News: Microsoft's future in mobile?

[JuannyBooBoo]

I was disheartened this morning when a coworker asked me if I had seen the news that MS might be discontinuing their Lumia line of smartphones. :unhappysweat:

I was shocked when I did not see any mention of this on the Windows Central site, or say even in these forums...

Microsoft may have just killed its Lumia line. Good riddance - CNET
Microsoft just hinted it's the end of Lumia phones | The Verge

I am not intending to troll, as I am rooting for MS. I sure hope that whatever strategy they have in mind grows the market-share. Surface phone? Sure hope so. Or, maybe they can somehow incentivize hardware mfg's to continue to roll out some good Win10M phones.

[Edit: Just noticed that there's a "Microsoft News and Rumors" forum... Could an admin kindly move my mis-placed post? :amaze:]

 

[Maurizio Troso]

You got the spam news. The original were :grincry:different
aaaah... lazy coworkers

 

[pkcable]

Well Windows Central DID cover this...

Microsoft sells its feature phone business to Foxconn for $350 million | Windows Central

And THIS...

The Nokia brand is coming back... on Android | Windows Central


And I believe they (or one of them and then the other ran with the same story) made some guesses and speculation, based on those 2 press releases. Perhaps Windows Central wasn't quite ready to make that jump. However logical it may be. But truthfully who knows? BlackBerry is still making phones so you NEVER know! lol

 

[JuannyBooBoo]

Well Windows Central DID cover this...

Microsoft sells its feature phone business to Foxconn for $350 million | Windows Central

And THIS...

The Nokia brand is coming back... on Android | Windows Central


And I believe they (or one of them and then the other ran with the same story) made some guesses and speculation, based on those 2 press releases. Perhaps Windows Central wasn't quite ready to make that jump. However logical it may be. But truthfully who knows? BlackBerry is still making phones so you NEVER know! lol

Touch?, pkcable.. I didn't think of reading the latest Nokia related articles on Windows Central w/ those that I linked... They both cite the same MS-statements, but the CNET and Verge articles take the leap to a click-bait-worthy inference... and I guess it worked. On me, at least. :winktongue:

 

[hack14u]

It's over folks. Look where they stated they would continue to "support" the old Nokias, no mention of ANY future products. Done. Guess I just got lucky unloading my last 640.

 

[RumoredNow]

It is known.

This has already been talked about as the "retrenchment" phase for the mobile branch of the OS.

 

[Tom Snyder]

Don't know if any saw CNN correction which said , " An earlier version of this article said Microsoft is selling the business to FIH Mobile. There are two buyers in the deal: FIH Mobile and HMD Global, Oy." FIH Mobile will get all of Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) feature phone assets, including brands, software, and customer contracts, as well as its factory in Vietnam. And.... Interestingly, HMD has signed a licensing deal with Nokia (NOK) to put the Nokia brand on its new devices. So in some ways, the Nokia deal with Microsoft has come full circle.

Microsoft is selling its cheap phone business to Foxconn - May. 18, 2016

 

[pkcable]

Perhaps MS will now make their own hardware for the mobile OS, OR they will look for other vendors. In the past HTC, Samsung, LG etc have all made Windows phones!

 

[Laura Knotek]

I believe it's already pretty much known that the Lumia brand name is dead. Microsoft will not release any new devices branded Lumia. Whatever is released next year by Microsoft was be branded Surface or something else completely brand new.

 

[fdalbor]

All i can say is this has been the biggest mess i have ever seen. I moved on to Android a few months ago. I gave away a 635, 820 and a 925, also a Dell windows tablet. I did keep a 640, but its sitting unused in a drawer. Will probably never see W10 as that was the only reason i kept it. I stillbcheck

 

[Sedp23]

The quote never said they are killing the Lumia brand. It said they will support the Lumia's and other oem phones.

if that's the case u can say there won't be any more oem phones then either since they didn't say future oem phones because they didn't say future Lumia's...

It's not news until Microsoft directly says it. All this is is speculation

Sent from mTalk

 

[Jakoh]

This is more than just phones, Smartphones are computers, if microsoft got out of them, then when the Surface gets smaller and smaller how will they succeed when noone will want to carry one around. Mobile is computing, the strategy is correct. if they fail, then its over for Windows.
I think next step for M$ to be innovative is, start innovating around the Mobile Browser to start treating each site like an app (besides merely "pin to start"). Make an install for each website, bend the f'in rules. Most Apps are web services anyways with bigger nicer buttons and Seriously Webapps currently are way getting way better (Case in point ESPN app sends you to the web for the stats page albeit a different one on IOS and WM10, the WM10 is so much better) if they just remembered where you left off, kept your login, etc etc.
So create a Browser/web standard thats like an OS. segregate each domain. let them have their own space. Isnt this what Android is with 6.0? apps are just website where google knows everything. So holistically, google is the web browser, apps are webpages.

 

[anon(6078578)]

The quote never said they are killing the Lumia brand. It said they will support the Lumia's and other oem phones.

if that's the case u can say there won't be any more oem phones then either since they didn't say future oem phones because they didn't say future Lumia's...

It's not news until Microsoft directly says it. All this is is speculation

Sent from mTalk

Microsoft have a habit of deliberately obfuscating any negative news because they obviously don't want to reduce confidence in Windows 10 mobile and and their possible Surface Phones.

With regards to OEMs it seems like the same thing as happened before ie a bunch of OEMs were announced within a short time but it seems interest has died down. I mean how many consumer Windows Phone devices are there directly available? I can only think of the T-Mobile Alcatel!

 

[ScrubbyXD]

The statement refers to "feature" phones. Feature phones are not "Smart" phones. All this wailing and gnashing of teeth over what appears to a lack of reading comprehension on the part of some the article's authors.

As the BBC properly reports this deal refers to phones such as the 105,130, 215, 222, and possibly the 230. These are feature phones and thus phones Microsoft continued to use the Nokia name with BECAUSE THIS WAS NOT A SEGMENT THEY EVER WANTED TO BE IN. This segment was simply a part of the Nokia deal and they have finally offloaded it.

Your reacting to inaccurate inflammatory articles that can be unsubstantiated within fifteen seconds of typing "Microsoft Feature Phones" into a google search. We call these articles "CLICK BAIT"......welcome to the internet.

 

[oviedofreak82]

The statement refers to "feature" phones. Feature phones are not "Smart" phones. All this wailing and gnashing of teeth over what appears to a lack of reading comprehension on the part of some the article's authors.

As the BBC properly reports this deal refers to phones such as the 105,130, 215, 222, and possibly the 230. These are feature phones and thus phones Microsoft continued to use the Nokia name with BECAUSE THIS WAS NOT A SEGMENT THEY EVER WANTED TO BE IN. This segment was simply a part of the Nokia deal and they have finally offloaded it.

Your reacting to inaccurate inflammatory articles that can be unsubstantiated within fifteen seconds of typing "Microsoft Feature Phones" into a google search. We call these articles "CLICK BAIT"......welcome to the internet.

Commonly known as FUD.

 

[mggm100]

There really is nothing new here, though some of the tech bloggers may be experiencing some degree of memory impairment.

Don't forget what Chris Capossela said last December about WP. This latest development seems very much in line with his statements. Low end feature phones are not a part of their plans to develop something new and different.

"Capossela strongly hinted that the company's smartphone unit is taking its cues from Surface, particularly how it 'exploits the seam between' tablets and PCs. 'We need some sort of spiritual equivalent on the phone side that doesn't just feel like it's a phone for people who love Windows,'"
See http://www.eweek.com/mobile/microsoft-exec-stokes-surface-phone-rumors.html

 

[Iain_S]

my Samsung S7 sits mostly in the drawer because android is pretty crap as an OS, sure it has tons of useless apps and gimiky apps. Windows 10 Mobile is coming long very nicely and will only get much better as we get into 2017. Devices will come from MS in 2017. The smartphone market right now is a shark tank and most are being eaten up by cheap Chinese oems. Samsung are starting to struggle, Apple saw its first double digit YOY drop last Q, MS did the right thing in backing out right now. The new Nokia stuff will too find it extreme tough to do anything in the mobile market and I wouldn't give them a very high % of doing anything that would succeed. The current smartphone market is in for a huge shock over the next year. MS hopefully will have something new and unique in the mobile space in 2017 that will actually put them ahead of the curve.

 

[Sedp23]

It's over folks. Look where they stated they would continue to "support" the old Nokias, no mention of ANY future products. Done. Guess I just got lucky unloading my last 640.

They didn't mention any future OEM products either....

Sent from mTalk

 

[N_LaRUE]

my Samsung S7 sits mostly in the drawer because android is pretty crap as an OS, sure it has tons of useless apps and gimiky apps. Windows 10 Mobile is coming long very nicely and will only get much better as we get into 2017. Devices will come from MS in 2017. The smartphone market right now is a shark tank and most are being eaten up by cheap Chinese oems. Samsung are starting to struggle, Apple saw its first double digit YOY drop last Q, MS did the right thing in backing out right now. The new Nokia stuff will too find it extreme tough to do anything in the mobile market and I wouldn't give them a very high % of doing anything that would succeed. The current smartphone market is in for a huge shock over the next year. MS hopefully will have something new and unique in the mobile space in 2017 that will actually put them ahead of the curve.

You know, I really hate when people don't research what they say.

Sure Apple is having issues at the moment but they're still selling way more phones than MS by a landslide.

Also Samsung reported a 8% increase in their mobile division first quarter 2016.

As for Android being a 'crap OS' that's a matter of personal opinion. There are over 1 billion Android users. How many WP users are there?

On top of that, what crap apps are you referring to? Side loaded apps from crappy sites or real apps from MS or other OEM vendors? Last time I checked all the apps I used were very good. As for gimmicky apps they exist in all app stores, including WP. Also WP is loaded with a lot of fake apps.

I'm not against WP by the way, I just hate misinformation.

I'd like to see W10M succeed but I think they have a long way to go, I wouldn't mark 2017 as the year of MS by any stretch.

 

[N_LaRUE]

Also personal point.

I predicted that MS would stop using the Lumia name fairly quickly. They had a 10 year usage on it but I doubted they would keep it. So no surprise to me they'd end up dropping it.

I doubt Nokia will pick it up either as that would be confusing.

MS will use a name that works for them. Regardless how you feel about the Lumia name it's something that's relegated to the W8 line. W10M needs a fresh start.... again.