A rumour surfaced last year that Microsoft was looking to bring HTC back to the Windows Phone family with an offer of reduced license fees and perhaps even a dual-booting smartphone that would support both Android and Windows Phone. Whether HTC jumped on board or not remains unclear but it appears that it was the not the only manufacturer Microsoft made the offer to. The Times of India reports that India’s Karbonn Mobiles, one of Microsoft’s new Windows Phone partners, will release such a device in about six months.
With its new agreement in place, Karbonn is hoping to have its first Windows Phone devices on the market in the near future. “Microsoft has eased the regulations and is opening up its platform for other players. We signed the agreement two days ago and will launch a range of Windows phones in about three months,” explained Sudhir Hasija, Karbonn’s chairman. The new license agreement also comes with a more relaxed set of rules that will allow Karbonn to also offer dual-OS smartphones. Expected to launch in about six months, these will be aimed at ” target office-going professionals and ‘techies.'” Specific details, including pricing, about such devices were not announced.
It’s not immediately clear what Microsoft is hoping to achieve by offering dual-booting smartphones. Could it be a strategy to allow it to claim that Windows Phone is running on a growing number of devices? It could also be part of a strategy to use a forked version of Android to introduce customers to its services before trying to sway them to switch to Windows Phone, a strategy Nokia looks to be using with its new Nokia X line.
Sources : The Times of India // The Verge