noting;
Microsoft Corp. is working with component suppliers in Asia to test its own smartphone design, people familiar with the situation said.The move suggests the computer-software giant is increasingly adopting a variation of a business model favored by rival Apple Inc., which designs computers and phones along with the software that powers them. The Apple model of making extremely profitable hardware AND software cannot have escaped Microsoft’s attention.  It may not be worth the trouble to create Microsoft desktops, since that market is mature and growing ever so slowly. However, it is a whole new deal in the smartphone market, where there is really only Nokia (and HTC) to upset.  Samsung is a newer relationship and probably won’t care as Android is their main market. You see, it just makes sense.  Just take a look at Google, and their Nexus project, which has already seen The Nexus 4, 7, and 10, running ‘pure’ versions of Android.  Google couldn’t just do Nexus 7 and 10, without 4, the smartphone, no more than Apple could build only the iPad. I’m not sure that Microsoft has learned anything new about timing, so it could be 2014 instead of 2013, but this is a glaring opportunity that even Redmond must be able to see.  Why wait until the Lumia and others fail because you didn’t launch the Windows 8 smartphone? Alternatively, why wait until they succeed and make it more difficult for you to make money in that space? Last, Microsoft has said they will be making many of their retail outlets permanent, creating more of them, and ‘expanding’.  Could that be in anticipation of the Windows 8 smartphone? All in all, I see the Windows 8 smartphone coming soon to a Microsoft Store near you.  Do you?  Share your views in the discussion below.]]>
