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Microsoft wants to offer Windows Phone option on HTC's Android phones: Report

Microsoft wants to offer Windows Phone option on HTC's Android phones: Report

By Anupam Saxena | Updated: 4 October 2013 15:35 IST

It looks like Microsoft is really desperate to push its Windows Phone operating system to the market. In fact it appears that it's even ready to ride on HTC's Android smartphones as a secondary option, if a new report is to be believed.

According to a new report by Bloomberg, Microsoft is in talks with Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC for adding its own operating system to HTC's Android-based smartphones at little or no cost. The report cites people with knowledge of the matter as a source of this information.

Microsoft usually charges device makers a license fee for its mobile operating system but as per the report Terry Myerson, head of Microsoft's operating systems unit has discussed cutting or eliminating the license fee of the OS if HTC offers it as a second option on its Android handsets. It adds that the talks are at an initial stage and that no conclusive decision has been made, yet.

The technical details aren't clear so it's not known if the Windows Phone OS would be offered through a dual-boot menu at startup, or if users would be asked to select a default OS at the time of setting up the phone.

After signing an acquisition deal worth $7.2 billion with Nokia, a deal that has yet to be approved by shareholders, Microsoft is set to secure its position in the smartphone business. However, it appears that it also wants to continue its partnership with other handset makers. HTC and Samsung are the two major device makers apart from Nokia that make Windows Phone handsets. However, compared to their Android smartphones, there are limited models on offer, and the companies don't use the same marketing push that they use for promoting their Android handsets.

In terms of smartphone OS market share, Android rules with a 79.3 percent share of the smartphone market followed by iOS with a 13.2 percent share, while the share of Windows Phone was a measly 3.7 percent in the second quarter of 2013 as per IDC.

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