Ina Fried has just confirmed the Nokia Android phone – and even argues that Microsoft might go ahead with actually releasing it.
According to a Nokia source, the software has a look more similar to Windows Phone than to the “squircle” icons used on the Asha. Normandy would also serve as a way to deliver Microsoft services such as Bing and Skype.
That is seen by some at Microsoft as a more palatable alternative than seeing more of those first-time smartphone buyers sign up not just for Android but also for Google’s array of services.
Makes sense. It does raise another question, though: wouldn’t this be yet another operating system Microsoft would need to develop and support?
I mean if it already has an array of Android apps available then, no real development needed. Also Microsoft could develop for any applications for Android for this platform simultaneously.
The source for the article is someone at Nokia who thinks Microsoft might release it. Sounds like wishful thinking to me, from someone who doesn’t want their pet project killed. It would be crazy for Microsoft to buy Nokia so they could sell Android phones without even getting the Nokia brand.
If MS does this, IMHO, they will be doing a huge mistake. Not only this will deal a huge blow in the morale of their own internal Windows Phone development team (do not underestimate the disaster that this is on a company that depends on the creativity of their engineering team to survive), but will have implications outside the smartphone market for MS.
Think about it, MS tried his best to convince developers to spend a effort on WP and Metro, and if this phone is released, it would mean that all this effort was wasted. This will piss off the entire developer community that really took seriously Window Phone.
Worse, this will kill the entire MS convergence strategy. It will be the official dead of Metro UI, Win RT and Surface, since no developer will take these seriously anymore.
Don’t worry, nobody has ever taken Microsoft seriously.
You surely don’t work in the enterprise.
WP7 or WP8 are most definitely not taken seriously in the enterprise.
[/q]
Derp, yeah, because it’s not as if Microsoft has any other products for enterprise customers…
And that changes WP’s position… how exactly!?!?!
LOL WUT? You’re challenging the relevance of my post – after you brought up WP as a complete non-sequitur in a thread that was about a completely separate topic? Does the phrase “Pot > Kettle > Black” mean anything to you?
You might want to try taking your own advice, and perhaps explaining how, exactly, WP’s position has any relevance to whether or not Microsoft is taken seriously in enterprise customers (ya know, the actual topic of this thread)?
Waiting….
Yep, reminds me of you.
Let’s try a bit of reading exercise…
1) “Not only this will deal a huge blow in the morale of their own internal Windows Phone development team, but will have implications outside the smartphone market for MS. … This will piss off the entire developer community that really took seriously Window Phone. … ” (CapEnt)
2) “nobody has ever taken Microsoft seriously” (PhilB)
3) “enterprise” (moondevil)
4) “WP7 or WP8 are most definitely not taken seriously in the enterprise.” (Me)
So now tell me what is “ya know, the actual topic of this thread”? Or is moondevil the person setting the topics of threads over here?!?!?
Edited 2013-12-16 17:44 UTC
http://bgr.com/2013/12/11/microsoft-tablet-sales-2014/
And FWIW, Microsoft owns the entire stack so non Windows Phones in the enterprise likely are still using Exchange and are still managed using Microsoft MDM solutions.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2423899,00.asp
….or maybe they’ll use Chromebooks and Google Docs lol
Edited 2013-12-11 23:33 UTC
That’s nice, but what does it have to do with WP7 and WP8?
Besides, I don’t think a survey with a total sample size of 105 CIOs it is representative of any meaningful trend…
I have seen other surveys:
http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2265311/byod-to-be-widespread-in-bus…
…saying BYOD will hit nearly 50% of all businesses in the next two years. CIOs don’t get much say about all of those purchases, will they?
And that survey involved 2000 CIOs…
Anyway, I work at a company that considers itself a “Microsoft Shop”. We use most of their infrastructure management tools, almost all of our desktops are Windows 7/8, we use Exchange for Email, SQL for our databases, Office for our productivity tools, etc. etc.
We used to issue BBs for phones. Switched to BYOD about 2 years ago, and we let users pick from iOS, Android, or WP.
You could fit every Windows Phone in our organization in your front pocket…
So yeah, Tablets? Maybe… I could see that happening – Surface has some compelling use cases. Phones? Not a chance in hell – Windows Phone may creep up to 5%-10% marketshare for a while, but I see no reason to believe it will ever get anywhere north of that – especially when you factor in that the nearly half of all business phones will be bought through consumer channels in the coming years…
This has always been about Microsoft allegedly not being relevant in enterprise, something patently false. That’s despite JAlexoid and your attempt to reframe the argument.
That’s the advantage of Microsoft being a vendor of management tools, the email infrastructure, Office, Windows, Sharepoint, etc.
Microsoft is highly, highly entrenched in the enterprise. They’re being paid one way or another.
Illustrates the point I just made. WP for now having low enterprise penetration is completely aside from Microsoft dominating the enterprise.
That nay or may not be the case, but fortunes change and tables turn. Microsoft’s enterprise position gives it an opportunity to have a conversation about a completely vertical solution where they have a compelling story. What happens down the road, does the consumeration of IT fizzle out, is it a given that BYOD is here to stay? We’ll see.
Edited 2013-12-12 11:12 UTC
I don’t know what “this” you are talking about… The post you replied to was about Windows Phone not being relevant – and your comment offered nothing to contradict that argument.
I certainly think Microsoft is extremely relevant in the enterprise market. But Windows Phone?
Uh, no.
Edited 2013-12-12 11:18 UTC
And the poster that he replied to made the original assertion that Microsoft wasn’t relevant, I’m not sure why I have to spell this out for you. I replied to the chain of comments.
Windows Phone having low enterprise penetration, while a situation that’s improving, isn’t all the way there yet. An argument can be made, as I alluded to that CIOs in a position to issue company mandated phones are increasingly moving towards Windows Phone.
A separate, independent argument can be made that Microsoft wins either way due to their enterprise value add and management technology. That’s probably a given at this point though. Enterprise is a $20B business for Microsoft (across Server, Management, CRM, and Exchange excluding Office).
A third argument can be made that BYOD may not stick around for good. It comes with its own set of problems and failings, its by no means a silver bullet and feelings on it are far from universally positive.
The central point that ties all of this together is what I believe to be Microsoft’s strong positioning regardless of how it ends up playing out.
This takes critical thinking though.
There is no single respectable source that you can quote that supports your position. Windows tablets are not Windows phones.
Edited 2013-12-13 17:25 UTC
http://www.zdnet.com/nokia-lands-2200-handset-enterprise-lumia-deal…
Nokia and ABB land deal for 2200 Lumia roll out.
http://allaboutwindowsphone.com/flow/item/18506_Nokia_UK_aims_to_in…
Nokia aims for 20% of UK Enterprise market by 2013s end, currently 11.5%
http://www.nokiawp.com/2013/09/enterprise-deal-shell-brazil-to-depl…
Shell Brazil, 200 Lumia handsets
http://www.nokiawp.com/2013/08/19000-nokia-lumia-820-windows-phone-…
Delta Airlines, 19,000 Lumia handsets
http://www.nokiawp.com/2013/09/enterprise-deal-city-of-oslo-orders….
City of Oslo, 3,000 Lumia handsets
http://www.zdnet.com/uk/nokia-lands-lumia-enterprise-win-as-foxtons…
Foxton, 900 Lumia handsets
http://www.wpcentral.com/coca-cola-also-adopts-nokia-lumia-windows-…
Coca Cola, “select sales teams”
Q.E.D
This would be the only one related to your comment.
Considering that Nokia sold tens of millions of devices, those combined ~50’000 are a drop in the ocean.
You asked for even one source, you got a few sources. Its not an exhaustive list, just a few I found by searching for a few minutes (something you obviously didn’t do or you’d be aware of these recent developments).
My original comment was that Windows Phone is seeing increased mobile traction in the enterprise. You asked for a source and you got it.
If you want to move the goalposts then that’s fine, but I don’t have the time or desire to spend all day digging up sources just for you.
Really? Always?
Because the context of this comment thread are mobile phones, steering the conversation back into the area of the topic is somehow reframing the argument!?!?!
There is no argument that Microsoft is relevant in the enterprise, yet WP is not. And no matter how much you wish to wave your hands, neither is WinRT or full blown Windows tablets at the moment.
BYOD is all the rage, not Windows.
Riiiiiiiight, that must be why you didn’t raise that point in any of threads that were actually relevant to phones – but instead, you posted it as a direct response to a series of comments that were specifically about Microsoft being taken seriously in the enterprise.
But hey, why pass up an excuse to hop on the same old tired soapbox & repeat the same old tired gloating over WP for the umpteenth time, right?
Again!?!?! Seriously… you are now a branded diehard Microsoft fanboy.
Ignoring totally that Windows Tablets are not Windows Phones and ranting on.
Fact of the matter is that Microsoft does not offer an accelerated VPN… And guess what? WP still cannot play nice with corporate VPNs. And enterprises with their own Exchange servers don’t tend to give direct access to Exchange without a protected network connection setup.
That is why Good for Enterprise and BB are widely used. But hey… don’t let Microsoft’s sad state of affairs in the enterprise mobile market detract you from replying with irrelevant rants.
VPN for Exchange is pretty much a cherry picked corner case, its not something that’s fundamentally required.
Access to corporate resources over a secure connection is far from a corner case. Exchange is just one example, that happens to be most widely used.
It is also far from cherry picked – it’s plain the most visible element when it comes to use of a mobile device in the enterprise.
Access to corporate email through a VPN as opposed to other methods like TLS for securing email isn’t a universal requirement for secure email. You know that, at least I hope.
It’s a requirement by many big corporations that have to protect a bit more than just your porn habits and viagra purchasing history… That also don’t fancy opening up Exchange ports to possible attacks.
Nokia and MSFT are about the only two companies selling WP and RT and MSFT had to buy the Devices and Services Division from Nokia to keep it from tanking the company which would have killed virtually their whole phone/OS market.
This leaves a tiny percentage (and a tiny number too!) of devices from other manufacturers using those OSes as the only ones paying for licenses. It may cost them more to collect the fees than they make on them.
Pretending they are offering products that either manufacturers or consumers are willing to pay for is simply delusional. Better they admit it and [try to] move on.
When we are talking about “Nokia” here, what do we actually mean? The division that Microsoft are buying, or the company left over after Microsoft buy the phone business? It sprung in to my head that is could be the latter…