Microsoft Gains Support for Next Generation of Windows® Phones
EA Mobile, MySpace and Isaac Mizrahi are among early supporters of Windows® phones; new Windows® phone applications are now available. — Furthering its vision to connect the PC, Web and phone …
Context & Ripple Effects
This lands three weeks after Microsoft's developer strategy unveiling for the next generation of Windows phones, and it is the proof point that announcement needed: instead of describing a platform in the abstract, Microsoft can now name launch partners. The mix is telling — games ([[a:entity/ea-mobile|EA Mobile]]), social networking (MySpace) and fashion (Isaac Mizrahi) point at a consumer-lifestyle pitch rather than the enterprise-only posture of earlier Windows mobile efforts.
It also continues a line from Microsoft's 2007 push to make MSN a destination on handsets: the stated frame is connecting PC, Web and phone, with new Windows phone applications available at launch.
First-order effects
- EA Mobile gains a distribution channel for its game titles on Windows phones, while MySpace extends its social network onto another handset platform — both are direct beneficiaries of being named early supporters.
- Developers who responded to Microsoft's March developer strategy now have visible anchor partners, lowering the perceived risk of building for an unproven next-generation OS.
Second-order effects
- Competing phone platforms must answer on content breadth: once a platform markets itself through named third-party brands, rivals are pressured to sign comparable entertainment and social-media partners for their own launches.
- Carriers merchandising these devices gain a richer application catalog to differentiate Windows phones against other smartphones on their shelves, shifting the sales conversation from hardware specs to downloadable content.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, phone platforms will be evaluated less on built-in software and more on the size of their third-party application ecosystems — the same dynamic reshaping how PC operating systems were judged, extended to the handset.
- Brand partnerships spanning games, social media and fashion signal that phones are being positioned as lifestyle accessories as much as computing devices, pulling non-tech brands into platform launches as standard practice.
The trend: Mobile phone platforms are shifting from selling hardware features to competing on third-party application ecosystems, with Microsoft leveraging its PC developer relationships to recruit launch partners.