Once again, analysts, journalists, and even developers are foaming at the mouth waiting for a clear answer about Microsoft’s mobile future, and corporate VP of Windows Kevin Gallo did his best to deliver.
According to the Register UK, during a developer session at Microsoft’s Build Tour in London, Gallo was confronted by an attendee with the question, “Can we get any update on what’s happening in Windows Phone land?” For his part, Gallo stuck to the common Microsoft executive response:
Windows Phone is fully supported. We’re fully behind it. We’re not abandoning the phone. There’s really no change in what our direction or strategy is with respect to releasing the Windows Phone software.”
At this point, the “fully supported” Windows phone speak is echoed as often as Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella’s “mobile first, cloud first” mantra. However, Gallo did offer up a bit of new information on Microsoft’s hardware plans regarding the future of its mobile ambitions.
While most executives have been ringing the bell of software support, third-party OEM participation, and ambiguous terminology around the use of the word “mobile,” Gallo makes particular reference to the Surface and its evolutionary analogy.
We’re really aligned to what we’ve done on the Windows desktop, which is we’ll lead with some high end and category innovation like we’ve done with Surface, and OEMs will go and build the breadth of the catalog.”
While not outright confirming the existence of the much-anticipated Surface Phone, Gallo’s remarks surrounding Microsoft’s mobile future seem to imply at least one more smartphone being produced by the company. At another session, Gallo then went on to confirm the company’s focus on its core enterprise segment, pointing out the failure of the previous strategy of releasing low-priced devices.
Whether Gallo’s interpretation of “category innovation” will translate into the modest or explosive sales remains an enormous unanswered question for Microsoft and its remaining smartphone developers. Let us know in the comments what you think of Gallo’s comments on the future of Windows phones.
