There's been a lof of rumours about the Nokia buy out, some would even argue Elop was a CEO plant by ballmer to play that acquisition from both sides given his ties to Microsoft.. but that would probably require wearing a tin foil hat with constant glances skyward for predator drones aswell ;)
It would be interesting and obvious buy if they did acquire Nokia as the only thing keep Windows Phone alive is Nokia's marketing team - hardware sure but its mostly about getting it into the hands of consumers in a way that starts to get advertising agencies etc to put the "Windows Phone 8 AppStore" logo in their usual ads that have Android iPhone in them. It appears Wp8 can't quite cross the chasm and I did read earlier in a random data point (which isn't accurate) that devs are making more money off wp7 than wp8 ... if thats false i'd love to know the split on that metric or what the average income is likely to be be for a wp8 developer etc. Tablets play the same role, i mean its all well in good for folks like us who actually pay attention to every hiccup Microsoft has in around what tablets are the better buy etc, but until there is a sense of momentum here not just in the hardware/oem ranks but also developer uptake it's still in a somewhat of a "stall". If a dev today has to install Windows 8 in order to target development for a tablet device its already failed unless they are happy to do so at home (given most corporate environments etc aren't as keen to move forward as yet). A huge amount of developer evangelism and resources need to be applied in the next fiscal year at the very least to jump start this stalled launch and with things heating up in the Azure space (Go team guthrie) it'd be a shame to lose that developer momentum if all we keep seeing is "rumors" of someone buy WinRT or Surface pro... --- Regards, Scott Barnes http://www.riagenic.com On Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 12:48 PM, David Connors <[email protected]> wrote: > On Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 12:34 PM, Ian Thomas <[email protected]>wrote: > >> I’m not sure that I would buy a Surface RT even at 60% off its AU price, >> though – over a Nexus 7 32Gb 3G. I would like 3G or LTE available (built-in >> or pluggable). Maybe that’s the next Surface WinRT model, if Microsoft >> persists with hardware production? >> > Given they are re-organising around 'devices and services' they will most > persist with/ramp up hardware production. They have to as being vertically > integrated is the only way they can trade in thin OEM margins for > Apple-like margins. I read something a week or two ago that they were going > to buy Nokia but the talks fell apart. > >> **** >> >> Android for desktop has been debated for a while, but from HP is a >> surprise. “Slate 21” – bigger than a roofing tile. >> > We've got one of those $70 Android media players in the office that plus > into a screen via HDMI. The UX is *not quite* there in terms of a desktop > experience however it is close. Having Google Play integration and Chrome > on it makes it a very capable platform. It is fast even on something like > this: > http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/android-mini-pc-ivd101-hdmi-wifi-1080p-1gb-ram-4gb-storage-micro/?gclid=CM-9y9HYgLgCFctdpQodASsAKQ > > Like I said though ... the UX is *not quite right* and you get stuck in > scenarios where you're not quite sure how to get out of / back to home > screen etc. Google is pushing ChromeOS for desktop and laptops so I don't > know if they care enough/at all about making Android have a first rate > desktop UX. > >> **** >> >> Coming back to Windows and WinRT on ARM – to me, it seems like a really >> good platform with heaps of potential – especially for Windows developers. >> It might be that realising this potential depends on reduced pricing – >> not just to educational institutions. That would require concessions from >> Microsoft for the OS licensing. I’m ignorant of those numbers, but my guess >> would be that the manufacturers already pay quite a small amount. And the >> secure boot ROM could not cost them more than a few dollars. >> > Irrespective of technical merit, without customers it is a non-starter. I > still don't get the RT value prop. As far as I can tell it is "trade off > compatibility and performance for battery life" ... which, frankly, is a > pretty shit story. I played with someone's Surface RT a month ago and it > struggled to play the banner ads on news.com.au smoothly ... ! > > David. > > >> ** >> > >
