Its no secret that Microsoft considers mobile critical to its long term strategy. The company has taken a number of steps recently to ensure continuing growth in the mobile market, but it would have to do a lot more to gain some semblance of dominance. Upstream supply chain sources based in Asia claim that Microsoft is courting MediaTek to push cheap Windows tablets in China’s white-box tablet market.
Both companies have not confirmed the rumor, but it doesn’t seem impossible. At BUILD 2014, Microsoft announced that it is going to offer Windows for free on devices with displays under 9 inches, this includes both smartphones and tablets. What this basically means that OEMs aren’t on the hook for licensing fees so they have an additional incentive to design and develop Windows devices. This may also have an effect on the devices’ pricing.
Its no secret that many OEMs decided to stick with Android given Microsoft’s high licensing costs. The company has drastically changed its licensing policy, evidently in hopes of attracting more hardware partners. Sources believe that OEMs might now reconsider committing to the platform. Microsoft is obviously making these moves to gain a greater chunk of the mobile market, and a cheap tablet push in China could really end up serving its interests.