Microsoft isn't waving the white flag
With a paltry 3 percent of the smartphone market, Microsoft might be forgiven if it conceded defeat to Android and iOS. And for a minute, it seemed like it might -- there were rumors that Microsoft would switch up its mobile strategy by abandoning Windows Phone handsets and partnering with Google to get its software and services pre-installed on Android devices. Then when Satya Nadella announced 7,800 layoffs -- essentially a dismantling of its Nokia acquisition -- it seemed like the end of the road.
Instead, it's the beginning of a new one. In an interview with ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, Nadella talked extensively about Microsoft's mobile strategy and smartphone plans. The short of it is, Microsoft will continue to release handsets, but will have fewer models with features the company hopes will lead to more market share.
"Last week's announcement was not about any change to our vision and strategy, but for sure it was a change to our operating approach. The way we're going to go about it. I'm not going to launch a phone a day. I'm going to focus on a few phones that actually grab share that, in fact, showcase our uniqueness," Nadella said.
At the same time, it sounds like Nadella hopes that third-party manufacturers will run with the idea. Just as the company's Surface tablets have led to a wealth of two-in-devices, he sees the same happening with Windows Phone devices. And if not?
"If no OEM stands up to build Windows devices we'll build them," Nadella said. "There will be Lumia devices. So I'm not afraid of saying, okay, it's all about the OEMs, or it's all about the ecosystem. It's about Windows. It is about the overall health of Windows and being grounded in any given day's reality, but having ambition of where the market is going versus being bound by current definitions."
Therein lies Nadella's main focus -- he wants to get away from thinking about mobile in terms of smartphones only. For Nadella, it's more about the software, which in this case is Windows 10 and the interoperability between different devices in different categories.
"When you have three percent share of that (phone market), but you also have a billion desktops, you have Xbox, you have innovation in HoloLens; you have Band. It's a graph. It's not any one node. It is the entirety of the device family. And I want to be able to think about our strategy, our innovation, and progress as one," Nadella said.
Do you think there's any hope for Microsoft in the smartphone market, or is it too much of an uphill battle at this point?
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