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Cyanogen and Microsoft’s strategic partnership: an analysis

Cyanogen

MicrosoftThere are few major strategic partnerships that have potential to cause a substantial effect on the working of several projects. As you can tell, the Cyanogen and Microsoft strategic partnership announced on April 16 belongs to this category.

Cyanogen: Referred to as Cyngn, the company was formed in 2013 by people originally working on the popular CyanogenMod project, an aftermarket firmware distribution for Android devices.

Cyanogen offers Cyanogen OS, a proprietary version of the latest version of CyanogenMod (12, as of writing) to its partners, which include OnePlus (formerly with the OnePlus One internationally) and Micromax’s Yu (with the Yu Yureka in India) as well as Alcatel (with the upcoming One Touch Hero 2+ for North America).

Microsoft: Microsoft is the global giant struggling since the onset of the mobile era to get traction after its failures against the duopoly of Google and Apple. The PC era has now been superseded by the mobile era, but Microsoft didn’t move on with the times.

Windows Mobile failed after the launch of the iPhone, its successor Windows Phone launched in 2010 but has failed to get significant popularity – currently has 3% market share globally – and compete with Android and iOS. Microsoft bought Nokia’s Devices & Services division in 2014, but after the acquisition, has yet to launch a new Windows flagship.

Windows 10 for mobile is due to launch later in 2015, however long-standing problems of app availability as well as platform maturity in terms of features have yet to be solved.

Both of these companies are facing significant problems of their own. But here’s the thing: they can partner with each other to solve their problems by mutual help and with their combined strength, pose as a capable competitor to Google Android, fulfilling aims that seemed far-fetched before – and in the process, alienate consumers as well. Can they actually succeed?

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Sony announces the Xperia Z4 for Japan: 5.2-inch FHD display, Snapdragon 810, 20.7MP camera (updated)

Sony Xperia Z4Sony hasn’t had the best of luck with the international smartphone market recently, although they experienced strong growth in India in early 2014. From the start of 2015 we’ve seen a lot of changes at Sony, rumours that Sony could sell its mobile and TV division, statements from the CEO that an exit could not be ruled out, more statements that “they were no longer targeting sales growth for the mobile division,” restructuring and heavy losses… you get the idea.

With the market now focusing on the low-end for more market share and more growth, one would expect Sony to have responded to the challenge by coming out with great budget devices. Right now though, Sony is firmly focusing in the high-end of the smartphone market with the announcement of the Xperia Z4 via a press release in Japan.

Availability has only been specified for Japan (release in summer) right now – there is no word of an international launch.

Update: It seems that the Xperia Z4 is actually a Japan-exclusive phone for now. Instead Sony will be premiering an international flagship smartphone later this year. In a statement, the Japanese company didn’t commit to any broader international launch for the Z4, but nor has it ruled out the possibility. A Sony spokesperson told Android Central it’s “considering the feasibility in other markets.” 

It seems likely that the Xperia Z4 will be marketed as the Xperia Z3+ for international markets. The launch is said to happen in May.

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HTC launches the One M9+ and E9+ in India; no sign of the One M9

HTC One M9+

It was well known that on April 14, the One M9 would be launched in India. Although HTC devices haven’t had the best sales reception in India, the M9 – as the company’s global flagship – surely had a chance with high-end specifications such as a 5-inch 1080p display, Snapdragon 810 octa-core SoC, and a 20MP rear camera along with a 4MP UltraPixel front facing camera, as well as that premium aluminium unibody design.

The event happened, and there was no launch of the One M9. What?

Instead, HTC India launched the One M9+ and the E9+, both handsets originally launched for the Chinese market on April 8. The M9+ is theoretically a larger, upgraded M9, while the E9+ is a cheaper phablet with a plastic metal frame design.

The One M9+ will be available on May 3 at a price tag of INR 52,500 – more expensive than its main competitor the Galaxy S6 – while the pricing for the One E9+ hasn’t been specified yet. For that handset availability is said to be a more generic mid-May.

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The who’s who of the Indian mobile phone market

An in-depth look at a market of 80+ million mobile phone shipments 

For the most part, it’s tempting to say that the Indian phone market is a mix of the Western phone market and the Chinese phone market. But that statement isn’t true. The real statement to be made is that the Indian mobile phone market is unique, using constituents of the factors which impact both the Western market and the Chinese market.

Confused? Here’s the thesis. The Indian market has phones from the major global manufacturers such as Samsung, Apple, LG, HTC, Sony, Motorola, Microsoft (formerly Nokia). Then it has phones from Chinese manufacturers such as Xiaomi, Lenovo (the company which now owns Motorola), Huawei, Oppo, OnePlus, Gionee, Alcatel, ZTE, Vivo, etc. And then are the phones from the Indian companies such as Micromax, Intex, Karbonn, Lava, iBall, Spice, etc.

Phones from the third type of company are in reality of the second type of phones (that is, originating from Chinese OEMs). All Micromax, Karbonn, etc. do is to take a Chinese phone, re-brand it, install their own UI skin, and call it a new device. Case in point: the Micromax Yu Yureka was a re-branded Coolpad F2 4G.

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Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge released in India: here’s what you need to know

Galaxy S6

The Samsung Galaxy S6 and the S6 edge are here. Launched on April 10, right on time as promised. It’s the phone that could bring Samsung back to the top or it could accelerate Samsung’s decline. It has a lot of weight on its figurative shoulders, and is not afraid to proclaim itself as a flagship premium device. Can it succeed?

Only the 32GB versions of both phones are listed in stock at the moment, the 64GB versions are listed as coming soon, and there is no sign at all of the 128GB versions.

The official prices are INR 49,900, 55,900 for the GS6 and INR 58,900 and 64,900 for the GS6 edge. You can head over to Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal and actually buy the S6 or the S6 edge for yourself. But should you do so? It’s too early to make a conclusive answer, but in the mean time you should read on…

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MobiKraze: Announcing a new India focused mobile analysis resource

The mobile era in India. That’s our topic in short.

The longer version: India, as the world’s second largest country by population, as a country with 970 million mobile phone users, 10% of this number being smartphone users, naturally presents itself to all companies in the mobile industry as an attractive – in fact, one of the most attractive – growth markets for phones. Because while saturation to some extent in both the feature mobile phone era and now the smartphone era has been reached in both the West and China, India is still developing, and most people still don’t have smartphones.

The result? A concentration in India, an organised effort by the manufacturers the likes of which were never seen before. That’s why you have companies like Xiaomi eager to take more and more benefits and sales from a penetration strategy in India’s smartphone market. That’s why global conglomerate giant Samsung is struggling to defend its number one position from local company Micromax.

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