It is said that desperate measures are adopted by reputed businesses when their business plans do not go the planned way. Microsoft had taken on board Nokia to run its Lumia devices on its Windows phone OS, and despite their best efforts they could not compete with Android and iOS platforms. As per media reports, Microsoft had also offered leading companies like Samsung etc. to finance them partly for coming out with premium smartphones running on Windows Phone OS. It is further reported that these companies including Samsung has not shown much interest in this offer. Probably, these companies are in wait and watch mode.
Now, we understand that Microsoft has offered two leading Indian handsets makers Karbonn and Lava to give them Windows Phone OS free for their smartphones. Normally, Microsoft charges approximately $ 20 as licensing fee per device from the smartphone vendor who use it for their smartphones. It is said that Microsoft was charging licensing fee even from Nokia for their Lumia devices.
Now, the question arises why Microsoft is waiving its license fee for Indian handsets makers. The answer is very simple. These two companies – Karbonn and Lava are quite popular in India as they have varied range of Android smartphones for entry-level to high-end segment. Microsoft must have thought that why not to utilise their expertise, market penetration and bundle their phone OS in their smartphones. In two or three tier cities, these companies are quite aggressive and if they can come out with smartphones with good hardware features in the range of Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 8,000 with Windows OS then they can set the ball rolling for Windows phones in India. In our opinion, the first time buyers of smartphones from remote areas won’t mind to go in for budget Windows smartphones. If this experiment succeeds then their are chances that this offer of Microsoft may be extended to other Indian handsets makers also, provided they also show interest in making Windows phones.
This is a smart ploy by Microsoft to push its Windows OS in India, but it will depend how the consumers respond to the Windows phones by Indian companies. These two companies have done wonderful job with their Android smartphones, but can they create the same magic with Windows phones. This is very interesting development and the coming months will bring lot of excitement in Indian smartphone market.
