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Comment by IanDrake | Hacker News Reader

>I can't imagine an OEM wanting to sleep in Microsoft's bed when they're going toe to toe with the people who build the OS themselves.

So, are you saying if Apple opened up and allowed OEMs to license iOS, no one would sign up?

I think every phone maker would jump on that.

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Honestly, if Apple opened up iOS to OEM licensees, but made clear that they were still going to ship their own devices? Who in the blue hell wants to go toe to toe with Apple on hardware?

Granted, you'd still have a few (insane) OEMs willing to cough up the money to try, but mostly on the notion that they will convert a portion of the coveted iOS userbase to their brand - a userbase that doesn't exist in WinPhone land. At all.

So really, where exactly will OEMs find the motivation to ship any WinPhones at all once Microsoft enters the hardware game for themselves? They'd be paying exorbitant sums to continue using an OS that already wasn't selling, just so they can now compete with a player that has every advantage available.

I'd be incredibly surprised if we don't see a mass OEM exodus from WinPhone if MS enters the hardware game. Not that there's really that big of an exodus to be had in the first place, though...

>Who in the blue hell wants to go toe to toe with Apple on hardware?

Having owned 3 different iPhones, I can assure you there are other phones with better design and build quality. Not to mention phones with bigger screens. I know several people who want their iPhone bigger, smaller, with a removable battery, with a USB, with micro SD, etc...

There's plenty of ways to differentiate on hardware since Apple only offers one option.

Also, no OEMs have abandoned their Win8 tablet development since MS announced the Surface. I'm not sure why WP8 would be so different.

To be fair, HP did drop out of the WinRT tablet race to focus only on Windows 8 x86 (non-ARM) hardware. I can't seem to find a link to back that up, but I do remember it being a story a few months ago.

iPhone is a relatively high-end smartphone. There is room for lower-end iOS phones in this hypothetical scenario.

I believe Apple is aware of that, which is why they currently sell not only the iPhone 5 but the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 as well. Attacking the "lower-end iOS" market would still be toe-to-toe with Apple.

An unlocked iPhone 4 is still around $400. That's not really low end.

Well, in the US, no one's buying unlocked bottom-tier iPhones. I don't know about overseas, though. Are a lot of people buying $200 Andoid phones in Europe?

Are you saying WP is on the same level of popularity as iOS? It's ridiculous to even compare them like that.

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