One is a software giant, and the other is a search giant. The two major IT companies that may have previously committed wells and rivers are causing more and more friction in the market.
Although Microsoft has repeatedly denied the upcoming launch of its own brand of mobile phones, rumors of this product is still on schedule. Yesterday, Microsoft officially announced its brand "Kin" of the two smart phones, formally entered the smart phone market.
It is worth noting that in the highly competitive smartphone market, there are Microsoft partners over the years, such as HTC, Samsung, etc., as well as the Apple iPhone and Google’s Nexus One, which already have a considerable advantage in this market. A series of mobile products using Google Android platform.
Both Microsoft's Kin mobile phones are manufactured by Sharp Corporation of Japan, which is similar to Google's Nexus One's model of HTC OEM.
Kin mobile phones all include touch screens, slide-out keyboards, and MP3 and camera functions, but its biggest feature lies in the expansion of social functions, including Facebook, MySpace and Twitter and other social networking sites can be used on the mobile phone smoothly, so the goal of the phone Users are young people aged from 15 to 25 years old. Users can easily publish Facebook status updates and Twitter information through Kin phones, and keep track of their friends' activities. This is also a Microsoft attempt in the field of mobile Internet.
The reporter learned that the Kin phone includes both CDMA and GSM versions. The software comes from Microsoft's mobile phone software and service provider Danger. The CDMA version in the U.S. market will be exclusively distributed by Verizon Wireless. GSM launched for the European market will be powered by Vodafone. Autumn sales in Italy, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom.
At present, Microsoft has not announced the price of these two products, "The Wall Street Journal" believes that product pricing will directly determine sales and product competitiveness.
Although Microsoft has added many Microsoft factors to this phone, this phone does not directly use the Microsoft brand, nor does it have the Google logo on the body like Google's Nexus One. Therefore, although Microsoft began to use smart phones, Market competition, but the attitude is very low-key.
"We just got more involved in the design and hardware content of the handset, but strictly speaking, the Kin handset is not a Microsoft product because Sharp will not only sell the handset directly to Vodafone but also Microsoft." Robbie Bach, vice president, said.
In fact, since Apple introduced the iPhone, the entire IT and Internet industry has been greatly shaken, and the launch of Google's Nexus One and Android series products further stimulated Microsoft to accelerate the pace of launching its own-brand mobile phones.
According to statistics from market research agency Canalys, taking the North American market as an example, the share of Android phones in 2009 was 9.7%, which is already very close to 10.1% of Microsoft's Windows system. According to the current development momentum, Android phones from 2009 to 2010 It will increase by 169.2%, with a share of 18.9%, while the Windows system's share will fall by 1.3% to 7.2%.
Microsoft must take action to change this situation. In particular, Microsoft released the Windows Phone 7 operating system in February this year, but the mobile phone will not be available until the end of the year. In the process, the lack of mobile phone products has also made Microsoft stand at a disadvantage in competition with the iPhone.
However, from another point of view, the reporter noticed that Microsoft did not announce the operating system adopted by the Kin mobile phone. Market analysis suggested that a special version of the Windows system should be used instead of the Windows that many of its partners will launch before the end of this year. Phone 7 mobile phone. This also to a certain extent, to avoid Microsoft and its partners have a direct competitive relationship, and have a negative impact on the promotion of Windows mobile phone system.