Will Windows Phone survive the depart of Cortana

[ManOfActions]

So Jason Ward just wrote a long article about how good it would be for Microsoft to allow Cortana to be installed on iOS and Android. This has also been talked about on other tech site since March 13th. While Jason's argument does seem to make sense, I don't believe "Good" for Microsoft is equal to good for Windows Phone anymore. I guess we all have to remember that despite being a company that makes great premium hardware like Surface computers and hub, Lumia Phones, Microsoft band, and Xbox, Microsoft is still mainly and most of all a software company. And the cloud first, mobile first strategy is definitely aimed toward a software point of view.

The freemium model as put by Chris Capossela, Microsoft's Chief Marketing Officer is the new way to go. Exporting Microsoft services to other ecosystems: Skype, Office, Windows, Cortana, for the Microsoft new business model to work everything needs to be considered even I?m afraid letting Windows Phone die. We all must admit that WP seems to suffer from a lack of direction. From the early builds, Windows 10 for phone doesn?t seem to fix that.

What do you think?

 

[xandros9]

Honestly WP has weathered so many doomsday moves and isn't in amazing shape from the get-go, I think it'll take few things short of MS throwing in the towel to truly bury it.

 

[several potatos]

Honestly WP has weathered so many doomsday moves and isn't in amazing shape from the get-go, I think it'll take few things short of MS throwing in the towel to truly bury it.

That's a comforting paradigm.

 

[jontyfernz]

So Jason Ward just wrote a long article about how good it would be for Microsoft to allow Cortana to be installed on iOS and Android. This has also been talked about on other tech site since March 13th. While Jason's argument does seem to make sense, I don't believe "Good" for Microsoft is equal to good for Windows Phone anymore. I guess we all have to remember that despite being a company that makes great premium hardware like Surface computers and hub, Lumia Phones, Microsoft band, and Xbox, Microsoft is still mainly and most of all a software company. And the cloud first, mobile first strategy is definitely aimed toward a software point of view.

The freemium model as put by Chris Capossela, Microsoft's Chief Marketing Officer is the new way to go. Exporting Microsoft services to other ecosystems: Skype, Office, Windows, Cortana, for the Microsoft new business model to work everything needs to be considered even I’m afraid letting Windows Phone die. We all must admit that WP seems to suffer from a lack of direction. From the early builds, Windows 10 for phone doesn’t seem to fix that.

What do you think?

 

[Visa Declined]

Microsoft wants people to use their services, it doesn't matter which platform they're on. Everyone here wants WP to be Microsoft's #1 priority, but it's not and probably will never be.

 

[pericle]

Sadly I am beginning to believe Microsoft has basically given up on Windows Phone. Microsoft will make money from their services regardless of which platform it is on, this is what they are aiming for.

With Microsoft giving Windows Phone for free now, it's highly unlikely they can actually make a profit from Windows Phone, hence their strategy of putting all their services on every platform. It's good for Microsoft but not good for Windows Phone.

 

[jontyfernz]

Sadly I am beginning to believe Microsoft has basically given up on Windows Phone. Microsoft will make money from their services regardless of which platform it is on, this is what they are aiming for.

With Microsoft giving Windows Phone for free now, it's highly unlikely they can actually make a profit from Windows Phone, hence their strategy of putting all their services on every platform. It's good for Microsoft but not good for Windows Phone.

Most probably they will do better than the Indian and Chinese OEM's

 

[ajayden]

Actually Microsoft's strategy is good from a business point of view.

There are millions of windows phone sold already with Microsoft services. The same services are running profitably on PCs and tablets.

They also know that currently android and iOS have millions of phone sold every year. So if they get android and iOS users on the freemium model, they can make tons of money out of it.

So,

Revenue from Windows devices + Revenue from iOS + Revenue from Android = More Revenue (additional revenue)


This income stream can in-turn help to reduce Windows device cost, as Microsoft does not need to make money from Windows Phones. Whether they do that or not, we have to wait and see.

But definitely its a smart way of making money (perfect business sense).

 

[paulxxwall]

Its good for ms but not good for WP....already hearing it from non WP users on why I stay on WP when my ms services are better on rivals....and they have flagships.....plenty of them. Just saying. Ms is not putting crappy services out there there showing them the best they got . Its the only way to have rival use in there services .....there trying to make it better than Google drive and icloud but for WP......who cares.

 

[tgp]

Its good for ms but not good for WP....already hearing it from non WP users on why I stay on WP when my ms services are better on rivals....and they have flagships.....plenty of them. Just saying. Ms is not putting crappy services out there there showing them the best they got . Its the only way to have rival use in there services .....there trying to make it better than Google drive and icloud but for WP......who cares.

The problem Microsoft was facing is that even with their services exclusively on WP, people still weren't buying them. Well, they were buying some, but they weren't compelled to move to WP because of Microsoft's services.

Look at it this way: has the availability of Microsoft's services on iOS and Android made any difference in WP sales? It didn't seem like sales went up before Microsoft provided high quality apps on iOS and Android, and neither are WP sales dropping now that the other platforms have Microsoft services. Whether or not the other platforms had Microsoft's services didn't seem to make any difference in WP sales.

WP's market share has remained fairly steady over the last couple years at right around 3%, give or take. At least this way Microsoft's services are being used on iPhones and Androids; if their apps weren't there, those users wouldn't be using the services.

 

[chasvs]

WP is good to go and I've stopped switching between WP and Android to see which I like better. Each time I tried an Android phone I switched back to WP. And each time it was a shorter period of time on the Android before I switched back. Just tried the Droid Turbo for the second time and it was only 3 days before I was back on my Lumia Icon. I'm staying with WP and holding out for a new Flagship when WP 10 hits this summer or fall! LOVE MY Windows Phone!

 

[Pierre Blackwell]

If MSFT strategizes this like they should, it will be most beneficial for Windows 10 on phones and should entice "on the fence" consumers to find the ultimate reason to convert. Basically if you're an iOS user, you'll probably be tempted to test Cortana out on your iPhone. Once you realize that it provides you with a lot more functionality, like personal and location based reminders. You'll be more inclined to use Cortana over Siri. Remember Apple doesn't have their own search engine, so what do iOS users ues.....Google, and Bing. Cortana is tied into Bing with Windows 10, so this will entice more iPhone users to utilize Bing as well. The problem is they'll loose that seamless transition once they gravitate to their Mac or iPad because unlike iOS, MSFT doesn't plan to integrate Cortana to OSX. Add the fact that the transition is smoother over a Windows mobile device and you can utilize Cortana more, not to mention devices like the MSFT band utilize Cortana, but you can't take advantage of the full functionality of the band unless you have a Windows mobile device.

 

[pericle]

If MSFT strategizes this like they should, it will be most beneficial for Windows 10 on phones and should entice "on the fence" consumers to find the ultimate reason to convert. Basically if you're an iOS user, you'll probably be tempted to test Cortana out on your iPhone. Once you realize that it provides you with a lot more functionality, like personal and location based reminders. You'll be more inclined to use Cortana over Siri. Remember Apple doesn't have their own search engine, so what do iOS users ues.....Google, and Bing. Cortana is tied into Bing with Windows 10, so this will entice more iPhone users to utilize Bing as well. The problem is they'll loose that seamless transition once they gravitate to their Mac or iPad because unlike iOS, MSFT doesn't plan to integrate Cortana to OSX. Add the fact that the transition is smoother over a Windows mobile device and you can utilize Cortana more, not to mention devices like the MSFT band utilize Cortana, but you can't take advantage of the full functionality of the band unless you have a Windows mobile device.

Well we can always keep hoping can't we? I personally think this is just wishful thinking, Cortana is not SO groundbreaking that it will entice people to switch over to Microsoft's ecosystem. She's just better than the alternatives. Not really reason enough to completely switchover to a completely different OS.

For that matter most of Microsoft's services have alternatives, if they don't provide their services on Android or ios people will just simply switch to other alternatives and Microsoft will lose big time. This is the real reason Microsoft is providing it's services on other platforms. It's not some grand scheme to entice people to switch over to Windows Phone.

 

[fatclue_98]

I wasn't aware that Cortana was being eliminated from WP. Oh that's right, it's just another doom-and-gloomer that thinks because a service is going cross-platform, it must mean the death of WP, again. I'm just going to have to rename my 1520 "Rasputin" since it can't be killed.

 

[CheDragan]

I think more optimism is in place - MS is not killing (WP) phone, it's the corner stone of the whole windows 10 paradigm, deep integration and "universal" - and w/o having and spanning the entire range of devices Windows simply won't be able to showcase all it's about. By promoting the eco-system (win-10 now) they're equally pushing desktops and mobiles (and hoping that things would spill over from one to another). Windows phones are essential to all that - as MS can't really integrate or showcase all it want's within iOS or android, just feature by feature and app by app. Let's not forget that MS is not just "a software service company", they specialized in building the most complex OS systems, enterprise software etc. App is not nearly as powerful and they would depend too much on the original platform (and limited by it). They can only expand on two fronts (simplified but roughly) - one is the cloud arena, which is what they're pushing for hard - and another is building and promoting your own OS/platform, ecosystem - i.e. the win-10 - including phones as a big part.

 

[Ian_Superfly]

I guess that the WP sales will drop dramatically from now on. It is now generally known that the MS apps are at least as good on iOS/Android and that there is no unique/important integration between W10 and WP/W10M. Most new MS apps are also iOS/Android exclusive and does not show up in the MS store.

You have also the competition coming up with new systems that are at least as capable as W10M. On the markets where WP was at least "semi strong" WP has no Cortana but the competition have their Siri/Google now up and running.

I predict a 50% drop in the coming 12 months. It is sad but the only one to blame is of course MS and Nadella.

 

[tgp]

I predict a 50% drop in the coming 12 months. It is sad but the only one to blame is of course MS and Nadella.

That seems like an aggressive prediction. I don't think it'll drop that much, if any, but I don't see how changing the focus from low end to flagships will help sales. WP sales have been relatively steady that last 2 years or so, and that's because they focused on phones priced at throwaway levels. Anything will sell if it's cheap enough. Their flagships never did sell well compared to other flagships.

I do agree that sales will drop due to switching the focus from low end to high end phones. If Cityman really costs more than Apple's and Samsung's flagships, I don't see how Microsoft will sell them. John Doe isn't going to grab an unknown device from Microsoft when right there is the iPhone Xx and the Samsung Galaxy Xx. Now, a couple years down the road, if it proves to be a success and actually replaces your PC, then that may change. But right now, I don't think so.