How we feel about Sony adopting Windows Phone 8
Sony Mobile Communications is one of those finicky OEMs who are constantly adjusting their strategy as the market changes around them. Actually, that’s hardly a bad position to take and that seems to be the case with their position on Windows Phone 8 as well.
In a recent interview with Mobile Magazine, Sony Mobile’s UK & Ireland MD Pierre Perron discussed their latest stance on Microsoft...
“Sony’s strategy is one of openness. Microsoft is a Sony partner with the likes of our VAIO laptops and it’s integrated onto our tablets. As far as Xperia smartphones go, Android remains the preferred partner, although Sony is not a single partner company. We are currently investigating with the likes of Microsoft the possibility of diversifying our product strategy.”
The last part has raised a few eyebrows in the tech world as it could very likely mean that Sony may become another big OEM to join the Windows Phone 8 revolution.
Or maybe not.
That quote is certainly better than the earlier opinion that “no one cares about WP7” and it lends come credence to the earlier Tweakers.net rumor, but Sony has had a long history of toying with Windows Mobile and Windows Phone. Back in 2010, Sony even had a ‘Julie’ prototype phone with Windows Phone 7 on board—but then the company evidently backed out.
An Xperia Windows Phone could have a lot of potential
Likewise, in early 2011, they had a similar position for the media on the same topic:
“We absolutely maintain to keep an open mind towards Windows Phone 7. We continue to engage in a relationship with Microsoft, but we haven’t made any concrete announcement about when and how we would introduce Windows Phone 7 into the portfolio.”
From what we understand, companies like Sony, Asus, Acer and other non-committed partners keep a skeleton crew of engineers working on Windows Phone prototypes—allowing them to try the new OS and see what they can do with it. We’re quite confident that Sony probably has a few test devices with Windows Phone 8 for their engineers to experiment on. Companies do this because if they want to shift strategy, they don’t want to look around the room and ask “Okay, who do we hire to get started”.
And that’s what we think Sony means here. Along with Windows 8 Desktop for computers and tablets, Windows Phone 8 must have come up as part of the licensing package at some point. Our position is Sony will take a wait-and-see approach on how well Windows Phone 8 is received and perhaps may join the Microsoft mobile camp in 2013 if they are impressed (and like what they can negotiate).
In other words, while this sounds good, we’re far from calling this a home run just yet. Consider it to be friendly PR and nothing more.
Source: Mobile Magazine; Thanks, bilzkh, for the tip
