Microsoft reaffirms that it's steering clear of handset manufacturing

We've heard it time and time again, but the inner Zune Guy within us refuses to believe Microsoft is really shunning the chance to pump out a handset of its very own. Unfortunately, Lady Luck hasn't done us any favors since the last time this question was posed, as Scott Rockfeld, group product manager for Windows Mobile, recently confirmed that Microsoft has "no plans to build [its] own phone." He continued by adding that "right now [it's] happy to share the limelight." C'mon Scott -- where's that tenacious spirit you had that first day in Redmond? Where's the unrelenting determination to conquer the competition? Where's... oh, never mind.

[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]

[Olu O @ Sep 26th 2008 5:43PM]

say it isn't so microsoft ... say it isn't so

[d00b @ Sep 26th 2008 6:04PM]

MS said the same thing when launching the PlayForSure initiative, that it wouldn't do a PMP. Then came the Zune. The truth is that MS would (and should) do whatever it takes to compete in the burgeoning mobile space, which is shaping up to be the next computing platform. We all know that the desktop is stagnant and giving way to mobile devices. Smartphones & MIDs are the logical evolution. The difference is that, unlike desktops where MS has its OS entrenched, it's far from being dominant in the mobile space. Apple is currently the top dog in innovation & mindshare for smartphones (although not market share), and Google's Android is opening up with some pretty impressive artillery as well.

Let's face it, we all know Ballmer would sell his own grandmother if that's what it takes to beat the competition. A little mea culpa isn't going to stop him. The problem with MS isn't so much the desire to compete--it's that, as Jobs would say, it just has no creativity, nor an understanding of the user experience.

[Mark Anderson @ Sep 26th 2008 6:14PM]

@d00b

Stop sniffing glue. Seriously.

[TheAxMan @ Sep 26th 2008 6:30PM]

@d00b - you're right on target man.

MS sure did promise not to make a PlaysForSure PMP (they needed to do that to rally the industry around the format) - but when the industry wasn't able to come up with a good PMP, MS had to take matters into their own hands (hence the Zune). And the Zune is pretty awesome so I'm glad they did this. Of course, this also explains why Zune doesn't use PlaysForSure.

Same thing applies here as well -- except that MS hasn't promised anybody that they won't make a phone. They've just said that they don't have plans at the moment. I have a feeling that will change in the future. The Danger! acquisition, WinMo7, and the Zune - the synergies are pretty obvious, and there are some really cool design chops in these teams that could result in a really nice product if they combined their talents.

[JohnTitor @ Sep 26th 2008 7:28PM]

I don't see why everybody wants this so much
I'd rather WinMo 7 be a success then another closed platform
obviously their hardware partners aren't just gonna take it sitting if Microsoft builds their own device
in the end developers will have it worse, having to port their products over so many devices

[konshuss @ Sep 26th 2008 7:45PM]

i'm fine with there being no MS Phone. WinMo is something they should focus on making better so even more third-party phones can support and use it.
If Microsoft made their own phone, it's like taking your ball and going home. It's literally going into business for yourself - and with that kind of move, you'd see providers either pull support from Windows Mobile - or MS would look really stupid if their own hardware had more problems running its own OS than the other guys.

Letting other companies adopt Windows Mobile for their devices is about as close as Microsoft will ever get to being "open," but from my view it's a much better option than throwing walls up around yourself and controlling every little aspect of HW/SW/online capabilities.

[MSmobile @ Sep 26th 2008 11:16PM]

Windows Mobile fans, don't fret.
Microsoft has NEVER built their own mobile, nor have they built their own PC.
Google doesn't plan on building mobiles either. Microsoft & Google are software companies.

[Nirmal @ Sep 26th 2008 5:44PM]

MS is smart enough to know that creating a device of its own would be like running themselves into the great wall of china. Better lay low and see what comes out of the iPhone. Besides, they are a software company, let others make the hardware.

[Some Kid @ Sep 26th 2008 6:01PM]

are you implying they should stop making Zune????

[urmomFTW @ Sep 26th 2008 6:14PM]

no he is implying that they should stop making xbox 360s, or at least thats what the RRoD told me


BAHAHHA!

[matt merritt @ Sep 26th 2008 6:16PM]

The xbox 360 isn't hardware at all.

Nope, no hardware there.

The console is a lie.

[Decoy @ Sep 27th 2008 1:39AM]

Laser mice, Keyboards, Zune, Xbox, Sidewinder etc. Microsoft do make hardware and it tends to come out nice, strangely. I'm sure they'd make a great phone.

However, it seems they're more interested in following their Windows model (platform for 3rd party hardware / software) on phones, just as Apple is following their own particular model by selling the OS paired with their hardware.

The desktop OS space is now mimicked by the mobile OS space, with an open source platform, a Windows Platform and a OSX platform.

[Richard @ Sep 26th 2008 5:45PM]

Just like years ago Microsoft told Logitech and other peripheral manufacturers they were not interested in making hardware "right now". Microsoft has no choice but to make a mobile phone to keep its "growth" numbers going, it has already saturated the PC market so now it has to "eat its children" shall we say.

[smartass505 @ Sep 26th 2008 5:47PM]

Are they forgetting that they bought Danger? Maybe I am mistaken but dont they already make the numerous iterations of the Sidekick?

[jakem @ Sep 26th 2008 5:49PM]

I'd be happy for Microsoft to let others build the hardware so long as they set the bar pretty high in terms of system requirements. Why damage your platform's reputation just to ensure that you can sell a few more licences by allowing people to make phones that aren't powerful enough?

It would also be a good idea if Microsoft used their clout to mandate basic features like 3.5mm headphone jacks, > 64Mb of RAM, etc.

[Justin @ Sep 26th 2008 5:49PM]

I look at the the mock-ups of Windows Mobile 7 and can't help but feel allured. I realize that we know nothing of it's functional capability, what menus will really look like, it's performance, or anything else beyond these mock-ups, but I can't help but think it looks gorgeous. So much so, in fact that I put it ahead of both the iPhone and Android. I'd much rather see something like these mock-ups on my HTC Touch.

Again, that is saying nothing about usability, functionality, etc. Just strickly appearance.

Anyone else agree, or am I alone on this one?

[Saad Rabia @ Sep 26th 2008 7:53PM]

We highly agree!

[John @ Sep 27th 2008 12:45AM]

Highest agree, even.

[nohone @ Sep 26th 2008 5:50PM]

Just because the Windows Mobile group is not making handsets...

[Freakin Ijit @ Sep 26th 2008 6:00PM]

Looks like the HTC onslaught of quality design (correctly) convinced MSFT to say "Nevermind!".

[Jubei @ Sep 26th 2008 6:01PM]

A blatant lie from MS. They are already busy developing a prototype. Having the luxury of using Apple for their R&D, MS engineers, all two thousand of them are busy creating variations of the iPhone for their upcoming "me too" device. This news is just smoke and mirrors from MS.

[Abuzar Baloach @ Sep 26th 2008 6:10PM]

You annoy me to great lengths. I don't care that you hate Microsoft, but I REALLY want to punch some common sense into you.

[matt merritt @ Sep 26th 2008 6:23PM]

Do you have a dedicated "'me too' device" key on your keyboard so that you don't have to type it out in full every time you post? Or is the phrase just always copied... ready to be ⌘-V'd at a moments notice?

[Abuzar Baloach @ Sep 26th 2008 6:59PM]

There is no copy and paste on the iPhone, so I doubt it's that. In fact it cant do dedicated keys either, so I think he just has to type it out.

[Jubei @ Sep 26th 2008 10:20PM]

A typical response from a typical MS fanatic. Usually upset when the truth is revealed, and retorts with either violent replies, physical threats, deviant sexual suggestions or outrageous accusations and assumptions about the poster he or she is responding to.

Face it. Thats the truth, regarding my post. MS puts out this kind of propaganda to try and fool their partners into believing that MS will not compete within their space. Time and time again as posted by many here, MS will just turn around and stab them in the back. As usual. That is MS, the biggest "me too" company in the technology sectors, method of operation.

[Zeus.:God @ Sep 26th 2008 11:38PM]

Jubei up to his usual childish antics of the "my is better than yours!" He honestly is a fan of Apple and not the products. He likely uses it as a status symbol in order to relate to anyone, because he has no social skills, just as he has shown here. He really is surprised at an "vulgarity" on the internet, which further cements that fact. He can't accept a product for what it is, rather he tries to find dirt on a company (most of it untrue and just petty stuff) and bash it and it's products based on that. He still thinks that the Zune is a "me-too" product, but doesn't look at the iPod as the same thing... I mean, if it's a smart-phone, an MP3 player, or an operating system, no matter what company it's from, and how un-related it is to something Apple has copied- sorry, "created"- then it's a "me-too" product.

The only real issue here is that he likely has the world record on how fast he can type out "me-too" on an iPhone.

[matt merritt @ Sep 26th 2008 11:39PM]

Did Microsoft kill your first born or something?

I love my MacBook Pro, don't get me wrong. I like the iMac that my parents have. I like my iPod(s). I like my Airport Routers. (I despised the Apple TV I was given and promptly ebayed it.)

That having been said, you need to drop it. You need to face simple facts that the iUniverse is not the ONLY universe. You need to face up to the fact that there are certain things the windows operating system is better at then the Macintosh operating system. You need to accept that the iPhone is not God, or even one of various gods, no matter how much you want it to be and say that everyone else is a "me too" company.

I'm pretty sure that if it were up to you, you'd do your damnedest to stifle any forward development at all, just so that you could place Steve Jobs on a higher plateau. Guess what, place Steve Jobs wherever you like him... It still doesn't change the fact that he sends devices to market with a narrow target audience and half-crippled features. Being the progenitor of any one technology doesn't make you special - it's being able to bring that technology to the people that stands out, and to the majority of people at that. Furthermore, in the technology world, where people are generally more educated and thus have the ability to think, some people choose to create their own features. It's being able to create technology that adapts that is important.

So, then, I pose to you a question. What is wrong with Microsoft being a "Me Too" company, as you so childishly phrase it? They see something that works and they bring it to a wider market. Does the wider market have possible negative effects? Of course. Does that mean that a technology that Steve Jobs decides is 'revolutionary' should never be allowed to leave his rather short leash. Not at all. It doesn't matter that Microsoft is a 'Me Too' anything, because the act of bringing a closed-market product to a mass market is, in itself, revolutionary.

[Zeus.:God @ Sep 26th 2008 11:40PM]

Oops. Probably shouldn't have used the lesser than and greater than symbols in those quotations.

*"my *insert product here* is better than yours!"

[matt merritt @ Sep 26th 2008 11:43PM]

Oh, and while we are on the topic of "Me Too" products... my powerMac G4 used a PowerPC processor.


My MacBook Pro now uses an Intel Core2Duo - who jumped on the bandwagon with that one? Surely everyone else did a decade or two preemptively, knowing that eventually Apple would.

[Zeus.:God @ Sep 26th 2008 11:44PM]

Wow- words of wisdom, Matt.

Jubei, if there is ANYONE on here you should take a hint from- it's him. He definitely knows his stuff.

[JMMGoalster @ Sep 26th 2008 11:45PM]

dont feed the troll

[Alex Padilla @ Sep 26th 2008 6:08PM]

All Microsoft needs to do for a Zunephone would be to use Windows Mobile and give it a Zune-like skin with normal WinMo functionality on a dedicated "WinMoZ" hardware configuration. You know, enough on-board storage for the music and the functionality that a normal WinMo device usually has. Nothing more, nothing less.

[chefgon_ign @ Sep 26th 2008 6:36PM]

Considering that WinMo and Zune both run on top of Windows CE 5, they could probably have that whipped up in a couple of days. Does that mean that it's the right thing for them to do? I don't think so.

By licensing out to everyone else, Microsoft gets their platform out there in a hundred different form factors and price points, with little risk to them. The iPhone is a cool device, but it comes in exactly one variety. If you want a physical keyboard, you can't get a device running iPhone OS.

Making a single integrated device makes sense in the MP3 Player market, there isn't really all that much variety that people are looking for when it's a dedicated device that does one thing. But phones are different, everybody uses their phone a little differently and they are capable enough that different uses will benefit from different hardware features.

What microsoft needs to do is just really concentrate on their software and make it relevant again. When PocketPC first came out against Palm it was like a giant leap into the future. They really changed the way that people thought about handheld devices. They need to really get behind this WinMo 7 thing and make it awesome. If they can do that, the hardware makers will take care of getting it into lots of people's hands.

[Nate @ Sep 26th 2008 6:09PM]

I can't think of a single reason why MS would want to build their own hardware.

[Ryan @ Sep 26th 2008 6:32PM]

One Reason: I would buy one no matter what

[Randy @ Sep 26th 2008 7:24PM]

Say what you want about MS' software. MS' HW is usually pretty good or at least better than average. (the Xbox RRoD problems withstanding) If they decided to make their own handset. I'm sure it would be pretty good.

[TareX @ Sep 26th 2008 6:13PM]

I hope that means all the handset engineers are there to make a next-gen handheld gaming device.

[Michael Haney @ Sep 26th 2008 6:17PM]

They're still selling those things?! I thought the Zune has been dead for a while now. The local electronic stores that sell them can't get anyone to buy them to save their souls, yet the iPod are selling like hotcakes.

[Shinigami @ Sep 26th 2008 6:24PM]

Oh really?

[Aex Dorman @ Sep 26th 2008 7:23PM]

I work at Toys R Us and for the longest time we sold exclusively Zune. We are just now getting iPods and when the time comes to help out the confused customer it wont be iPods I'll be recommending.

[robin.mcclellan @ Sep 26th 2008 7:11PM]

Am I the only one who thinks MS should not only not make a phone but Windows Mobile is like Windows everywhere: bloated, slow and buggy?

[Titus @ Sep 26th 2008 7:19PM]

Lets let microsoft figure out how to first build a decent os for a phone, since windows mobile is horrible, then they can try and make a phone.

[S. Kurtz @ Sep 26th 2008 7:20PM]

Yeah like there would be a Microshit person inside of me! Apple forever!

[iEye @ Sep 26th 2008 7:37PM]

idiots!

They could leard so much by building their own handset...

they should go the route Apple took.. make a mobile OS only for their brand of handset so they can control the user experience...

[John @ Sep 26th 2008 7:39PM]

Why Zune? A Zune is an mp3 player. Why would it be the name of the phone? Windows Mobile plays music and videos and would be the OS they put on any phone they chose to make, if they did indeed choose to make any at all. What is the connection between Zune and a phone? Because apple chose to make a phone centered around an mp3 player, therefore microsoft will to? And on top of that have the incredibly generic 'phone' on the end of the name.

[Systemwolf @ Sep 26th 2008 7:42PM]

So what you're saying is...Microsoft is making a phone?

[Quikboy @ Sep 26th 2008 10:13PM]

I LOVE how Microsoft is able to support a lot of handset makers, by licensing their Windows Mobile OS to them. WinMo is a pretty handy OS if you know all the tricks, and it's nice having a lot of devices out there utilizing it. Microsoft profits, handset makers profit, and then of course the consumers who buy them somewhat profits. It's a win-win-win situation.

Instead of making their own hardware, Microsoft should "push up the quality standards" for WinMo phones. Like making things such as Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS, minimum of 4GB of internal storage, accelerometers, etc. all STANDARD stuff on a WinMo phone. With more specified components, it might make it much more easier for developers to build apps that could work on ALL WinMo phones.

Part of the reason why some people who use WinMo feel that its awful, is often because of the hardware. Components that are so cheap and crappy, lack of driver updates, good features built-in, etc. Microsoft needs to PUSH these guys to do better on that part. Hardware, just as much as software, is what makes a gadget.

While it would be cool if MS made their own phone, I like the idea of spreading the wealth across other companies too, making more jobs and more competition. They just need to push the quality standards for WinMo phones so that every WinMo user can expect what comes with a typical WinMo phone. Then of course, make WinMo more consumer-friendly, instead of business-friendly with more features too ooh and ahh about, as well as a redesigned UI.

[Kai @ Sep 27th 2008 4:59AM]

Agreed... if MS made their own phone, and if other handset makers feel that they cannot compete with the MS phone and choose not to license WinMo anymore (the phone makers can choose Andriod instead), MS would probably be worse off...

As a side note, Google didn't build their own GooglePhone either - they got HTC to do it for them...

[WilliamC @ Sep 27th 2008 9:45AM]

Sprint keep your eyes and ears open. I would definately keep my eye over the butterfly's shoulder for this phone. Any thing microsoft creates eventually turns to gold. Does Windows Vista ring a bell? It is still selling like hot cakes...It could help your bottom line...What the hay - Bug them about it.

[mi1400 @ Sep 27th 2008 10:21AM]

MS must launch a smart phone... because everyone else is just fooloing around.. read this post as proof.
http://www.gsmarena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21045&start=0
http://www.gsmarena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21045&start=15