Biggest news I've heard out of //Build so far... Free Windows/Windows Phone OS to OEM's
I know that they had already promised free licenses to certain phone OEM's and tablets under a certain price point. But both of those were VERY restrictive and low impact. But, according to this, they are now going to be giving away licenses free for both Windows and Windows Phone to devices under 9" in screen size to OEM's.
The original constraints for free licenses seemed arbitrary. Firstly, on the phone front it was a pair of OEM's out of India and no one else. Sure, as an emerging market, it made sense. But there was no way to motivate traction elsewhere in the market.
On the tablet/PC front it was devices under $250. This is pretty low, even for an Android device of any quality. Sure, there are a lot of Android devices under this price point... but not really anything driving the market. The only reason those tablets exist is because Android doesn't enforce anything. To meet a price point they can drop in virtually any touchscreen, with virtually any resolution. Any amount of RAM. Any CPU/GPU. And size disk. Simply put, to get to or below that price point, something has to give. And it does. Decent tablets start in the $299 on both platforms. iOS doesn't even go that low.
To build a Windows tablet at that price point is a lot harder than on Android. There a higher minimum specs across the board. So the restriction was a bit of a crap shoot.
By opening it up to any device with a screen less than 9" means it means every Windows Phone is now free as far as licensing is concerned for OEM. And it means the bulk of tablets out there are also going to get a free OS license. OEM's are only limited in one area, and it is an area where, today, there isn't much of an issue.
For Windows Phone, it gives OEM a better reason to think twice about the platform. Even without the customizability of Android, many like the idea of a second platform. When there were licensing costs and a lack of customization available to OEM's it was a tough sell. If they don't need to pay for a license to the OS, it makes a number of options much more practical. The simplest thing it makes feasible (along with the new hardware requirement changes) is simply pumping out 2 versions of every phone. A Windows Phone version and an Android version. It also makes *cringe* dual-booting more viable of an option. Or, my suggestion of software/services to flash a phone between the two OS's.
If it works out right for Windows Phone, this licensing change could be the single most impactful difference the brand has received in the North American market which has proved a tough one for Microsoft.
On the tablet front, it probably opens things up a lot more broadly than they would have wanted, but that also makes it more attractive to the OEM's. There is a restriction in place, and you can tell the message. Free Windows OS licenses aren't meant for productivity devices. But, with the only restriction being on screen size, you can expect to see an influx of both tablets and laptops with sub-9" screens. The OEM's are certainly going to push these devices.
In fact, I would expect to start seeing more and more premium priced sub-9" tablets and laptops popping up. While it is nice that on low end OEM's are able to either extract more profit or be more competitive, they want even higher margins and value from their hardware. The restrictions mention nothing about RAM, screen quality/resolution, CPU/GPU, etc... so you might see an attempt to create something like what happened with Ultrabooks for laptops.
The original constraints for free licenses seemed arbitrary. Firstly, on the phone front it was a pair of OEM's out of India and no one else. Sure, as an emerging market, it made sense. But there was no way to motivate traction elsewhere in the market.
On the tablet/PC front it was devices under $250. This is pretty low, even for an Android device of any quality. Sure, there are a lot of Android devices under this price point... but not really anything driving the market. The only reason those tablets exist is because Android doesn't enforce anything. To meet a price point they can drop in virtually any touchscreen, with virtually any resolution. Any amount of RAM. Any CPU/GPU. And size disk. Simply put, to get to or below that price point, something has to give. And it does. Decent tablets start in the $299 on both platforms. iOS doesn't even go that low.
To build a Windows tablet at that price point is a lot harder than on Android. There a higher minimum specs across the board. So the restriction was a bit of a crap shoot.
By opening it up to any device with a screen less than 9" means it means every Windows Phone is now free as far as licensing is concerned for OEM. And it means the bulk of tablets out there are also going to get a free OS license. OEM's are only limited in one area, and it is an area where, today, there isn't much of an issue.
For Windows Phone, it gives OEM a better reason to think twice about the platform. Even without the customizability of Android, many like the idea of a second platform. When there were licensing costs and a lack of customization available to OEM's it was a tough sell. If they don't need to pay for a license to the OS, it makes a number of options much more practical. The simplest thing it makes feasible (along with the new hardware requirement changes) is simply pumping out 2 versions of every phone. A Windows Phone version and an Android version. It also makes *cringe* dual-booting more viable of an option. Or, my suggestion of software/services to flash a phone between the two OS's.
If it works out right for Windows Phone, this licensing change could be the single most impactful difference the brand has received in the North American market which has proved a tough one for Microsoft.
On the tablet front, it probably opens things up a lot more broadly than they would have wanted, but that also makes it more attractive to the OEM's. There is a restriction in place, and you can tell the message. Free Windows OS licenses aren't meant for productivity devices. But, with the only restriction being on screen size, you can expect to see an influx of both tablets and laptops with sub-9" screens. The OEM's are certainly going to push these devices.
In fact, I would expect to start seeing more and more premium priced sub-9" tablets and laptops popping up. While it is nice that on low end OEM's are able to either extract more profit or be more competitive, they want even higher margins and value from their hardware. The restrictions mention nothing about RAM, screen quality/resolution, CPU/GPU, etc... so you might see an attempt to create something like what happened with Ultrabooks for laptops.
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