BY EMEKA AGINAM, with agency report

In its bid to build momentum in the mobile ecosystem, Microsoft has named   nine new hardware partners for its Windows Phone series.

According to GSM Mobile World Congress daily news bulletin, while the list includes some familiar names like   Lenovo, ZTE and LG Electronics, it also includes a number of regionally focused players such as Longcheer, Gionee and JSR in China and Karbonn and Lava (Xolo) in India, as well as contract manufacturer Foxconn.
According to Microsoft, its partners now include companies delivering 56 per cent of the world’s smartphone shipments.

The GSM Mobile World daily news bulletin yesterday quoted blog post as saying that Microsoft’s OS Head,   Joe Belfiore,  wrote: “Some of these partners are names that might not be familiar to you, but they’re leading the global expansion in the smartphone category.

While the company highlighted the “deep commitments” it has with existing partners including HTC, Huawei, Samsung and  of course Nokia, the company has also taken steps to make it easier for new vendors to bring Windows Phone devices to markets.

To drive   the   adoption by new vendors, Microsoft   announced its Windows Hardware Partner Portal, to provide access to tools and content needed to build Windows Phone devices.
The company  was also working with Qualcomm to help manufacturers bring products to market through the availability of hardware reference designs.

The move comes as Microsoft eases some of the mandated requirements for the Windows Phone platform, which should provide some additional flexibility for device makers.
For instance, the requirement to include specific buttons has been removed, and the company said it will work with existing Android hardware, making it possible to benefit from economies of scale in components and design across different lines.

In order to drive volume growth, the company will support additional Qualcomm processors, including the Snapdragon 200 – which will “get us to even lower price points than we see today” – and the Snapdragon 400 line, in the latter case including LTE capabilities.