Yes, Microsoft Needs to Sell Its Own Phones (Premium)

I’ve spent a lot of time recently investing Microsoft’s strategy of integrating Windows 10 with iPhones and Android phones. And while it’s impressive work, even in this early stage, I keep coming back to one obvious thought: For this plan to succeed, Microsoft will need to sell its own phones.

I feel like few people actually understand what Microsoft is doing to integrate Windows 10 on PCs with iPhone and Android smartphones, so let’s start there.

As you may know, I’ve been updating Windows 10 Field Guide for the Fall Creators Update, and over last week and this past weekend, I wrote the start of a new chapter, cunningly named Phone, which will cover this functionality. (If you own the book, I will add the first, incomplete version of this chapter to Windows 10 Field Guide this week, possibly today.)

Two big pieces of Microsoft PC/phone integration strategy are available today, and both are worth exploring. First, you can send, receive, and reply to text messages, and get notifications for missed phone calls, using Cortana. Second, Microsoft is pushing “Continue on PC” functionality in various ways on mobile; the idea here is that you are doing something on your phone and can continue that work on the bigger display—and improved productivity—of your PC.

Continue on PC exposes itself on your phone in various ways, but the two big scenarios here are web browsing and documents.

If you use Microsoft Edge on mobile, for example, there is a prominent “Continue on PC” button right on the always-visible toolbar. You tap it, choose the PC you wish to work on, and that web page you’re viewing appears in Microsoft Edge on your PC.

If you use Chrome, Safari, or Firefox on mobile like a normal person, however, you need to take additional steps. First, you have to install a Microsoft app that provides Continue on PC functionality (this is called Continue on PC on iOS, but on Android, you can get it by installing Cortana, Microsoft Launcher, or other Microsoft apps). Then, you need to access the system Share functionality while viewing a web page in whatever browser you like, and then choose Continue on PC from the Share pane that appears. It works, but it’s a lot less elegant than the Edge experience.

You can also use Continue on PC with documents. I’ve not tried this with specific Microsoft Office apps yet, but I understand that is possible (or will be). But I have tried it with the Microsoft Launcher, which provides an optional Documents card for its feed, the screen that sits to the left of the first home screen. That card lists your most recent documents, and you can select one and choose “Continue on PC.” If you choose, say, a Word document, that document will open on the PC you chose in Microsoft Word.

Continue on PC has a number of problems, of course, but it’s early days. Neither browser-based Continue on PC experience will open the page in the PC-based browser you prefer; they always open in Edge. (This is a tactical mistake, I think. But Microsoft will be Microsoft.) And the experience is unidirectional: You can continue on your PC, but you can’t start on your PC and continue on mobile. One assumes that is coming someday.

But the big issue with Continue on PC is that it requires you to explicitly install one or more Microsoft apps and, in some cases, explicitly enable this functionality. That is, it’s not easily discoverable. And that means that it will go largely unnoticed, and unused.

But if you browse the smartphones available for sale from the Microsoft Store today, you’ll see something interesting: Microsoft now offers a small but growing selection of modern, Android-based smartphones for sale, like the Samsung Galaxy S8, S8+, and Note8, and the Razer Phone. And the page for each device heavily markets the Microsoft Launcher.

Which is free, and available from the Google Play Store. But is not bundled on the devices. Is not the default launcher.

And that is the problem. No one but the biggest Microsoft diehard is going to bother installing this thing and replacing the stock launcher. They’re going to use what comes in the box.

And that is why Microsoft needs to sell its own phone. Because only then will it be able to offer a seamless Microsoft experience, which offers excellent interoperability between users’ PCs and each phone. Only then will Microsoft customers be confronted with Microsoft software on their phones. It’s the only way.

Android is open, so users could switch to the launchers and browsers and other apps they prefer. But we all know from decades of experience that most users simply use what’s already there, what’s already configured for them. It’s the only reason so many Microsoft apps in Windows 10—like Mail, Calendar, and Skype—have any users at all.

Now, I’m not calling on Microsoft to make a Windows Mobile anything. That system is dead. But Android is very much alive, and is very much open, and can be melded to Microsoft’s needs. Microsoft needs to do this sooner rather than later, though I would guess that this issue now is that Continue on PC isn’t quite ready. Maybe for the spring Windows 10 update?

Whatever the timing, this needs to happen. It’s the only way this integration will ever get used by anything other than a small group of Windows Insiders and enthusiasts.