We were initially taken aback when rumors began to spread that Samsung would be entering into a partnership with Microsoft to preload some of the software developer’s mobile apps on its new Galaxy devices. After all, Microsoft has its own smartphone OS to worry about, but it’s clear that the company understands the importance of being a player in the mobile arena, and Windows Phone isn’t going to tip the scales.
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As Digitimes notes in a recent op-ed piece, this looked like it could be a win-win for both partners, allowing Microsoft to spread its influence with one of the biggest mobile device vendors on the planet and giving Samsung another way to break free from Android.
The question is: will this be enough?
Samsung began to rebound following the announcement of the reimagined Galaxy S6 and S6 edge. The global audience saw that Samsung’s creative team hadn’t entirely atrophied from disuse, breathing new life into a smartphone lineup that had grown stale in the preceding years.
But will it be enough to save Samsung’s declining profits in the long run, or has Microsoft hitched its wagon to the wrong horse?
“For Microsoft, the logic may be that profits earned by smartphone vendors are likely to decline year-by-year in light of increasing keener competition in the maturing smartphone space,” says Digitimes. “But in contrast, the increasingly maturing application market will render more and more business opportunities to software vendors.”
“Thus, Microsoft may see its share in the mobile application market continue to expand at the expense of Samsung’s profits as the vendor keeps ramping up its smartphone shipments.”
Although I believe this might be a bit of an overreaction, it’s an interesting take on a fascinating partnership that has countless implications for the future of Android and the part that Samsung will play in that future.
