That's what we read, but if it is true, why do the OEMs keep producing handsets? It's probably more accurate to say these manufacturers are experiencing an accounting loss, but not in real life. I know from personal experience that this is possible. I am a landlord, and I experience a loss every year when I file my taxes. However, in real life I take in more than I spend. I have no idea if something like this is possible or not for Android OEMs though.
Sounds like a Hollywood studio... Never take % Profit for your pay, you get zilch. :winktongue:
My theory on Android is that most of the players are conglomerates that are justifying it as a loss leader. Like their Phone? Buy their smart TV, refrigerator, washer/dryer, smart appliances and IoT is the emerging battleground... Peripherals for devices, wearables, warranty plans, a platform that advertises their portfolios through proprietary Apps. True enough these OEMs loose money quarter after quarter on the Android handset, yet make it back somewhere else or hope to.
But I doubt Microsoft wants to become a Samsung or an LG... That's not their long game, general electronics manufacture. Their long game is domination on every screen size through computing and software presence. This is best served by vertically integrating on all the customers screens and going Android takes away a vital current and future control point in maintaining a top to bottom presence throughout every screen size. It doesn't help them to be an "OK maybe I'll try it" choice on phone or tablet. They want and need to be de facto.
Partnerships with CyanogenMod help ameliorate this somewhat within the Android sphere along with projects like flashing Windows Phone to Xiaomi and WP alt versions of handsets already marketed to Android. But that can't be the whole answer...
If Microsoft goes Android they concede control of the smallest screens to other players. Sure they have their Apps there for a "maybe" presence. But then they pay money to those payers to sell in that store, rather than take money from other payers to be in their store.
The more Bloggers, tech enthusiasts, fans, etc. who keep believing the game is over and there will ever only be Android and iOS... The more people you have ignoring the Historical lessons that things change and evolve. Sure we are at a status quo right now, but I'm equally sure that it won't, nay can't, last forever. There are already signs that the current state is nearing saturation levels for what the players can sustain in the consumer sphere. The system is ripe for a change, or ripening quickly.
The past and the present are the story of iOS and Android. The future is always up for grabs. There has never ceased to be alternative choices, though none have really taken off. Of all those alternatives, perhaps Microsoft has the deepest pockets and the strongest will. I don't see them throwing in the towel now.
Almost certainly there will emerge another choice that will take hold of a significant share of the market and become viable. Whether or not that is Windows Phone remains to be seen...
Either way, if an OEM cannot make money selling Android devices which sell by the bucketloads, how do they expect to make money selling Windows Mobile devices, which do not sell by comparison? Microsoft can theoretically benefit by selling devices at break even prices or even a loss because their services are being utilized on these devices, but the manufacturers make money only from device sales.
Quite possibly the hope for OEMs emerging with W10M or expanding their lines in that direction is that the Nokia juggernaut is now done. They formerly squeezed out all other players at each and every price point.
Now there is a chance for an OEM to seize a big piece of a pie. True, it may be a smaller pie but all the slices are available.
It's simply forward thinking and an attempt to be in the driver's seat rather than along for the ride.
If HP can sell you your phone, your tablet, your 2-in-1, your PC... They want a seamless integration across your screens and Microsoft offers them that chance better than any other player. It's lockstep with Microsoft's vision for companies like HP.