Google Phone Plan Very Difficult to Pull Off Says Microsoft

 

Microsoft Corp.’s Robbie Bach, head of the division that makes mobile-phone programs, said Google Inc. will have a hard time attracting partners to its wireless software after introducing its own handset.
Google started selling the Nexus One phone this week. The company also provides its Android operating system to other handset makers, rivaling Microsoft’s Windows Mobile. Because Google now sells its own phone, handset makers may worry the company will prioritize its own product over theirs, Bach said. That could push some to stop using Google’s software, he said.
“Doing both in the way they are trying to do both is actually very, very difficult,” he said in an interview yesterday from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. “Google’s announcement sends a signal where they’re going to place their commitment. That will create some opportunities for us and we’ll pursue them.”
Google’s wireless efforts escalate the company’s competition with Microsoft, a rivalry that spans Web search, browsers and business applications such as word processing and spreadsheets. The Android program is adding users faster than Windows Mobile, according to research firm iSuppli Corp.
The Nexus One is manufactured by Taiwan’s HTC Corp., which designed the device with Google. Google opened an online store for the Nexus One and also plans to offer other Android devices through the site. The company’s aim is to efficiently connect Google’s online customers with Android devices, said Katie Watson, a spokeswoman for the company.
“We want to make the overall user experience simple,” she said in an e-mail. “Our hope is to change the way consumers purchase a mobile phone.”
Trailing IPhone, BlackBerry
“No one has ever succeeded in selling their own device while trying to license to partners simultaneously,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Los Angeles-based research firm Interpret LLC. “As much as Google can say it’s not a Google phone, the phone says Google on it. They’re going to have to convince their licensees they’re not in competition with them.”
Microsoft’s Windows Mobile hasn’t kept pace with the growth in sales of Apple Inc.’s iPhone, Android phones and Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry, according to El Segundo, California- based iSuppli. Windows Mobile 6.5 went on sale last year to critical reviews.
In October, ISuppli forecast that Microsoft would lose its No. 2 spot in the smartphone market to RIM.
Microsoft remains focused on working with phone makers and carriers, Bach said. The Redmond, Washington-based company does pitch in on engineering work when partners are developing phones, he said.
“Over time you have to decide whether your approach is with the partners or more like an Apple approach that is more about Apple,” he said. “Google’s is an interesting step. We’ll see how people react.”
Motorola Phones
Microsoft fell 47 cents to $30.30 at 2:12 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Google, based in Mountain View, California, declined $12.42 to $595.84.
Motorola Inc., the largest U.S. phone maker, showed a new Android model at the Consumer Electronics Show yesterday, after introducing its first two phones running the software last year.
Mobile carriers may be concerned that Google requires Nexus One users to sign up for a contract through Google, allowing Google to control the customer relationship, Gartenberg said.
Microsoft, whose Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer spoke at the show last night, isn’t making many phone-related announcements at the event. Instead, the company plans to provide an update to its “future direction” at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month, Bach said

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