“The question investors, technologists and strategists have long been asking is, ‘What is Steve Ballmer willing to pay to beat Apple and Google?’ Now we have a small part of the answer, $230 per cell phone,” Nigam Arora writes for Forbes. “Microsoft is in a venture with Nokia to gain market share for Windows phones in its battle with Google Android. In the last quarter, Microsoft paid $250 million to Nokia.”
Arora writes, “The $230 number shows desperation, and there is no doubt that the Windows phone will live or die based on how well Nokia does. How does Microsoft justify taking such a loss? With about $50 billion in cash, $250 million is peanuts for Microsoft. Microsoft simply fell behind Apple and Google, and Ballmer recognizes that a big price has to be paid to catch up. The shocker is that AT&T may price the phone at $99 with a two-year contract. The low price is a game changer. At present, comparable phones from Apple and Samsung are priced at $199 with a two year contract… One thing is for certain, introducing Lumia 900 at such a low price is like stomping on the downtrodden RIM.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: AT&T offers the 8GB iPhone 4 for $99 with contract. No Windows Phone can compete with the iPhone 4 and the massive ecosystem behind it; 555,000+ apps, too many cases to count, automobile integration, etc., etc. Windows Phone just may drive the wooden stake into the un-beating, blackberry heart of RIM, but it’s real challenge is to begin eating Android share. As Android gets more expensive and loses features due to patent infringement cases and settlements, the iPhone wannabe assemblers of the world will need something to load onto their wares in the vain hope of competing with Apple’s relentless pace of innovation.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “GetMeOnTop” for the heads up.]
As well as my Mac and iPad, I have a Windows Phone (I used to have an iPhone 4 but broke it and needed a cheaper replacement so picked up a second-hand HTC Mozart – and I was so impressed I’ve now got a Lumia 800) and you know what? It’s really good. It doesn’t have quite the app support, but the OS is well designed, elegant, consistent and tightly programmed. I’d take a WP phone over an Android phone any day. All that said, if the rumours are that WP8 is basically Windows 8, I’ll be coming back to an iPhone too. Microsoft have a genuinely great product – if they mess it up, it’s a sign that even when they make something good they *still* don’t get it.