Why Microsoft Might Want to Build Its Own Smartphone

By Matthew Lynley

Microsoft is working with component suppliers in Asia to test its own smartphone design, according to The Wall Street Journal.

It already has an arrangement with Nokia to build Windows Phone 8 smartphones and stands to be a big developer of the Windows smartphone platform. So, why would it build its own smartphone?

Well, there are two things worth noting. First, the same question was asked of Google , which decided to build an Android smartphone that is a stripped-down, purely Android experience with no bells and whistles attached. Second, the same question was asked as to whether Microsoft would build a tablet — which it did, with the Microsoft Surface.

No outcome is off the table, even if Microsoft isn’t sure if a product will go into mass production, says the Journal.

Microsoft has tons of partners for its Windows 8 operating system, but it decided to build its own tablet, possibly as a way to showcase the “true” Windows 8 / RT experience, like Google did with its own smartphones (now called the Nexus line of smartphones).

Those partners had devices in all shapes and sizes. Convertibles. Laptops with screens that would flip to face the other side. Massive monitor-style computers like Apple’s iMacs. Still, Microsoft decided to build the Surface.

With its own smartphone operating system powering phones like the new Lumia 920 and the HTC 8x, Microsoft might even see the need to do the same thing with its Windows Phone 8 operating system.

CEO Steve Ballmer, when asked by WSJ reporter Shira Ovide, didn’t offer a rebuttal either, per the report:

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Monday, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer declined to comment on whether Microsoft would make its own smartphone.

“We’re quite happy this holiday [season] going to market hard with Nokia, Samsung and HTC,” said Mr. Ballmer, referring to companies making smartphones powered by Microsoft software. “Whether we had a plan to do something different or we didn’t have a plan I wouldn’t comment in any dimension.”

And even Microsoft’s partners like the appeal of a Microsoft-built smartphone, according to that report:

Stephen Elop, the chief executive of Nokia Corp., two weeks ago on a conference call said he would welcome a Microsoft-made phone because he believed it would be a “stimulant” to sales for all companies making Windows Phone devices. In the conference call with analysts, Mr. Elop said he wasn’t informed about Microsoft’s plans.

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