Xiaomi and Microsoft have announced a partnership today which will see Microsoft apps preinstalled on Xiaomi phones in the future.
Xiaomi and Microsoft have worked on projects in the past which saw Windows 10 make its way on to the Xiaomi Mi4 and Mi Pad 2, but this new deal will affect all upcoming Xiaomi smartphones.
Gizchina News of the week
The deal means that both companies will share patents which one another, which patents we don’t know at this time, but what has been confirmed is MS apps will make their way on new Xiaomi phones from September 2016.
Expect apps like Microsoft Office, Skype ETC to turn up on new phones, and possibly be made available in updates on your current Xiaomi devices.
Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions. For more details, you can check out our editorial guidelines and learn about how we use affiliate links.
Desperate Microsoft… First it was Cyanogen getting all the MS ‘replace Google’ crap like Cortana, now Xiaomi are the target…
All because Microsoft’s mobile os is a complete failure, time to leach off the guys who sell…
This has little to do with Windows Phone and it’s success or failure. Windows Phone could have a 50% market share and Msoft would still be working with Android manufacturers to get their apps on more devices. Google does the same thing with iOS and their OS is far from a failure.
I understand that Microsoft would have done the Office Mobile etc for Android anyway as that’s a product that people want…
But I just see it as another step to taking everything that’s good about Android and making it ‘Microsoft’ just like Amazon did, Xiaomi have done with Miui and Samsung will do at some point, everyone wants to try their hand at making a successful play store and ultimately kick Google out of Android… I’m sure theirs a ton of politics to go with it as to why the manufacturers want to bastardize Android but personally I like the way Google do things with it and it’s sad to see it go any other way… Cyanogen and Microsoft’s partnership for example will only take it further and further away from Google if they can which I find quite sad!
Microsoft isn’t attempting to make a play store, they have no interest in that. They are just providing alternatives for Google Apps some of which have their benefits. Google Docs has come a long way but it still can’t compete with MS Office for Android. Several people use Outlook instead of Gmail (I use it for work). From my brief time working there I learned that Microsoft has over 85 Android Apps presently and another 100+ planned in the next few years (many published under subsidiary companies). Personally I would prefer if phones came with very little preinstalled apps including those from Google or if you were allowed to pick which ones you wanted at checkout, I know that will never ever happen. But there are a few Google Apps I love such as Photos, Music and Drive but several I never even use such as Maps (Waze), Hangouts and Chrome (Firefox).
This makes sense for China more than anything where Google Apps are blocked.