Division, explained that the company is very happy with the devices that its manufacturing partners have launched, and that it doesn’t feel the need to launch its own handset.
In fact, he said that things would have been different if Nokia’s Lumia devices or HTC’s Windows Phone 8-based smartphones weren’t as successful as they are at the moment.
“It would have to be something where Nokia or HTC was not providing the consumer experience we think is possible with our platform,” Myerson said, according to The Verge.
He also said that Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia is a great partner for the Windows Phone platform.
Rumors on Microsoft planning the launch of its own Surface phone started to emerge since last year, after the company launched the Surface tablet PCs, and were fueled not long ago by Nokia's CEO, who said that a Surface phone would help the ecosystem.
The software giant has already made a similar move with the KIN handsets, which, unfortunately, lived short lives, mainly due to their low-end hardware specs and of the seemingly unfinished OS they were running under (a platform that marke the transition from Windows Mobile to Windows Phone 7).
Additionally, more recent reports suggested that Microsoft was already testing a so called Surface phone, yet no official announcement on the matter has been made so far.
At the moment, Nokia is leading the Windows Phone 8 crowd with its Lumia handsets, which cover all price points, courtesy of devices such as the cheap Lumia 520 or the high-end Lumia 920.
Soon, the company might launch new smartphones in the series, including a Lumia 928 phone for Verizon Wireless, and a flagship 41MP handset codenamed EOS, which might arrive at AT&T later this year, if recent rumors are to be believed.