| To: zax who wrote (145) | 7/16/2015 12:08:54 PM | | From: Eric L | | | | A Must Listen: AAWP Insight #146: job losses, focussed portfolio, Windows 10 Mobile ...
Rafe Blandford and Steve Litchfield, partners of 'All About Windows Phone' who follow Windows Phone and the overall smartphone industry closer, more objectively and more sensibly than most other joutnalists discuss, speculate and opine about the future of Microsoft Windows Mobile in a 45 minute podcast.
Listen here: allaboutwindowsphone.com
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- Eric L. - |
| | Microsoft: The Devices and Consumer Segment | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last Read |
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| From: Eric L | 7/16/2015 3:02:36 PM | | | | | | Another view of Microsoft and the Mobile Future (Ron Miller & Alex Wilhelm)
... intelligently written. [underlines mine]
>> Microsoft Will Never Give Up On Mobile
Ron Miller & Alex Wilhelm
Telecrunch
July 16, 2014
techcrunch.com
When Microsoft announced its wrenching $7.6 billion write-down last week, it was easy to presume that the company was giving up on mobile. At the very least, the financial avalanche sent a strong signal that Windows phone in its current guise has failed in a major way.
The 7,800 people sacked in the process, the majority of whom came from the Windows phone division, simply accentuated that point.
Microsoft has badly wanted to be a player in the handset wars, but its market share numbers tell a consistently wretched tale. In the US, it has never managed more than a crawl, and is currently stuck at around the 3 percent mark. The company has seen somewhat higher numbers in some European markets, but there has been evidence that even those relative cratonic bastions have eroded in recent quarters.
Luckily or smartly, Microsoft has placed more than one mobile bet and it doesn’t intend to live and die with handsets. It has other bullets left in the chamber including Windows 10 and the cross-platform mobile apps too.
Whatever happens, Microsoft can ultimately never walk away from mobile because giving up would essentially be ceding a massive portion of the future of computing, and it simply can’t afford to do that.
The Current World View
After some time in the soup, Microsoft has finally detailed its Windows mobile strategy well enough in the last week that we can understand it — whether that’s referring to the operating system level, hardware or cross-platform apps. Leaning on Mary Jo Foley’s excellent interview with CEO Satya Nadella, and the write-down, we can come to the following conclusions:
The company made a large wager through Windows 10’s pricing to bolster Windows mobile.
Here’s the CEO:
“[T]he free upgrade for Windows 10 is meant to improve our phone position. That is the reason why I made that decision. If somebody wants to know whether I’m committed to Windows Phone, they should think about what I just did with the free upgrade to Windows, rather than — hey, I[‘m] making four more phone models of value smart phones.”
That’s quite plain: Microsoft wanted to go after phone market share in the long term, and selling Windows at its old price points would limit broader Windows 10 adoption, eroding at the company’s larger value proposition of having one platform across all your devices. Put another way, the company is foregoing some identifiable revenue to prop up Windows mobile.
The company is more than willing to build its own phones — still.
Satya, again:
“If no OEM stands up to build Windows devices we’ll build them. There will be Lumia devices. So I’m not afraid of saying, okay, it’s all about the OEMs, or it’s all about the ecosystem. It’s about Windows. It is about the overall health of Windows and being grounded in any given day’s reality, but having ambition of where the market is going versus being bound by current definitions.”
Again, that’s simple enough. Microsoft has made new noise about picking up OEM partners to help it in its Windows mobile quest, but at the same time, the firm is willing to do its own heavy lifting if that’s what it takes.
The suspicion that Microsoft wants to get out of the phone game entirely, from a holistic or narrow hardware sense, are, for now, bunk. That fact is backed up by the following:
The company will build new phones that it hopes will accrete market share.
The CEO:
“Last week’s announcement was not about any change to our vision and strategy, but for sure it was a change to our operating approach. The way we’re going to go about it. I’m not going to launch a phone a day. I’m going to focus on a few phones that actually grab share[.]”
All of the above came out of the same interview, meaning the ideas mark a single mote of time in Microsoft’s strategic arc; things may change.
In the age of a $7.6 billion write-down, it can be difficult to understand why Microsoft would keep at the mobile game. When is enough enough? Yet, it has indicated it hasn’t nearly reached that point yet.
Never Give Up, Never Surrender
Whatever happens they fight on. They keep trying. The company didn’t give up when the Kin blew up on them, and neither will they give up after the $7.6B write down. They have cash and they can afford to keep going back to the drawing board — again and again. Perhaps they subject themselves to some ridicule when they fail, but they will keep trying because they understand the importance of mobile.
Satya’s pitch at the Worldwide Partner’s Conference was clear. If the company can’t get at you today with handsets, it will continue to try to push from the applications angle. When Nadella says there is no clear line between the consumer world and work, he’s clearly onto something, and perhaps Microsoft’s best shot at capturing mobile mindshare is via work where it has the strongest presence today.
As people shift to mobile devices controlled by Android and iOS, Microsoft will have a hard time, gaining market share for Windows on the phone or tablet — Surface sales not withstanding. For now that still remains a blip and a pipe dream. What Microsoft can hope to do is build on apps like Outlook and Gigjam and try to force its way into mobile via applications that work across platforms.
This really speaks to the Microsoft three-pronged strategy around mobile. On one point is the lethargic hardware, on another is Windows 10 and its multi-platform delivery model and on the final is the cross-platform application approach, where Microsoft appears to be faring much better. It has to be hoping that if you like Microsoft applications and you’re using Windows 10 at work (as many people will be), at some point in the future, you might also like Windows phones to make your work and personal lives play nicely together.
Microsoft can afford to be patient, but while it hopes that the Windows handset market will wake up, how will it affect financial markets perception of the company?
Financial Pain
Microsoft has more than enough cash to keep the Windows mobile furnaces stoked for long into the future. It is worth noting that supporting rival platforms, while doing so has costs, is likely a far cheaper enterprise than running factories and global distribution channels. (The old joke about sales being easy, and supply chaining being hard does work applies here.)
However, given that the group’s phone businesses’ cost profile has been whacked so badly, it is reasonable to assume that Microsoft isn’t losing too much on the efforts on a quarterly basis. So while the company won’t give up on mobile, it also won’t have to give up too much on its profits. The current quarter with the massive write-down, of course, on a GAAP basis, is screwed. But that’s for investors to handicap.
Also, assuming that piggy-backing on rival platforms feeds directly into its Office 365 engine, it would make the costs of supporting third-party platforms more than palatable.
If Microsoft was willing to spend as much as it has, and keep going, it’s hard to imagine an expense that could crop up and undermine its mobile will. In for $7.6 billion, in for a pound.
Conclusion
Nobody could argue after that mammoth write-down that Microsoft’s mobile future is looking bright, but at the same time, it would be a huge mistake to underestimate Redmond. Microsoft clearly recognizes the strategic importance of mobile, and it’s going to continue to try to find a way to succeed, come hell or high water. That means it’s going to attack by app, by OS and by phone and see what works — and it’s going to keep investing until one shoe or another drops because it has no choice. # # #
- Eric L. - |
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| From: Eric L | 7/16/2015 3:47:35 PM | | | | | | Qualcomm/Microsoft/Windows 10 Mobile ...
Caveat: The source of the article below is DigiTimes. Sometimes they get it right but often they are in the right church but wrong pew, and sometimes no gold pans from their nuggets.
Note: Allwinner Technology is here allwinner.com and overview here: allwinner.com
>> Qualcomm, Inc. Partnering With Microsoft Corporation To Push Affordable Windows Phones
Qualcomm is planning to launch an ecosystem of entry-level smartphones next quarter
Martin Blanc
Bidness Etc
July 15, 2015
Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) has had a disappointing year in the mobile market, with overheating issues in the high-end market and tough competition from MediaTek and Spreadtrum in the entry-level and mid-range chip segments. The ailing fortune of the chip supplier has caused inventory to stack up.
So, to prevent the sales malaise and maintain its market share, the company is planning to release a consortium of smartphones for $80 or under with Microsoft Corporation next quarter. According to Digitimes, Qualcomm has been cooperating closely with the software giant, while also aggressively pursuing a partnership with China-based Allwinner Technology to push affordable devices over the Windows Mobile 10 platform.
The move will be aimed at reinvigorating Qualcomm’s market share for entry-level handsets and tablets with phone functionality, where the latter is seen as the perfect way to widen its market base over other platforms. Qualcomm is planning to use Snapdragon 210 solution for the Windows Mobile 10 devices, which hugely benefits the chip giant since Microsoft doesn’t demand licensing fees for its operating system.
This could serve to reduce the overall price of executing a range of entry-level Windows phones, making them more price-competitive against modest Android-based smartphones. However, Qualcomm has been able to dominate the segment in the country, in light of an exponentially growing 4G LTE market in China since 2014.
The company’s premium designed solutions and effective planning reeled in various vendors from the country, subsequently giving the chip maker an upto 80% share in China’s 4G market. Allwinner on the other hand will implement Qualcomm’s 3G and 4G solutions to roll out numerous tablets with phone capabilities. Its high-end 4G processors will target Europe and the US, with a view to enter mass production by the third quarter.
The 3G solutions will target emerging markets where 4G is still catching on and consumers turn to 3G or 2G networks. Allwinner left the cellphone-tablet market after losing out on orders from MediaTek, and will take some time to rebuild the client partnerships and supply chain links to emerge as a long-term consumer electronics mainstay.
More importantly, Qualcomm will now be faced with the challenge of avoiding competition between its clients and Allwinner’s clients (which fall in the same product category), while competing against MediaTek’s surge in the space. For Qualcomm, another major problem surfaces in its bid to ease inventory, which is how well the market will react to a maverick OS like Windows Mobile.
The consumers especially are unaware of what Windows 10 will bring to the table. Despite a recently announced feature that will let users fire up Android-based apps for a limited time period, only time can tell whether Windows Mobile 10 can satiate consumer demands, and if it really is “the best thing to happen to Windows." # # #
>> Digitimes Research: Qualcomm to push inexpensive mobile device market with Microsoft and Allwinner solutions
Eric Lin
DIGITIMES Research: Taipei
14 July 2015
digitimes.com
According to Digitimes Research's findings, Qualcomm's development in the high-end market is not stable in 2015 and facing MediaTek and Spreadtrum's fierce competition in the mid-range and entry-level segments, the chip supplier's shipment performance in China has been weakening, causing some of its application processors (APs) to see inventory buildup.
To digest the inventory and maintain its market share, Qualcomm has cooperated with Microsoft closely over the Windows Mobile 10 platform and is planning to release a solution for the fourth quarter, designed specifically for US$80 or even cheaper smartphones. Qualcomm also partnered with China-based Allwinner Technology to release a solution for the tablet with phone functionality, targeting Europe, the US and emerging markets and to enter mass production in the third quarter, Digitimes Research's findings showed.
China's 4G LTE market had surging growth in 2014. Qualcomm's solutions, thanks to their maturity and the company's well-managed roadmap, had strong demand from China vendors in the year and acquired close to 80% share in China's 4G market at the peak.
However, MediaTek and Spreadtrum's competitive 4G solutions plus the company's misoperation in the mid-range and high-end product lines have both caused Qualcomm to see declining market share since the beginning of 2015 despite the company's aggressive promotions on its advanced technologies such as carrier aggregation.
To maintain its market share, Qualcomm has aggressively cooperated with Allwinner to push Windows Mobile 10-based entry-level smartphones and tablets with phone functionality, looking to improve its shipment performance by expanding its market base via more broad partnerships over platforms.
Qualcomm is planning to use its MSM8909 entry-level solution for the Windows Mobile 10 platform and since vendors do not need to pay any licensing fees to Microsoft for using the operating system, the overall costs for the combination will be much more competitive compared to Android-based entry-level solutions and for the entry-level smartphone market that is gradually seeing less profitability, such a solution is rather attractive to vendors.
As for Qualcomm's partnership with Allwinner, Allwinner has currently decided to release several tablet with phone functionality solutions using Qualcomm's 4G/3G products. The high-end 4G solutions will target Europe and the US markets and in addition to white-box orders, the China-based player will also look to sell its solutions to telecom carriers.
The 3G solutions will target emerging markets. Since most emerging markets were still slow in establishing 4G stations, most consumers in the markets still mainly use 3G or even 2G networks. Allwinner is planning to compete against MediaTek and Spreadtrum for these markets with help from Qualcomm's products.
However, Qualcomm's strategies still have some potential risks. Windows Mobile 10 is a brand new operating system and consumers have no knowledge about it. Although the operating system features a runtime allowing it to operate Android-based apps, whether the system's interface is able to satisfy consumers' demand is still uncertain and need more time to observe.
As for Allwinner, since the China-based chip supplier had left the tablet with phone functionality market for a while after losing to MediaTek, the company will need to re-nurture its partnerships with clients and supply chain players in order to return to the market. Since Qualcomm also has some clients using its solutions for their tablet with phone functionality products, how to avoid competition between its clients and Allwinner's clients and jointly compete against MediaTek is also a major task for the two. # # # |
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| From: Sr K | 2/5/2016 6:52:10 PM | | | | | | In news article about GoPro:
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) said Friday that it has struck a patent-licensing deal with GoPro Inc.(GPRO) that will cover file-storage technology.
GoPro (GPRO) shares, which have been battered this week and in recent months, added 6.2% in after-hours trading to $10.58 a share. Microsoft (MSFT) shares ticked up 0.2%.
The patent-licensing agreement comes just days after GoPro (GPRO) reported weak fourth-quarter earnings, fueling concerns about the health of its core business selling wearable cameras.
The deal with Microsoft (MSFT) will cover certain file-storage and system technologies.
Nick Psyhogeos, president of Microsoft's (MSFT) patent business, said the company is seeing strong demand from the wearable technologies it has already licensed. Microsoft (MSFT) didn't provide further detail on the agreement. |
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| From: zax | 2/24/2016 9:15:17 PM | | | | | | | Microsoft has signed an agreement to acquire Xamarin, a leading platform provider for mobile app development. In conjunction with Visual Studio, Xamarin provides a rich mobile development offering that enables developers to build mobile apps using C# and deliver fully native mobile app experiences to all major devices, including iOS, Android, and Windows. Xamarin's approach enables developers to take advantage of the productivity and power of .NET to build mobile apps, and to use C# to write to the full set of native APIs and mobile capabilities provided by each device platform. |
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