Microsoft has done a series of very interesting and significant announcements at BUILD 2014, yesterday. Some of them can have real big impact on the software industry dynamics going forward. We are talking about two such announcements here which may prove to be too hot for competitors like Google and Apple.
One of these two announcements is about Windows and Windows Phone both going free of any licensing fee for devices of less than 9-inch size. We have reported some Indian vendors claiming about getting Windows Phone for free, but for other vendors, Microsoft was supposed to cut the licensing fee by 70%. But, this is truly unexpected!! This makes all Windows Phone and all Tablets and PCs less than 9-inch size go very competitive in face of its Android competition and this may prove to be too hot to handle for both Google and Apple.
The other major announcement is about Windows coming for Internet of things and it again is free of any licensing fee. The website “WindowsOnDevices” has gone up and seems the first SDK release is coming soon.
Our first SDK release in the spring of 2014 will give you a chance to look at our new software, including an incomplete prerelease of our software and API surface. We’ll provide samples and documentation and we’ll show you how to create your own fun projects such as the life-size piano we demonstrated at Build 2014. And we’ll continue to release software updates throughout 2014 including a more complete API surface and integrated cloud services. Please check back here later this week once we open up the registration.
These announcements could haven’t come at a better time!! Microsoft had started feeling heat from cheap Chromebooks and it is a befitting reply from Redmond.
