BARCELONA—Windows Phone may yet have a chance. Showing a prototype Windows Phone at this year's MWC, Infosonics CEO Joseph Ram said that carriers around the world were still looking to Microsoft to loosen Google's grip.
"The operators are demanding solutions other than Android," Ram said. "We met with a very large operator today and with their top exec on the handset side, and they said, it's a top-down CEO requirement that you have to bring more Windows phones into the carrier." Ram noted that this wasn't a U.S. operator, though.
But the big Windows Phone push may happen later this year, because it will rely on Windows 10 being compelling.
"Once Windows 10 is available, it could be a game changer because of the way the apps and services are going to work across all the universal devices," he said.
Lower-priced Windows phones are exciting carriers more, as the carriers reduce subsidies across the board, Ram said. That might help explain why Microsoft is churning out so many midrange phones like the new Lumia 640 and 640XL.
"The carriers are under tremendous pricing pressure. The iPhone is costing them a tremendous amount of money, and that's a transfer of money from the operators to Apple," Ram said.
More Very Cool Phones?
Infosonics makes the Verykool line of phones, which we've reviewed from time to time. These are lower-cost, unlocked phones that usually come in at under $300 up front. The Windows phone Ram showed me will be called the Phantom, it will support both AT&T and T-Mobile's LTE, and will cost $299.
Ram showed me two other new phones: the Spark 2 and the Cyprus phablet. If you're interested, specs for the Spark 2 and Cyprus are online.
The Spark 2, as befits its name, is a phone for people who like flash photography. It has a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with a flash, which is really unusual; the 8-megapixel rear camera has a dual flash. I took some shots, and they were bright but not blown out indoors. Still, though, you have to like flash shots. The phone runs on AT&T or T-Mobile 3G, and costs an amazing $179.89 unlocked.
The Cyprus may be a little oversold when Infosonics says "power and opulence collide" for $199.90, but it is a big, unlocked phablet with a bright, clear 720p LCD screen and a 13-megapixel camera.
We'll review all of these phones as soon as we can get them in.