I don't see any evidence for that. Why wouldn't those people just buy a Samsung device instead, or one of the many Chinese options? A small minority of hardcore LG, HTC or Sony fans might be disappointed and consider something else, but tell them they'll lose all their Android apps in their move to WP, and even most of them would decide to stay within the Android ecosystem.
There's no evidence, as a major player has never fully dropped support for Android as far as I'm aware, but you would never get them all transferring over to another Android OEM like Samsung. You'll always lose some because of the brand image. If HTC switched fully to WP (I doubt they'll do this, it's just an example), you would get some that would happily keep buying HTC phones even though they've moved platforms. Like you said though, I'm sure the numbers switching in this example would be fairly low, but brand image would play a part and Android would lose some customers because of it. That's really what I was getting at if all of those OEM's didn't make Android handsets, some would inevitably not be on Android, hence their numbers would be down. Will this ever happen though... nope I very much doubt it.
Doesn't the fact that HTC and Samsung have somewhat dialled down their WP efforts (instead of doubling down), without that having had any noticeable affect on WP market share, suggest that this OEM/sales relationship doesn't actually exist?
In a way it has already potentially had an affect. If they had doubled down (Flagship phones coming out on WP, more OS features and exclusive apps etc), then WP's market share
should be higher than what it is now. So in a way it has had made a difference as sales would have probably have been different (higher) from what they are now.
Yeah, I think that is a fairy-tale too. So far, not a single OEM has got on board without significant support from MS. Samsung gets cheaper Windows licenses, MS had to pay for all of HTC's WP marketing, not to mention the 500 million per quarter that Nokia got out of it. None of them would have considered WP without those benefits. No OEM has any direct interest in any ecosystem. What they care about is their bottom lines.
Yep, agree entirely
Can you give me a concrete example of what an OEM could possibly do that would have that affect? I still don't see it.
IMHO OEM's do have the ability to make their own Android handsets more desirable than a competitors Android handsets. I don't see how an OEM can make WP more desirable than Android (or visa versa). Put yourself in their shoes... Could Sony, LG or HTC do anything with their Android devices, that would make you dump WP? I know Google could... I'd say Sony, LG or HTC can't.
Good point. This is the million dollar question really. How can an OEM or OEM's make a large difference for WP. I'll give my examples of how they could possibly make a difference. I think it's good to bear in mind that it's not just about getting people to switch from their Android phone to a WP. You can always 'steal' customers away from their iPhones, BlackBerry's and even feature phones.
- Variety for people. Lumia's have been succesful not because of the 1020 alone, or the 920 alone etc. Lumia's give people the opportunity to buy a phone at pretty much any part of the price spectrum. So what would be the point of an OEM then? Well, the UK for example, where I'm from. If you want a 'budget' WP, you get a 520. Not actually that many places stock the 620 now and especially the 720. Well, what if you are considering a change (which quite a few people do) and you just want a budget phone with a bigger or smaller screen or simply just didn't like the look and feel of the 520? Seeing a few different other budget models from Samsung, Sony and LG for example, may well get them to purchase one of those on WP. The same goes for the higher end devices. A WP with 5" or 5.5" screen, or a WP with a fingerprint reader, or a WP with a stylus etc. OEM's provde choice and choice is nearly always good for the consumer (and the product it runs on).
- Flagship exclusives. Android has it's OEM flagships with the HTC One, Galaxy S4, LG G2 etc But what if there were Flagship phones on WP, that were just as good, with a different unique design. If you went into a shop and saw 4 flagship OEM phones on WP other than say just the 1020 and 1520 at the moment, this would perhaps attract someone away from an Android device if they thought one of these flagship WP's were better or they didn't like Android in the first place and thought one of these looked better than an iPhone. People at the moment are begging for new high end Lumia's, because they either don't want the 1020 (screen size, CPU/GPU, camera hump etc) and that the 1520 is simply too big. An OEM in this example could have plugged that gap quite nicely.
- The perception of more devices = a better OS. Some shops you go into you'll for example, see 3 WP's on the wall and 15 Android devices for example. Average joe, who is not tech savvy in the slightest might naturally assume that WP is not worth bothering with as it seems Android is more popular. If there were 9 WP's on display and 12 Android devices, you'd surely get more people purchasing WP's, due to perception and overall choice of style and specs to choose from.
I don't think there is one golden rule that if you do it, people will come flocking over from all sides over to WP. A combination of the above, may well get more people onto WP. But again they're just my thoughts, I may be proved completely wrong, who knows. The above though require OEM's to put a lot of time, money and resources into it to make those things work. As we have both said, at the moment we can't see that happening. Another half hearted attempt from any OEM on the planet, will not work. Samsung and HTC have proved that.
Without true commitment from OEM's, it's still going to be up to MS/Nokia to do their best job. As good as they have done so far, it's frankly not enough when talking about Worldwide marketshare. The only way I can see WP taking 10% and higher worldwide market share is if WP8.1 or WP9.0 blows people away (this is what I'm hoping for) and they naturally switch over, or OEM's put their heart into making proper WP devices (less likely to happen).