Comment Death of the OEM (Score 1) 427
Microsoft has always pushed a direct relationship between manufacturers and Operaters and continue to do so with the Windows Phone Series. Unfortunately this is detrimental to pretty much everyone. The usual value chain in the mobile phone industry is that an ODM manufactures the handset and does software integration. An OEM picks up the handset and adds branding, logistics, operator approval, distribution partners and possibly some novel software. The OEM then sells to retail or operators. They also take the monatary risk on forward ordering from the ODM and smooth out peaks and troughs in the device supply to simplify things for the ODM. With a unified UI and hardware specs what incentive is there for the OEM?
When you don't have an OEM in the middle then device approvals take much longer, and bugs slip through. HTC's Nexus One should never have gone to market in such a poor state. 3G is still not working properly. An OEM in the loop would have tested the device on AT&T and T-Mobile before launch. Google don't have the necessary experience to do that, HTC still don't (although after killing off their OEM partners two years ago they SHOULD have by now.
What worries me most is that Microsoft is closing the door on the whole OEM model. This means Operators become more wary of new phones, the money isn't forward loaded into the ODM from distributors to develop the phones in the first place. Who will be paying the NRE on a new handset? Microsoft, the operators, or the ODM? Without any incentive for the OEM to produce a differntated product the whole cycle will fail.