Microsoft said to be testing its own smartphone design
In addition to building its own tablet to compete with the iPad, Microsoft may design and sell its own smartphone to take on Apple's iPhone, according to a new report.
Microsoft is said to be working with suppliers in Asia to test its own smartphone design, The Wall Street Journal reported this week. While the company is reportedly toying with the idea of building its own smartphone, officials aren't sure whether the product will actually hit the market.
The device being tested by Microsoft has a screen size between four and five inches, which is the new standard for smartphones. Apple's latest iPhone has a slightly larger 4-inch display.
Microsoft's Windows Phone platform has floundered against Apple's iPhone and devices running Google Android. The Redmond, Wash., software company hopes its mobile operating system will get a boost this fall with the debut of Windows Phone 8.
But if Windows Phone 8 continues to struggle, the company could decide to its own hardware, in an effort to spur sales.
Microsoft has designed and built Xbox game consoles for more than a decade. And last month, the company went in a new direction when it released Surface, a Microsoft-designed touchscreen tablet that runs a modified version of the Windows 8 operating system known as Windows RT.
Microsoft is said to be working with suppliers in Asia to test its own smartphone design, The Wall Street Journal reported this week. While the company is reportedly toying with the idea of building its own smartphone, officials aren't sure whether the product will actually hit the market.
The device being tested by Microsoft has a screen size between four and five inches, which is the new standard for smartphones. Apple's latest iPhone has a slightly larger 4-inch display.
Microsoft's Windows Phone platform has floundered against Apple's iPhone and devices running Google Android. The Redmond, Wash., software company hopes its mobile operating system will get a boost this fall with the debut of Windows Phone 8.
But if Windows Phone 8 continues to struggle, the company could decide to its own hardware, in an effort to spur sales.
Microsoft has designed and built Xbox game consoles for more than a decade. And last month, the company went in a new direction when it released Surface, a Microsoft-designed touchscreen tablet that runs a modified version of the Windows 8 operating system known as Windows RT.
Comments
I thought they had started a close relationship with Nokia to build their flagship win8 smartphone, it was called Lumia. Or is this report anticipating the purchase of Nokia by MS?
Looking forward to it! I really hope it comes with a kickstand a stylus and a flip out keyboard.
Not like the useless stuff Apple produces.
/s
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rabbit_Coach
Looking forward to it! I really hope it comes with a kickstand a stylus and a flip out keyboard.
Not like the useless stuff Apple produces.
/s
Agreed, and they need to make all kinds of racket when deployed.
They really have no fucking clue these days.
Stop trying to copy the hardware.
It ain't that.
Stop trying to copy to software.
It ain't that.
Copy Apple's philosophies.
Oh...they're going to make another Kin! Haha! I thought they didn't want to make hardware and software? Now all of a sudden they're doing it?
So not only was the Lumia 900 really a beta phone, MS treated Nokia like a beta company. I hope Nokia's alliance was a hail mary, because if they had other options, they should have done a better job of exhausting them than being Microsoft's throwaway partner.
I don't recall many complaints about the hardware on the Lumia 920. Exactly what do they hope to do to raise the WP8 turkey from the ashes?
Not sure Microsoft has the visionaries necessary to make this a success. The current mobile phone market is saturated, so if they want to entice people to switch from their Samsung or iPhone they will need to offer something different. I don't know of anyone that trusts modern day Microsoft to be able to do that. Sounds like they will come out with another phone that looks just like the rest and functions about as well as everything else out there.
right on.. the first phone that’ll experience the blue screen of death.
Can't wait to see the marketing campaign. Every Microsoft tv ad seems like a case study in trying too hard, in a vain attempt to mimic hu-man appeal.
digitalclips
Of course they are ... they have to emulate everything Apple does otherwise they are dead in ten years or sooner.
This and more. I was in a Microsoft Store last week, and it was full of silver-with-black-keys ultrabooks; Macbook clones in a clone store.
I like how whenever Apple does something, Microsoft copies and turns it to 11. Aqua had an extra layer of gloss and animation, so Aero practically vomited gloss, and some pretty elaborate file copy animation. Text-based iPod interface? Our music player will be all about text, so big it goes off the screen! Since OS X became more unified and understated, Windows 8 went full basic.
I think Apple is slowly becoming wise to this, moving slightly in one direction just to watch Microsoft wildly veer that way and crash through a wall. You're supposed to skate to where the puck will be, not all the way out in the parking lot!
JeffDM
So not only was the Lumia 900 really a beta phone, MS treated Nokia like a beta company. I hope Nokia's alliance was a hail mary, because if they had other options, they should have done a better job of exhausting them than being Microsoft's throwaway partner.
I don't recall many complaints about the hardware on the Lumia 920. Exactly what do they hope to do to raise the WP8 turkey from the ashes?
Extend, embrace, extinguish. Microsoft's modus operandi is well-documented on this site.
Originally Posted by GTR
Copy Apple's philosophies.
They "are".
Ballmer has been doing that since he became CEO. Why, he watched Pirates of Silicon Valley and everything!
"Good artists copy, great artists steal." So they're stealing from Apple.
"Real artists ship." So they shipped Windows 8 with its new features and UI in a state I would call unworthy of an alpha.
Zune Phone FTW!!!!
LOL
Microsoft doesn't need vision. It's competitive play book has always been:
1. Get version 1.0 out there to compete against the incumbent
2. Get version 2.0 out there
3. Get version 3.1 out there
4. Get version 95 out there
Etc... Etc...
99. Market domination, coast until challenged.