Microsoft sees growing use of mobile apps in Phl

CEBU, Philippines - Microsoft Philippines sees a growing usage of Windows-based mobile applications in the country, following the company’s acquisition of Nokia.

Karrie Ilagan, Microsoft Philippines managing director, expressed confidence that the Filipinos’ maturity in online mobile usage could make way for Microsoft to regain is popularity in the software applications, saying the share of Windows-run mobile usage is growing.

According to IDC, the Philippines’ smartphone usage now hits the four million-mark, and is rising faster. About 53 percent of the smartphone adoption is in Metro Manila.

Ilagan said the joint forces of Microsoft and Nokia is expected to introduce more revolutionary applications, and features in the smartphone products.

Nokia has been the main manufacturer of Windows Phone 8 devices, and it looks like Microsoft will be using this acquisition to further merge their software and hardware engineering and design, a report said.

Microsoft acquired Nokia’s Smart Devices business unit, including the Lumia brand and products

Nokia was once the mightiest company in the mobile phone business, but it has lost much of its luster as the industry shifted to the era of the smartphone. Samsung and Apple divide nearly all of the profits in the global smartphone business now.

Analysts believe that this megadeal between Nokia and Microsoft of the sort is something that pundits and analysts have speculated about for years.

The fortunes of the two companies in the mobile business have become closely intertwined since that agreement, but it has done little to turn either company into a leader in the mobile business.

Windows Phone accounted for only 3.7 percent of smartphone shipments in the second quarter, according to the technology research firm IDC.

Nokia remains the second-largest shipper of mobile phones in the world after Samsung, but that is largely because of lower-end feature phones, from which consumers are moving away. Nokia is no longer among the top five makers of smartphones.

Today, Ilagan said Windows Phones offer Windows Office 365, its strong cloud-based capabilities.

According to Ilagan, the Microsoft is confident to get larger share in the smartphone business with Nokia on board. (FREEMAN)