What should Microsoft do in the Smartphone Market?

[dss2000]

It am no Microsoft fan, I dislike their monopolistic, profit squeezing ways. But I was thinking the other day that Windows Phone is going nowhere and purchasing Nokia was futile act of desperation. That no matter how much effort they put in Windows Phone they are so far behind with app support they will not succeed. So what would you do as Microsoft's next CEO? I think they should do what they've done with prior competing platforms; "embrace and extend". They are too far behind and can't catch up to Android so they should create an Android phone. Android is free anyway. Instantly have all the Android app support and use all their programming resources to "extend" Android. Perhaps make enterprise tailored programs, security apps, programs to incorporate Android with their Exchange servers, SQL servers. Corporations would feel more comfortable using Android as it would integrate with their existing IT infrastructure. Kind of what Samsung is doing. They embrace Android but Samsung comes out with things vanilla Android doesn't do like multi-screen, pen support, SmartTV integration. The end users will benefit and have a richer ecosystem, it will provide competition for Google to keep pushing the envelope to improve.

Just food for thought, and maybe if this happens I can point to this post and say I called it.

 

[Golfdriver97]

It am no Microsoft fan, I dislike their monopolistic, profit squeezing ways. But I was thinking the other day that Windows Phone is going nowhere and purchasing Nokia was futile act of desperation. That no matter how much effort they put in Windows Phone they are so far behind with app support they will not succeed. So what would you do as Microsoft's next CEO? I think they should do what they've done with prior competing platforms; "embrace and extend". They are too far behind and can't catch up to Android so they should create an Android phone. Android is free anyway. Instantly have all the Android app support and use all their programming resources to "extend" Android. Perhaps make enterprise tailored programs, security apps, programs to incorporate Android with their Exchange servers, SQL servers. Corporations would feel more comfortable using Android as it would integrate with their existing IT infrastructure. Kind of what Samsung is doing. They embrace Android but Samsung comes out with things vanilla Android doesn't do like multi-screen, pen support, SmartTV integration. The end users will benefit and have a richer ecosystem, it will provide competition for Google to keep pushing the envelope to improve.

Just food for thought, and maybe if this happens I can point to this post and say I called it.

You suggestion is a good one. There really isn't ONE thing they could do to do a 180 and still stay alive. In my opionion, they would have to do several things in order to do so. App diversity is one, either that, or possibly try to incorporate Android apps to run on WinOS (Probably not possible).
Live Tiles is a good idea, but not too dissimilar to a widget. But, they could expand custom options. Perhaps even make it like changing launchers on Android.

 

[power5]

Windows just needs apps. The platform is nice. The joining of tablet and phone and desktop UI is a great step. The hold back is apps. Without apps, no one will buy and they cannot grow. Windows needs to entice developers. Get apps, get customers, get market share. The consistency of the UI is ahead of iOS and Android.

 

[aikonriche]

They are so greedy and vile. They literally killed a company just to achieve their ambition of penetrating the smartphone market. Hope they fail.

 

[Hawkhe]

They are so greedy and vile. They literally killed a company just to achieve their ambition of penetrating the smartphone market. Hope they fail.

What company did they kill?

Windows Phone 8 platform is cool and it does a few things better then Android phones but lacks many small features that makes navigation cumbersome.

Things WP8 OS needs

Notification bar
Better home screen widgets
Better music player
Support for more video files
A file manager
More personalization options
Windows 8 features such as home screen pinch to zoom out and organize apps by groups to quickly navigate
Being able to close apps by swiping down instead of clicking an X in the task manager
Better synergy with Windows 8
Apps, amazing how WP8 does not come with a built in remote desktop app nor a MS remote desktop app like they released on Android. Out of the box WP8 phones should work better with Windows 8 then any other phone hands down. Microsoft should also make use of their game companies to make good first party games based on popular Xbox games. Microsoft has the money and the partners to make this happen but it seems like they only care to make a passable phone OS instead of a competitive one.

I own a Note 3 and my wife owns a 1520 and just so many little things on the 1520 that makes you just ask yourself "how did no one see this as a problem?" The Lumia line is filled with very attractive phones but it isn't enough to over look the OS shortcomings. Maybe Windows Phone Blue will fix these issues.