Sony has not been the most fortunate company when it comes to Android, still mingling in the lower end of the market share boards in the US and worldwide and not grabbing the large slice of pie in the high-end market.
This year may sprout better results for the Japanese company, but not on Android. According to recent reports, Sony will become a partner with both Windows Phone and Firefox OS, with new devices rolling out soon.
Sony is not looking to make any huge moves, reports say the volume of smartphones coming from Sony to be under one hundred thousand, but they will announce more than one Windows Phone device this year.
Windows Phone may be an even harder market to break than Android, Nokia has created a sturdy barrier and maintains around 90% of all WP OS sales, but HTC and Samsung have not been trying that hard.
We have already heard reports Microsoft is preparing to pay Samsung up to $1 billion a year to work on Windows Phone. This is the same deal they had with Nokia, until they acquired them a few months ago for $8.7 billion.
Microsoft may offer out a deal of free licensing to Sony, allowing them to sell Windows Phone units without paying a fee to Microsoft every-time one is sold with the OS running.
This may deter Microsoft profits with Windows Phone, but it will undoubtably increase the amount of OEM partners willing to work and make devices for more than just Android, who also offer their OS out for free.
We are not sure when the devices will launch in 2014, Mobile World Congress is the obvious target for all big launches, but if it is later in the year Sony may look towards their own event.
Seeing the competition starting to grow in Windows Phone is always a good thing, especially since Nokia will become part of Microsoft in a few months, meaning there will be no third party manufacturer above 10% market share on WP.
