Microsoft is betting big on 4G phones and Windows 10 OS

Few days ago, we informed you that Apple surpassed Microsoft last quarter to become the second-largest mobile phone vendor in the world. Then we brought to you news that barely anyone is using Microsoft’s Edge browser, released alongside Windows 10; it is seeing surprisingly little usage when compared to Chrome and Firefox on the same platform.

These not-so-positive news about the tech giant made us wonder what the company (Microsoft) would do to gain prominence and revive its market share. While looking for answers, we came across an interesting write up on The Economic Times in which Ajey Mehta, country manager, Microsoft Mobile Devices reveals how the company is betting big on Windows 10 and 4G devices.

Ajey Mehta told The Economic Times, “Since February to June, we launched five smartphones. We now have plans for the 4G LTE market, as it will be the focus area for us. We will soon roll out the LTE version of Lumia 640XL. All of our future 4G devices will support all types of 4G services in India.”

At present, the US-based company’s Lumia 638 is the only dual-band 4G smartphone. But through a software upgrade, Microsoft has now enabled seven of its smartphones with 4G capability, which support only one band of 4G - FDDLTE on 1800 MHz. Currently, Airtel offers service on this band in some circles, but Vodafone India and Idea Cellular are also expected to join the bandwagon in the coming months, the business daily added.

It is worth noting that Chinese Smartphone makers like Xiaomi and Lenovo have already gained a major share in the country’s 4G smartphone arena.

Mehta also hinted that Microsoft’s new devices will hit the country’s smartphone market by Diwali. Chinese rivals such as Xiaomi and Lenovo have already cornered a major chunk of the fast growing 4G smartphone segment.

Apart from focusing on 4G handsets, Mehta said that Microsoft will be launching phones running on its latest Windows 10 OS. “For us Windows 10 is the biggest initiative. We now will be launching phones running on this OS. We are optimistic that Windows 10 will bring success globally for us,” he told ET.

In the second quarter, Microsoft's smartphone market share in India declined to 3.2% as against 4.1%in 2014, according to Counterpoint Research.
(Image: www.apherald.com)