Microsoft may be building own smartphones
- 21 June, 2012 20:23
- Comments
After Microsoft announced this week that it will sell a pair of branded Surface tablets, an analyst suggested that the company is also working with a contract manufacturer to build its own Windows Phone 8-based smartphone.
Rick Sherlund, an analyst at Nomura said in a note to investors that industry sources have told him that Microsoft may already be working with a contract manufacturer on the new handset.
"It is unclear to us whether this would be a reference platform or whether this may be a go-to-market Microsoft branded handset," Sherlund said .
"We would not be surprised if Microsoft were to decide to bring their own handset to market next year given that Microsoft has decided to bring to market their own Windows 8 "Surface' tablet/PC products," he added
Some reports, including one in Business Insider, suggest that Microsoft might need to build its own hardware if struggling Nokia, a key hardware partner, falls into deeper trouble. Such problems could imperil its Windows Phone partnership with the Redmond software giant, the reports said.
Just last week, Nokia announced plans to lay off 10,000 workers amid financial troubles and slow sales of its Lumia devices that run Windows Phone 7.
The Windows Phone 8 operating system won't run existing Windows Phones, which analysts predict could further hurt Nokia sales in the coming months.
Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen, or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed . His e-mail address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.
Read more about mobile and wireless in Computerworld's Mobile and Wireless Topic Center.
Recommended
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.
- Bookmark this page
- Share this article
- Got more on this story? Email CIO
- Follow CIO on twitter
-
Australia suspected to have PRISM data: Ludlam
-
Australia Post’s mail business to lose $200 million this year
-
Australia Post’s mail business to lose $200 million this year
-
Microsoft's ambivalence about Office on the Web gives Apple shot with iWork on iCloud
-
3 Lessons Learned From a Failed Customer Feedback Test
-
Staying Ahead of the Data Explosion
The total volume of data being processed and stored by businesses is rising exponentially. IDC has estimated that the size of the "digital universe" will increase 29 fold between 2010 and 2020. Data storage technology has undergone a steady increase in capacity, along with a steady decline in the cost per unit to store information. Unfortunately, data storage capacity is not keeping pace with data growth and necessitating greater intelligence in the storage infrastructure. Read more. -
Russian Underground 101
This research paper intends to provide a brief summary of the cybercriminal underground and shed light on the basic types of hacker activity in Russia. It discusses fundamental concepts that Russian hackers follow and the information they share with their peers. It also examines prices charged for various types of services, along with how prevalent the given services are in advertisements. The primary features of each type of activity and examples of associated service offerings are discussed as well. Read this paper. -
Key Factors in Modernising Backup and Recovery
There is a definite need for better data protection solutions in today’s enterprise data centres. The question is whether to continue with software-only backup and recovery solutions, or to make the move to a purpose-built backup appliance with de-duplication capabilities. This paper discusses the trends that have made modernising backup and recovery an urgent priority. Click to download.
Get exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis. 
