Without any doubt Xbox is Microsoft's strongest brand as of 2014 and by that I don't mean by revenue, I mean public perception and exposure. A powerful feature packed Xbox Phone as the WP flagship is what WP needs to create an iOS and Android exodus large enough to attract more OEM's and app developers. Think of a phone built using the same material as the Surface with a 4 GB RAM, 64-128 GB SSD and a Snapdragon 800 processor slotted just slightly above the 1520 and Icon (and of similar size). A phone capable of porting Xbox One games of a console on the same Wifi (think Vita with PS4) and a library of premium games that can't be found on any Android or iPhone. How sweet would it be to play some of the original Microsoft Games Studio games on a long plane/car/train trip? Imagine having the full version of Halo, Halo 2, Fable, Forza etc. on your phone! (If they charged ($9.99 for these games they'd make a killing) Pair this with the Xbox Phone's ability to sync with a wireless X360 or Xbox One controller and you essentially have a pocket Xbox that also happens to be an amazing smartphone. Publishers like Activision, Ubisoft, Rockstar, EA etc. would get on board fast if they saw this new mobile gaming segment take off and before you know the Xbox Phone could have a massive games library as these publishers would love the opportunity to make money on old finished products remastered to run on the Xbox Phone.
Such a high end smartphone would cost a lot of $$$ some of you might argue and you'd be right, and this is where the MS service arsenal can come in and sweeten the pot. MS could throw in 2 year free Xbox Live Gold with the purchase of an Xbox Phone and a 2 year contract with *insert carrier name* free 2 year Skype subscription and 50-100GB free of OneDrive cloud storage (can also be used for games and their save progress). Think of the millions of 360 and One owners who own Iphones and Androids something like an Xbox Phone could convince a good chunk of them to give WP a shot.
Finally, the main reason MS should do this is because it would drive Lumia sales and other lower end OEM WP sales with an influx of users the Xbox Phone would bring to the OS. Use the premium flagship Xbox Phone to show off new WP features to the public and eventually let those features trickle down to other WPs. The wireless controller functionality and premium games could find its way down to the Icon and 1520. If say MS sold 15-20 million Xbox Phones globally in the first year, that surge in users to the WP ecosystem translates into better app support for all other WP users (the more people using WP the better for us current WP users). The more people using and getting familiar with the OS the better for everyone on the OS.
The only potential threat to this long term is if it's so successful that it convinces Sony to follow suit with a PS Phone that runs Android, but by that time MS will have already moved millions of units and brought millions of new users into the WP OS.
Such a high end smartphone would cost a lot of $$$ some of you might argue and you'd be right, and this is where the MS service arsenal can come in and sweeten the pot. MS could throw in 2 year free Xbox Live Gold with the purchase of an Xbox Phone and a 2 year contract with *insert carrier name* free 2 year Skype subscription and 50-100GB free of OneDrive cloud storage (can also be used for games and their save progress). Think of the millions of 360 and One owners who own Iphones and Androids something like an Xbox Phone could convince a good chunk of them to give WP a shot.
Finally, the main reason MS should do this is because it would drive Lumia sales and other lower end OEM WP sales with an influx of users the Xbox Phone would bring to the OS. Use the premium flagship Xbox Phone to show off new WP features to the public and eventually let those features trickle down to other WPs. The wireless controller functionality and premium games could find its way down to the Icon and 1520. If say MS sold 15-20 million Xbox Phones globally in the first year, that surge in users to the WP ecosystem translates into better app support for all other WP users (the more people using WP the better for us current WP users). The more people using and getting familiar with the OS the better for everyone on the OS.
The only potential threat to this long term is if it's so successful that it convinces Sony to follow suit with a PS Phone that runs Android, but by that time MS will have already moved millions of units and brought millions of new users into the WP OS.
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