Last year,
Microsoft
CEO Satya Nadella said that one of his biggest 'mistakes' was the company exiting the smartphone business, adding that the company might have been able to do better. The company has now again set its sights at the mobile business but in a different way. Here are three ways Microsoft can challenge
Apple
and
– two of the leaders in the smartphone market.
Microsoft's $69 billion Activision deal
Microsoft went to great lengths to get its deal with Activision
Blizzard King
finalised in multiple regions and markets. With the deal, Microsoft has two of the most loved games in the mobile ecosystem –
Candy Crush Saga
and
Call of Duty
.
The former is one of the company’s most valuable assets, and a big contributor to its $3.5 billion of 2022 mobile revenue. It brought $721 million in revenue and Call of Duty, which also provides an expansion opportunity in its Xbox division, brought $243 million in 2022.
Partnering for mobile game store
Microsoft’s deal with Activision has also provided the company enough engaging content to offer users. While the company is already preparing for cloud gaming, which currently is in a nascent stage – and also looking to give a tough competition to Apple and Google when it comes to app stores.
The company has already talked about an alternative app store to Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store where users can find games and other content. This may also help in forcing Google and Apple to work on their alleged monopoly that they enjoy in the mobile ecosystem.
AI investments
Artificial intelligence gave Microsoft a head start in the industry to quickly capture the market which slowly and steadily launches its own AI-powered products. Recently, Microsoft rebranded Bing Chat – one its successful AI products – to Copilot and launched apps for both Android and iPhones. Google’s Bard still does not have a dedicated app yet.
English (US) ·