14 DAY TRIAL // Yesterday Microsoft sold its feature phone business to Foxconn, in an effort supposed to aid the company to continue its investments in the smartphone industry, where Windows 10 Mobile and Lumia devices have until now have been among its top priorities.
But with the sale of this unit to Foxconn, Microsoft could also signal its commitment to a fully reorganized mobile effort, one where Lumia phones might not have a place.
And following reports that Microsoft itself might no longer be interested in the mobile business, the company comes back to say that it will continue to invest in the platform for many years from now on. Only that its statement leaves room for interpretation.
First of all, the company had to say the following in the original announcement released yesterday:
“Microsoft will continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia phones such as the Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, and phones from OEM partners like Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and VAIO.”
Many got this as an indication that Microsoft no longer intends to release other Lumia models, which aligns with previous hearsay suggesting that the company is indeed planning to phase out the Lumia brand, or at least to put it on hold in the short term. Rumor has it that Microsoft doesn’t plan any other Lumia phone, and this is the reason why it only mentioned existing models when showing its commitment to the device lineup.
Windows 10 Mobile still has a future
A Microsoft spokesperson has also reiterated in a statement for WSJ that the company “is committed to a vibrant Windows Phone market,” once again suggesting that it doesn’t necessarily want to be an active part of it. Furthermore, he has added that Microsoft will “continue to develop Windows 10 for mobile devices,” once again a hint that the company has a different plan for the long term.
And this plan could pretty much come down to the Surface Phone, a long-awaited highly premium device that would be designed by the same team that built the Surface tablet. The Surface Phone is expected to see daylight in the spring of 2017 with top hardware and more features that would be specifically aimed at enterprises.
The consumer market, on the other hand, might be left behind by Microsoft in its efforts to bring in more enterprises. And surprisingly, selling the feature phone business to Foxconn doesn’t seem a good plan on paper since Microsoft was the leading company in this sector. In the first quarter, it sold 16.7 million phones worldwide, more than Samsung with 13.1 million.