> There are two standard screen sizes, 800 x 480 and 400 x 480 which is well suited for cheaper commodity devices.
There are Android devices being sold with 200x320 screens. To say nothing about Nokia's huge sales of S40 devices.
> Android won't because the development costs of adapting the OS to small low margin commodity devices would be borne by the manufacturers and carriers,
The closer you are to the upstream manufacturer's (the company you buy chips from) reference design, the lower your costs. I can't imagine companies that cater to the lowest-end of the market trying to differentiate on technology.
> WP7 is what will replace them.
There are a lot of if's in this idea. It could happen IF Microsoft could make WP7 attractive on low-end devices (big if #1) AND Android manufacturers fail to make Android run on them (big if #2) AND Nokia decides they will replace S40 with WP7 (big if #3). Samsung will merge Bada into Tizen (a.k.a. Meego) and pursue the low-end segment with it. WP7 will only be a contender for the low end if Samsung starts to fail in a market they know very well (big if #4).
When you see Microsoft paying money to Nokia so that they boost WP7 market share you have to imagine they already failed to convince more viable companies to do it. I have little doubt Microsoft offered similar deals to Samsung, LG, HTC and others and Nokia was simply the cheapest one. Or the only one who took it.
>"When you see Microsoft paying money to Nokia so that they boost WP7 market share you have to imagine they already failed to convince more viable companies to do it."
Well Microsoft's strategy with the "more viable companies" appears to be receiving a check every time those companies - HTC, Samsung, LG - ship an Android phone (Now at 70% of Android phones in the US market).
Over the long term, I would not be surprised to see those companies switch to WP7 given that they are already paying Microsoft for the OS on their phones.
Look at it this way, Microsoft already has agreements with those companies, and therefore, those companies have a much better chance of influencing the future direction of WP7 than they do of Android - Google is not partnering with anyone except Motorola Mobility which they should soon own.
> Over the long term, I would not be surprised to see those companies switch to WP7 given that they are already paying Microsoft for the OS on their phones.
Except for the fact Android phones outsell WP7 ones 40 to 1
There are Android devices being sold with 200x320 screens. To say nothing about Nokia's huge sales of S40 devices.
> Android won't because the development costs of adapting the OS to small low margin commodity devices would be borne by the manufacturers and carriers,
The closer you are to the upstream manufacturer's (the company you buy chips from) reference design, the lower your costs. I can't imagine companies that cater to the lowest-end of the market trying to differentiate on technology.
> WP7 is what will replace them.
There are a lot of if's in this idea. It could happen IF Microsoft could make WP7 attractive on low-end devices (big if #1) AND Android manufacturers fail to make Android run on them (big if #2) AND Nokia decides they will replace S40 with WP7 (big if #3). Samsung will merge Bada into Tizen (a.k.a. Meego) and pursue the low-end segment with it. WP7 will only be a contender for the low end if Samsung starts to fail in a market they know very well (big if #4).
When you see Microsoft paying money to Nokia so that they boost WP7 market share you have to imagine they already failed to convince more viable companies to do it. I have little doubt Microsoft offered similar deals to Samsung, LG, HTC and others and Nokia was simply the cheapest one. Or the only one who took it.