Microsoft will not manufacture its own Windows Phone 8 smartphones

[Scubie67]

The Redmond company will not launch a smartphone under its brand, as it did for its size tablets. Four manufacturers will be present at launch, including Nokia.

Last week, Microsoft unveiled Surface, its own tablet running on Windows 8 and available in two versions: ARM and X86. Stan Shih, CEO of Acer, would however, encourage other manufacturers to offer their own models. The area would then be the only tablet manufactured by Microsoft and publisher will therefore follow the strategy of Google and its Nexus family which positions itself spearheading the Android Market.

At InformationWeek, Greg Sullivan, general manager of marketing department of Windows Phone, explains that this strategy is not to the agenda. "We have a strong ecosystem of partners with whom we are very satisfied," he says. These comments were confirmed by a spokesman for the Nokia company and the leading partner of Microsoft Windows Phone. As per Mr Shih, marketing licensing is more profitable since with the construction of an appliance, the company must ensure the marketing side, the production, distribution and support to consumers.

Still, the device manufacturing is not totally foreign to Microsoft. The firm took a chance on the market with the Zune music players and knows a great success with its Xbox. In the field of telephony, recall that shortly before the launch of Windows Phone, Microsoft marketed its own phones: the Kin One and Two. Targeting supporters of community networks, the latter have been available in the U.S. between April and July 2010 and then quickly abandoned.

The strategy is therefore perfectly different for smartphones through partnerships with four company's in major Nokia, Samsung, HTC and Huawei, which allow Microsoft to cover all price ranges, from Qualcomm processors. The close proximity of Microsoft with Nokia can justify this decision, the firm has less incentive to motivate the mobile manufacturers.

[Adamaris]

The first smartphones running Windows Phone 8 are expected in the fall, along with the first computers with Windows 8. Despite recent support from Nokia, the market share of the group in Redmond smartphones became confidential: 1.9% of global sales in Q1 2012, against 2.6% last year and 6.8% in 2010, according to Gartner.