TheVerge: MS risks making WP the next burning platform, Nokia X a factor to the Nokia deal.

Tom Warren tries to piece together MS and Nokia’s decision in going for Android. Tom’s conclusion is that MS risks making WP the next burning platform. Whilst the next WP update is designed to allow for even further expansion into the lower end, entry level smartphones, Nokia X also muscles in to the same territory but with Android.

Instead of fighting the high end, Nokia has produced the Nokia X family to grab the millions who would be leaving feature phones for their first smartphones. The phrase of the week is that these handsets are ‘feeder systems’ to deliver users to Microsoft’s cloud services and ecosystem. MS is now of course, cloud and mobile first. X gives the experience Nokia wants where neither Lumia or Asha can reach at this moment. Instead of waiting for WP to get where it needs to be, for business sense and the necessity of sales, Nokia and MS will use a forked Android handset to get users who they otherwise wouldn’t reach.

Tom says this isn’t necessarily a win for Google since the Nokia X family are vehicles for MS services. But here’s also where the risk lies. Users may still go for the non-MS services. Will developers feel incentivised to build apps for WP? Perhaps, with Nokia X acting as a bridge for folks who might follow through to the Lumia family. There’s also an opportunity to use Android against Google, and disrupt it in the way Amazon has.

There are no Google services on these phones, and Android app developers who want to build for the X will need to edit the in-app payments, location, and notifications aspects of their apps. This gives Nokia and Microsoft control of the all important in-app purchases transactions, mapping data, and both push notifications and messages.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/25/5445150/why-is-nokia-making-android-phones

Perhaps this way, instead of the hard struggle to get folks directly into the Microsoft service via Lumia, they can get so much more by ‘poaching’ them from the Android jungle.

Cheers Alvester for the tip!

Category: Nokia, x