Microsoft Looks To The Low End For Smartphones
Symbian is the clear leader in smartphone OS market share, trouncing Windows Mobile, Palm OS and all the others. One reason for its success is that Nokia and other manufacturers don't limit its use to high-end or business-focused devices, they utilize it for consumer devices and are actively pushing it down into mid-tier phones. Now, Microsoft reportedly wants to do the same, and is looking for an Taiwanese ODM to manufacture a sub-$300 Windows Mobile phone. Microsoft has found some success by using ODMs to create white-label devices, then emphasizing its own brand and that of its carrier partners, and there has been some trickle-down of Windows Mobile into consumer handsets such as the SDA Music device T-Mobile sells in Germany. As operators offer increasingly complex services, there's a need for more powerful devices with which to access them. It's little surprise, then, that Microsoft is targeting the mid-tier and low-end devices.
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