Microsoft's embarrassment: Handset manufacturers follow WP system without meat to eat

Sun Yongjihua, director of international media affairs Joe Kelly said in a recent interview with the Seattle Times that the company has never profited from the two devices running the WP system and claimed that no vendor has made any money from WP devices. The remark sparked an immediate uproar in the industry. After all, as the current global and China's smartphone market, one of the top four manufacturers of Huawei, Microsoft Windows Phone (hereinafter referred to as WP) attitude and view of Microsoft and its partners can not be belittled. Perhaps since then Microsoft has really been on the path of loneliness in the smartphone market. So why did Microsoft end up in this awkward situation today? Or, as Huawei says, follows Microsoft's use of its WP to make no money? Industry knows, a product can earn money and the product's brand effect, market positioning, marketing strategy and many other factors closely related. In this sense, Microsoft and Nokia when the strategic cooperation has been for today's own WP embarrassment buried foreshadowing. Although Microsoft and Nokia teamed up to use Nokia's hardware platform to promote its WP ecosystem, the Lumia and Nokia brands are frequently seen in various marketing events in Microsoft's marketing strategy. This makes originally on Microsoft and Nokia strategic cooperation fear of Microsoft partners to strengthen or join the Microsoft WP Camp is to see to make their use of WP system mobile phone to become more difficult, even if they want to, also virtually will promote marketing costs, at the same time, Given that Microsoft's partners are also almost a manufacturer of the Android camp, it is well known that the Android camp is fiercely competitive, and that few manufacturers can make a handsome profit in addition to Samsung, and in this case, who will be able to invest in the WP phone (in fact, there is no extra energy). The negative effects peaked after Microsoft announced the acquisition of Nokia handsets and the abandonment of the Nokia brand. If the Nokia mobile phone business before the merger, Microsoft and Nokia to work closely together, Nokia is still a Microsoft OEM manufacturer, Microsoft How to tilt the resources to Nokia, the nature of the OEM manufacturer has not changed substantially. But that's all. With Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's handset business, especially after the takeover of Nokia's brand, the main push Lumia brand, Microsoft will undoubtedly put itself in the opposite of partners. Perhaps some people will say that in order to win the partners, Microsoft has not been the WP's authorization fee to exempt it? Is this not a partner's point of view, for the partners to lighten it? Of course it is! But this free strategy comes too late, and it might make sense if, at least for a few years, the same free Google Android doesn't have the same big lead today. Despite Microsoft's waiver of WP licensing fees, but compared to Android, Microsoft WP also has a neglected or short board place is, others Android not only free, or open source system, which provides OEM partners based onSelf and user needs customized system space and in the market differentiated competition ability, and this is closed WP can not provide, this also let its OEM manufacturers in addition to on the basis of the price competition, and further compressed profit space outside, there is no other way. Mention price, we naturally lead to Microsoft WP Market positioning problem. If, in the previous phase of strategic cooperation with Nokia, Microsoft had the courage and effort to compete with Apple and Google in the high-end smartphone market (though at that time the low-end Lumia handset had begun to occupy a large part of WP's handset shipments, at least it had launched Lumia 1020 and Lumia 1520 high-end flagship products), Microsoft has used the low-end market as its Lumia brand and mobile phone or Microsoft Smartphone's only strategy, following Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's mobile phone business and its flagship smartphone. Why is that? According to data from Amazon.com, three of the top V on the site are the Windows Phone phones. They are Lumia 520, Lumia 521 and Lumia 635, where they are first, third, and fourth. The recent release of Lumia 535 (the first mobile phone, which is formally abandoned with the Nokia brand and Lumia logo alone), is seen by the industry as a symbol of the shift in Microsoft's smartphone strategy. In addition, when Google launched a low-end market for Android One, there are reports that Microsoft plans to launch the first project, the price of less than 40 U.S. dollars (about 246 yuan) of mobile phones to compete with Google for the next 1 billion users (emerging market price-sensitive users). Perhaps the transformation of Microsoft's WP mobile phone strategy is not what it is, it has its own value, but it is not a good omen for OEM partners. Let's not say, OEM manufacturers to introduce similar or lower prices of WP mobile phones and Microsoft's Low-cost Lumia mobile phone competition, thereby narrowing the profit space, single from the current Android camp mainstream handset manufacturers strategy, it is from the pursuit of volume to the pursuit of revenue and profit changes (such as Samsung, Huawei, ZTE, among other things, is slashing its product lines, and Microsoft's strategy is clearly at odds with the firms ' tactics. This being the case, OEM manufacturers Why join Microsoft WP, virtually lengthen their product line and additional to have to go without return cost investment? To sum up, we believe that the change in Microsoft's smartphone market strategy is the main reason why OEMs believe that it does not make money to follow its WP system. And in view of Microsoft CEO Nadra recently in response to WP market weakness, the focus of Microsoft's research and development is to open the channel between Windows desktop system and Windows Phone, with the help of Windows Development Community transition and radiation to the WP platform strategy look, Microsoft WP strategy will not change in the short term. andAt the same time, Google Trends Web site search data showed that users of the low-end Lumia 535 of the search for more interest in the previous Nokia brand has a strong influence in the Indian market, sales, in proof of Microsoft's transition from Nokia to Lumia's brand success, while It also seems to have strengthened the confidence of Microsoft to be lonely and defeated.