NEW YORK: Microsoft announced new partnerships with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) i.e. Dell and Pegatron, but other names have been mentioned by Microsoft, including TrekStor (Germany), JP Sa Couto (Portugal), Datamatic (Italy), DEXP (Russia), Hipstreet (Canada), QMobile (Pakistan), Tecno (Africa), and Casper (Turkey). These hardware partners will pre-install Word, Excell, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive and Skype on Android devices they will manufacture later this year.
The partnerships serve both parties since the presence of Microsoft apps and services on these Android devices will increase their value for customers, while they extend the the Redmond-based company’s services to the Android ecosystem.
“And for Microsoft, this is part of the company’s mobile-first, cloud-first vision. It is addressing consumer demand for top services by making them already available on a device, instead of requiring consumers to download them separately,” says Peggy Johnson, Microsoft Executive Vice President, Business Development.
More partnerships with OEMs are expected in the coming months
Microsoft is expected to expand partnerships with even more hardware manufactures that are in the smartphone business by the end of the year, especially that the company is readying its next version of Windows Phone which is expected to be released this summer.
Even though Microsoft has only teamed up with a few major brands in the smartphone market, such as Samsung, the company is supposed to reach to more customers with its apps and services by simply teaming up with native OEMs that are a better competition for important brands like HTC, LG, Motorola, Lenovo and others.
Microsoft considers these new partnerships a big step forward for its cross-platform and cross-device service strategy, which is meant to bring a range of Microsoft services to even more customers via Android devices.
