After coming out with a couple of devices, Huawei is still not confident that it will make another Windows Phone device anytime soon. Huawei CMO was quoted as calling Windows Phone very closed and because Windows Phone devices look all the same, its hard to differentiate from the competitors. Following is an excerpt from the interview with Huawei CMO Mr. Shao Yang recorded and published by wpxbox.
Q: Do you have a concrete plan for new handset of Windows Phone or are you still watching the market ?
A: In Windows Phone there is one problem that it has more licensing cost than Android. That increases the price of the phone by 10%. So that’s one block point of Windows. The second block is the ecosystem. The third and major block point is that Windows Phone is not so open as Android which blocks a vendor to make their own innovation. The result of the last block is that all Windows Phone looks too similar and is hard to differentiate different brands from each other.
Q: Now that Nokia is soon going to be part of Microsoft, will you be trying to get in touch with Microsoft to get access to API et all so you can customize your Windows Phone handset and make it stand out.
A : When Microsoft and Nokia combine together, it will be even harder to open the API. That will not make the competition fare.
Q: Why do you say its not fare ? Are you worried that Microsoft will come with their own hardware ?
A: The problem is the API and customization are not available equally for all. Initially all phone makers started with Windows Phone but only Nokia had exclusive access to some of the API. Now with Nokia gone into Microsoft, the problem still remains the same.
IMO Microsoft should not keep the APIs exclusive to a manufacturer (as Huawei said, Nokia had) and must open lot more APIs so that apps can interact with the OS in a proper manner. There’s no need to give this access to all private developers, but manufacturers and top developers deserve having it. If MS is going to give exclusive access to its Lumia brand, we’ll see no other manufacturer joining the WP scene.
