It seems as if the saga of Sony building a smartphone, running Windows Phone will never come to a stop till the two companies actually collaborate and build such a device. Rumors of such a device came to fruition as early as 2010 with Sony Ericsson’s CEO Pierre Perron deciding against the idea because it would “run the risk of standardizing our smartphones,” adding that (roughly translated), “we would be obliged to fight only on design and price, which we want to avoid.” Such a move made a lot of sense at the time, with Sony Ericsson just getting in the groove of creating smartphones running Android OS. With limited resources and a small market share, it would be a wise move for the company to support a growing platform like Android and cancel their Microsoft’s Windows Phone which was just beginning its deployment.
Fast forward to today and things are quite different. Sony Ericsson has now been broken up and turned into Sony Mobile, an internal division within Sony that oversees all smartphone designs versus the split decisions that took place under Sony Ericsson. In just a short time, Sony has also been able to produce an exciting array of phones which include the Xperia ion, Xperia S, Xperia U, and Xperia P. Although many of these phones won’t launch till Q2 of this year, it’s easy to see the differences from internally-produced phones from Sony which carry a much more disciplined design that leverages internal Sony technology like their Bravia engine. Things on the Microsoft front are also different with the company signing a multi-billion dollar deal with Nokia which will see them produce Windows Phones exclusively. Microsoft also has LG and Samsung on board as well, though they’ve yet to produce any exciting device, unlike Nokia’s Lumina 800 and 900. It’s no secret that Microsoft was late to the smartphone revolution but it would be foolish to rule them out, especially with the amount of cash the company tends to throw towards product promotion like the $500 million spent last year to promote Kinect for Xbox 360.
With Sony’s mobile future purely in their own hands, reports are pointing towards the launch of Windows Phone 8, codename Apollo, as the potential timeframe for Sony to expand its mobile offering. Though not confirmed, multiple sources have said that Sony will be making this transition in later 2012 which also coincides with the launch of Windows Phone 8. For Sony, this could be a big boom as the Android market continues to saturate with feels like 10 new phones are released daily. Windows Phone has yet to catch on with consumers but with Microsoft’s commitment and need for success in the market, it’s not a stretch to imagine that the company will begin to heavily promote their new OS, especially as Windows 8 for computers and tablets is set to launch in the later part of 2012 which will be heavily tied with Windows Phone 8. With few handsets available for the new OS and potential promotions from Microsoft towards Sony, it seems like a no brainer for Sony to support Windows Phone 8 in addition to Android.
For those who would cry foul and argue that Microsoft and Sony are bitter rivals, I will simply point out that Sony’s entire VAIO line runs on Windows which has had Microsoft air commercials using only Sony devices. The mobile space is no different as both companies have a lot to gain from this partnership.
You must be logged in to post a comment.