In yet another case of unlikely pie-in-the-sky claims against Apple, Microsoft’s Chinese head of operations Simon Leung stated this morning that Windows Phone will surge past the iPhone in China, leaving Apple in a cloud of silicon dust.
Bloomberg reports:
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), the world’s largest software maker, said its Windows Phone operating system will propel it past Apple Inc. (AAPL) in China’s smartphone market as its partners release devices costing as little as $158.
[…]
“We will continue to drive the price down,” Leung said. “Our goal is number one. Having a goal to be number two is not really a goal.”
Of course, if the actual cost of the device is the entire basis of Leung’s argument, he’s likely in for a rude awakening. There’s already an abundance of remarkably cheap Android phones floating around in nearly every country on earth, which is helping Google keep Apple at bay, but cost isn’t everything.
Being able to produce an extremely inexpensive phone likely isn’t the right answer – consumers realize that quality is important, and a $158 handset that chokes on its own operating system is hardly the sort of device that strikes fear into the heart of Apple – or Google for that matter.
What Microsoft really needs to do is to make their Windows Phone 8 platform extremely appealing for consumers – introduce new, never-before-seen features, or improve dramatically upon features already in iOS and Android. If they can’t do that, then Microsoft’s David doesn’t stand a chance against either Apple or Google’s Goliath – let alone two Goliaths!
