LG returns to Windows Phone with a budget Verizon handset
Tom Warren / The Verge :
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft has spent early 2015 rebuilding the low end of Windows Phone: the Windows 10 for phones preview rolled out to select Lumias in February, and March brought the Lumia 640 and 640 XL budget phones bundled with free Office 365. A December carrier-billing expansion had already wired Verizon into Microsoft's payment stack.
Against that backdrop, LG shipping a budget Windows Phone handset through Verizon is the first sign a major non-Microsoft OEM is willing to put hardware back on the platform ahead of Windows 10 — notable given LG is simultaneously selling its Urbane watch on Android Wear in the US.
First-order effects
- LG gets a US carrier shelf slot at Verizon without competing at flagship prices, while Microsoft gains a second hardware brand beyond its own Lumia line at exactly the moment it needs third-party volume.
Second-order effects
- The handset lands directly against Microsoft's own budget push — the Lumia 735 later reaches Verizon stores at $29.99 on contract — forcing LG to differentiate on price or design within the same carrier's low-end tier.
Third-order effects
- If Windows 10's phone-PC convergence holds, budget carrier handsets become the test bed for whether OEMs beyond Microsoft return in force — or whether the platform stays a Lumia-only business with occasional guest appearances like this one.
The trend: Windows Phone's survival strategy is converging on cheap carrier-subsidized hardware and the Windows 10 rollout to coax OEMs like LG back onto the platform.