Microsoft might do away with the licensing fee on its two most popular products Windows Phone and Windows RT by next year to attract more hardware manufacturers to the company.
Windows RT, the most popular operating system by Microsoft will be available free to device manufactures, claims a recent Verge report. Close associates working with Microsoft have reportedly confirmed to Verge that the Redmond-based tech giant is following in the footsteps of Google and offering developers and manufacturers its software on their devices.
The revenue for Windows mostly comes from the original equipment manufacturers who have been employing the two most popular operating systems- Windows 8 and and Windows RT for their products. But with the PC market facing a down trend and Microsoft charging for its operating systems, more manufacturers are shifting their focus to Android that comes free for the developers. Henceforth, it will not be surprising if the Windows developer removes the licensing fee in near future.
Nokia is the only one selling Windows Phones as of now and doing pretty well in the low and mid ranged markets. But with Microsoft acquiring Nokia this source of revenue has dried up and Microsoft needs to find new sources. However, Microsoft reportedly plans to offset the losses with inclusion of more ads on Windows 8 apps, the company has been experimenting for a long time to attract more subscribers to its services like SkyDrive, Office, and Skype.
It is believed that Microsoft is in talks with HTC to use Windows in its future devices. In fact, even before Microsoft acquired Nokia, it was rumored to be considering slashing down the licensing fees, reveals a recent post on Phone arena.
At present Microsoft holds only 3.6 percent of the operating system market while Google leads the race with 81.9 percent share worldwide, according to usa today.
The abolition of the licensing fees will help the company in keeping pace with Google and can also lead to some momentary losses.
