Why do OEMs stick with Android?

[FeedTheShark]

There was a post today on The Verge about why Android OEMs continue to make Android phones when for the most part there's no money in it.

I was having the exact same discussion with a friend a few days ago. To me the only company that could justify it was Amazon as they have their own store and thus can bring in some money through there. Unfortunately their Fire phone was gimmicky, way overpriced and went nowhere and now they just have tablets. At least there they can continue to sell things to people and if they want they can try dabbling in phones again at some point (I suggest they aim for the $50 market). But for the rest, Samsung are the only ones making any money and that's not guaranteed for long. I can see the "halo" effect and promoting their brand, but it seems like a heavy price to pay. The only company benefiting are Google who take all the money from the Play Store and don't need to take any risk in producing phones (though they do that a little with their Nexus line for some odd reason).

What I was wondering (as a Windows phone fan) is why MS don't offer to share the profits of the Store with these companies in return for producing Windows phones. I think this could be a good strategy (though perhaps too late now). If MS gave each OEM 50% of their cut from the Market (so I guess 15% of the sale) that would surely be an incentive for them to stop producing Android phones that don't make them any money and move to Windows instead. Imagine if LG, HTC, Sony or Samsung went for that and dropped Android. That would be a dramatic shift in the market, give MS the support it requires which would kickstart the long overdue app revolution we've never had.

 

[Krystianpants]

I actually gave feedback to them about giving OEMs a cut of app revenue from MS if it is purchased with an OEM device.

The problem is that it's a big risk for OEMs. Currently they sell enough for it to be worthwhile, if they move over they may not see any sales. The ultimate would be to have enough OEMs flood the market with windows phones and then people would buy them. There's no windows phones anywhere. People who have seen my phone and liked it were confused that it existed. But if every store was flooded with them and it was stable enough, people may actually be interested. Especially if big hardware developers are doing it.

Right now all the windows phone OEMs coming out with windows 10 seem to be PC manufacturers. They know the plans MS has for pocket PC's and want to get in on it early. Still until Windows 10 is good enough, you likely won't see much happen. Microsoft needs to build a stable and useable OS before they can convince OEMs. I mean .63 build was great on my phone and while .71 seems zippier, it also drains my battery, causes random app crashes and causes my phone to heat up more than .63. So MS really needs to get stuff like that sorted out before anything else.

Windows would make it easier on OEMs as they don't have to worry about the update process and can focus less on software and more on devices. Xiaomi is sort of smart as they are releasing both android/windows phones and it will let them solidify their reputation in windows 10 if it becomes popular. And they are very OS agnostic as the same device can run both. So that gives options to either flash roms or even dual boot in the future which I'm sure people will figure out how.

Oh and they can't just drop android. They have an existing base of customers on android who expect support and will continue using their hardware likely in future iterations. They may not want to move over to windows phone. So imagine what a huge sale loss that would be if they dropped it all together. The best they can do is release for both. Let the people choose. Allow hardware to be flashed back to android if they don't like Windows and vice versa.

 

[RumoredNow]

Habit.

There really is no other way to explain so many OEMs loosing bottom line on handset production year after year. I think they believe that if they just keep plugging away they can turn the corner.

Apple.

They all want to become synonymous with an OS. So far only Uncle Sammy has managed to do that to such a level that it has payed off.

Lukewarm waters.

Until recently it hasn't been attractive. Low user base. Lack of developer interest. Nokia pushing their brand recognition to dominate the space.

 

[FeedTheShark]

Well Windows 10 is getting more stable with each build, I'm sure by MWC the few phones announced there (Xiaomi, Sony, HP all rumoured) will come with builds that are finally acceptable.

I know there's a risk the phones won't sell, but then if they are selling phones now and not making any money surely it's worth the risk. They could even sell the phone at cost knowing they'd make some money on store sales - that has to be better than loosing money on Android. Why can't they drop Android, it's not like they give much support to their customers as it is. Moving to Windows means letting MS give support and updates, so that'd be much easier for them. People can still get updates and ROMs on xda or somewhere, and as for the fact these people would buy their next phones, well what use is that if they don't make money from those sales!

I think if these companies were bold, ditched Android and went Windows (ok I KNOW this will NEVER happen) they could actually do better. If MS only had some powerful sales reps and project managers and went to these companies and tried to pitch this idea.

But I think "habit" is quite right, but more than that maybe just the fact that there's thousands of people working at these firms on these Android phones and they'd be scared of loosing their job if they switched to Windows. So they just keep going, it's fear as much as habit. The order has to come from above, MS need to send Elop into LG, Sony, Samsung etc to get the job done. Where's MS's Trojan when we need him?

 

[HeyCori]

I agree with Verge's reason for why companies do it, because they're desperate. After all, what else would they produce if not phones? Sell tablets, laptops, desktops, TVs? Those are already over crowded, cut throat markets with slim profit margins. And some companies are already selling those things and still not making much money. Manufacturers could, potentially, create a very popular phone, and that phone could have a Halo affect on their other products. They all hope to be the next Oppo, suddenly selling 50 million phones and becoming a tech "giant," but in time even Oppo will plateau.

Another possibility is that the bigger companies are just holding on until the smaller ones die off. While competition is a good thing, the mobile market is littered with OEMs all producing basically the same handsets. Many won't survive. Companies like Sony, LG, Acer, and others know this. Maybe they won't be the next Samsung, but they might be the next HTC (and theoretically, not fall off). So they just keep churning out phones until only the true tech giants are left.

Maybe some of these companies just need to merge their phone divisions.

 

[xandros9]

Android is what people will ultimately buy in the low-end I believe.

Windows Phone competed then because it was the best smartphone experience and the lack of apps was well worth the money saved and overall fluidity.

Android has since cleaned up its act and has solid low-end offerings and Windows 10 Mobile doesn't have the performance bonus anymore and still has the app liability. (see Moto E among other OEMs.)

I want to say companies still stick with Android because there's not much else to do. People will still buy low-end prepaid smartphones. Windows 10 Mobile isn't appealing in its current state and switching to it is a huuuuuuuge leap of faith. A huge leap of faith into the arms of a parent that doesn't seem to seriously believe in pushing its product anymore. I don't think it'll be any benefit at all. People will see a phone with less features/applications and one that has more. (and with a more well known name)

If I were to run one of those cash-strapped companies, you would know I'd probably stock both OSes at the low-end. But I would not accept the risk 10 Mobile has to do more than dabble in it with a device or so occasionally.

Maybe if I could shoehorn Continuum into a otherwise inexpensive package I'll throw some weight behind it.