Did you know that LG makes Windows Phone 7 devices? Yeah, we didn’t either. LG has been a respectable runner in the Android world for the last couple of years, but apparently their performance on Windows Phone 7 – or perhaps just the platform’s performance as a whole – hasn’t been very inspiring. Today the company announced that it’s giving up Microsoft’s platform in favor of Android for all its forthcoming smartphones. Now if only Nokia could follow suit.
WPCentral reported LG’s initial press release, quoting a spokesperson saying that “the total unit of Windows Phone sold in the global market is not a meaningful figure.” That statement holds up: in the latest ComScore market share numbers, combined numbers for Windows Phone 7 and the older Windows Mobile together accounted for only 3.9% of US sales, compared with just over 50% for Android. LG’s seen a fair bit of success with the open source platform: their flagship Optimus LTE has sold over a million units worldwide in its various incarnations, including the AT&T LG Nitro HD and the Verizon LG Spectrum here in the US.
LG should be concerned about at least one thing with this decision: Microsoft. The Windows developer has seen fit to sue Android manufacturers like Samsung and HTC, resulting in undisclosed settlements in both cases. These are speculated to contain clauses that encourage the manufacturers to focus more on their Windows Phone 7 devices. We’ll see what litigious developments unfold, but if you listen closely, you can hear the sound of Redmond-area lawyers packing their briefcases.
[via SlashGear]
Sad but true – when corporations lose – the lawyers win. I wish the United States would be more competitive instead.
finally! the now defunct SonyEricsson took that step a while back and they’ve not felt any regrets, and now LG’s following suit, after losing money with the platform… I’m really glad OEMs are starting to come to their senses, WP7 is a forgettable experience in its current form and the much-touted social-services integration is obviously no enticing feat for customers (as sales numbers show…). What TheWoz was recently saying about WP7 is just anti-android propaganda, reminiscent of the Jobs era. I’ve been a WinMo user in the past, but when MS shafted its installed user base with no upgrades to the so-called “new” platform (which BTW, is choke full of code from WinMo, as Andy Rubin put it), I decided to jump the Android bandwagon and never look back. No 1080p recording/playback, lackluster number of apps (which are not even entirely available in all regions, I heard that out of the 80.000 that the WP7 Markteplace currently boasts with, only about 62.000 are available in the US. I don’t even wanna think at what’s it like for other countries…), screen sized fixed at 800*480p, the mandatory HW buttons – all these make the Mango look like a withered 2008-2009 fruit. OEMs can’t innovate the way they would like to and the way they do it on Android to differentiate themselves, HTC (one of WinMo/WP7’s fervent adherrents) had to be tamed into dropping Sense on WP7 and Samsung has not produced any memorable Metro-sporting handsets since god knows when…add to this the exclusive commercial relationship Redmond has with Nokia (MS will pay $2 billion to the Finnish behemoth during the first 2 years, and Sammy or LG don’t particularly like that) and you have a crystal clear failure pic of what’s next. Oh, and did I mention that Samsung’s Galaxy S III will be running Android ICS?
ROTFLMAO! All OEMs have lost money on Android, with the lone exception being Samsung, you dumb bastard. You’re ignorant beyond words. You’re nothing more than a worthless fanboy who should be kicked in the face until you stop moving.
Your entire post is BS, and filled with made up lies.
And while you’re talking crap, WP7 devices sell like hotcakes…riiiiight.
1. if all OEMs except Sammy lose money on Android, why do they keep making handsets with it and why has Adroid skyrocketed even past iOS? Ah, I get it now, MS is squeezing their balls with patents and collecting royalties, that’s where the losses come from… that just proves how good of an OS WP7 is, ain’t it, you sad pile of festering puke?
2.when you manage to crawl out from under the rock you’ve been living for the past 3 ice ages, you might wanna take a look at Nokia’s SEC fillings, you’ll find there information about how much they’re getting paid for this so-called “exclusivity”. And BTW, even if your very existence is an insult to intelligence, I can prove with links everything I said. Can you prove that OEMs are losing money? Or is it that LG is abandonning Redmond’s DOA OS because they were making so much money out of WP?
Yeah, it’s hard to throw arguments when you only have peanuts instead of neurons…
Microsoft makes money for almost every Android sold while Google loses it.
Microsoft Xbox is the #1 selling console and did not cause loss to that division, it was actually the cost of incredible research and devlopment underway – the next Xbox will read lips. The other cause of loss is Windows Phone 7 (same division), which the general public has not really tried out (it is only 1.5 years old). The Android market caught on in year two, some things take time to catch on, that doesn’t mean it is a bad product. People are always asking me what kind of phone I am using because it looks great. I have a Windows Phone 7. I love that I can facebook chat with my voice while driving. You can’t do that in Android or iPhone. I also love controlling my Xbox with my Windows Phone, or watching movies on Xbox as the movie’s data / wikis are pushed to my phone in a gorgeous UI. Can’t do that on iphone or Android. Where are all those articles?
I think Micorosft is an amazing company despite occasional annoyances like Vista. Doesn’t every tech company have annoyances? Now think of all the products offered by Microsoft. If Google or Apple had such a diverse product range their fans would be doing flips in the streets.
And let us not forget that Microsoft had their hands tied for years as Google stole code and IP from individuals. Microsoft products could not be integrated until 2011, R&D was on hold, and people in the industry attacked them for moving slowly when they really had no other choice. Things have changed since the 80’s and 90’s. Microsoft had their day of bad practices, but they are now rated one of the most moral companies in the world. Will they revert to their old ways? Who knows.
Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone was CES product of the year. And as someone who supports hundreds of bring your own devices every year, I promise you that Windows Phone OS is stable, east to use, and wonderful. All it needs is a little catch-up on the enterprise side, and that will happen before years end.
Enough bashing Microsoft.
LG has not left Windows Phone, the next models will be Windows Phone 8 models, no more Windows Phone 7 models, and that is because Windows Phone 8 will be out in several months.
I think Microsoft would be better off converting Office to android. That’s the future for Microsoft.
LOL! You mean the company that makes 3 times the profit per quarter of Google? The company who dominates IT and enterprise? The company who holds a virtual monopoly in desktop and laptop operating systems. The company who owns the most successful and profitable office suite in the world? The company who dominates gaming profits, with Xbox and Xbox Live.
Please! Go back to sucking Google’s d#ck you stupid fanboy. Only a retarded tw@t like you would make such an asinine statement.
it’s understandable, you live under a rock…
1. MS actually lost money with Xbox in the last quarter:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/20/microsoft-revenues-beat-forecast
2. you have a simpleton-level understanding of the “IT” and the “enterprise” domains… but again, it’s understandable… just for your record: the “true” enterprise IT world is split between IBM, Oracle, EMC, Cisco (both SW and HW providers) and SAP, Hitachi, NetApp, etc. as smaller, specialized vendors (either HW or SW). Microsoft’s undeniable domination is the “productivity” area of the enterprise IT, with Office and, to a smaller extent, Windows Server, MSSQL, SharePoint and Exchange.
Not knowing LG makes Windows Phone models just shows how misinformed you are in this topic. This article is not accurate, Microsoft LG Windows Phones will continue to be made, not that it really matters. The best models are from Samsung and Nokia. Maybe you should research what you are talking about before you go so far as to bash an entire product line, which you clearly haven’t used.