Firefox OS should make Microsoft sharpen Windows Phone 8 sales plan

BARCELONA -- The emergence of the Firefox OS is just one more reason that Microsoft and BlackBerry will need to sharpen their marketing savvy to sell more smartphones in 2013. Microsoft officials at Mobile World Congress here conceded that the company's Windows Phone 8 platform must be differentiated from the technology of market leaders Android and iPhone, as well as newcomers like Firefox in order to grow above a 5% share of the smartphone market. "Firefox's arrival indicates the smartphone industry is so competitive and dynamic," said Greg Sullivan, a senior product manager for Windows Phone, in an interview with Computerworld at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) here this week. "It's far from game over in the mobile space." It seems obvious that Firefox will run on lower-cost smartphones, but the market is still waiting to see what kinds of devices emerge to run it. Meanwhile, Windows Phone can produce a high quality user experience across a variety of low- and high-end devices, Sullivan contended. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here