It has been a long time since Microsoft launched a brand new Windows phone. As of now, the market share of Windows phone has gone down to less than 1%. However, Microsoft is still busy penetrating the phone business. This has resulted in more than $7 billion that’s being written off the acquisition of the phone business of Nokia. Also, thousands of employees have lost their jobs. The company released a statement just recently saying that it has plans of finalizing the phone restructuring process by June or July. It is still not clear if the company wants to launch a Windows 10 Mobile.
Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, believes that the company will continue making mobile phones. From a recent podcast interview, the CEO said that Microsoft is in the works of creating unusual phones - phones that are not what you see in the market.
“The company picked a specific area to focus on which is security, management, and Continuum. Continuum is a cell phone but it can also act as a desktop,” said Nadella.
As of the moment, Microsoft is diverting its focus on ensuring the services and apps of the company are on Android and iOS. However, in the same interview, Nadella used Surface as an example of how Microsoft can excel when it comes to hardware. Myriads of people are hoping and expecting the launch of a Surface phone. This type of hardware, however, is still far from being introduced by Microsoft according to some experts.
Nadella also claimed that when he said they will make more phones, they’ll actually make more phones. He also said that the phones you see today are not the ones they are working on. This hint together with the unique hardware design of Surface and Continuum suggest that the company is targeting a phone that will transform the traditional device into a PC or laptop.
Microsoft is still yet to make a phone that can be turned into a PC with Continuum, especially when the OS of Windows 10 Mobile will be requiring Universal Windows Apps for it to work well.
Microsoft still has lots to do to improve Continuum. It also needs to get the apps for desktop into Windows Store. The hints of Nadella at phone hardware will only truly materialize once that has been taken care of. One thing is for sure and that is the fact that Microsoft is not giving up on the mobile phone business.
On the other side of the table, HoloLens holographic headset inventor, Alex Kipman, told Bloomberg that phones are already making their exit to the stage. “The phone’s starting to fade and people haven’t realized it yet.”
In another interview, Kipman also expressed the same sentiments. Devices like HoloLens project digital imagery to a user’s field of view. They are, by Kipman’s reckoning, the technology that will take over smartphones. After all, nobody will need a phone if text messages, phone calls, games, documents, and movie screens can be projected directly into your view.
