Earlier this year Microsoft started offering Windows and Windows Phone software free of charge to device makers producing phones and and tablets with 9 inch or smaller screens.

The move effectively made Windows as cheap to use as Android… possibly cheaper, since Microsoft collects royalty fees from many companies that use Android on their devices.

So how’s that working out so far? Pretty good, according to Microsoft’s vice president in charge of operating systems.

archos 40 cesium_02

After this week’s Windows 10 press event, Recode’s Ina Fried caught up with Microsoft’s Terry Myerson and asked about the license-free Windows initative.

Myserson says 50 new companies have started producing phones and tablets with Windows software. If you didn’t know there were 50 companies that make phones and tablets, that’s because we’re not talking about big names like HTC and LG but rather smaller companies like Blu, Archos, Kazam, and Yezz.

It’s not clear whether demand for small Windows devices is on the rise, but it certainly looks like there are a growing number of devices hitting on the streets for anybody who does want one.

Myserson says he expects Microsoft to continue offering Windows free of charge for small devices in the future.

Another thing that’s unclear? How Microsoft plans to make money in a world without licensing fees for its operating systems. The company does still charge device makers who install Windows on larger devices including notebooks and desktops. And you can still buy retail copies of Windows. But most people get Windows software by purchasing a device that has it preloaded, and they get updates when Microsoft pushes them out for free.

Microsoft’s efforts to make Windows more attractive to device makers could eventually help it grab market share from Android. But it could also mean that Microsoft will either have to extinguish its competitors and then start charging again (which seems unlikely) or make up for lost revenue in other ways such as charging for online services (like Office 365) and through advertising.

It probably helps that the free versions of Windows that Microsoft offers include Bing services including search, maps, and other apps. That could help get customers hooked on the full Microsoft experience.

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,544 other subscribers

3 replies on “Microsoft: 50 new companies making Windows phones, tablets this year”

  1. Microsoft is still making enough money on Office and such to lose money on mobile products. I think Microsoft is tired of being an also-ran in the mobile race. Their biggest weakness (in my opinion) is app selection. It’s a chicken and egg problem. People don’t consider Windows Phone because it doesn’t have the apps they want, so not many people use it (comparatively). Developers don’t bother developing apps because the user base is small. Flooding the market with cheap devices and making one unified OS may help them break the cycle. Android’s main weakness (in my opinion) is fragmentation. New phones ship with old versions, most phones don’t get updates, every OEM has its own customizations/skins, etc. iPhones are too expensive for a lot of people unless they’re buying into a new contract. If Microsoft can provide updates over a reasonable lifecycle and have a single user experience (like Apple), and have reasonably priced hardware (like Google), and have a well-stocked app store (like both), then they have a chance of being competitive. It may sound like a lot, but they’ve already got the affordable hardware, the single user experience, and I think most (if not all) WP 8.0 phones were upgradable to 8.1.

  2. License-free Windows imitative? Yes, yes it is. Manufactures lacked *initiative”.

Comments are closed.