Microsoft reportedly wooing HTC to put Windows Phone on its Android devices

Microsoft is working very hard to promote its Windows Phone mobile platform. And a new report by Bloomberg suggests that the company may have gone to extremes to ensure that. According to a source, the software giant reportedly asked Taiwanese manufacturer HTC to install Windows Phone as a "separate option on Android handsets". The company has even offered to “cut or eliminate” the license fee as an incentive.

While the software giant’s $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia’s mobile and services business is definitely a plus point, the question about third-party Windows Phone devices continuing to ply in the market has been raised. Microsoft’s latest move seems to indicate that the company is continuing its pursuit of wooing other OEMs to continue licensing its software.

Microsoft in talks with HTC for new Windows Phone device (Image credit: Peteri / Shutterstock.com)

The talks between the two companies, according to the report, are still in the preliminary stages, and the exact details of the deal have still not been ironed out. It is still not known if the new dual-boot phone, if it is made, will run both Android and Windows Phone OSes in tandem or allow users to set one OS as the default option. Another possibility arising from the deal is Microsoft agreeing to convert an existing Android handset to run on the Windows Phone OS. This line of thought was last seen when Nokia released the Lumia 800 which was based on its earlier N9 design.

Going by the source, it looks like Microsoft is sticking to its strategy of licensing software to other manufacturers, even though it will soon be rolling out its own smartphones. The report states that current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer visited China last week to woo new third-party hardware partners. HTC, on the other hand, the first company to produce both Windows Phone and Android-based devices, does not seem to have any plans to release more devices based on the former. The Taiwanese company recently posted its first ever quarterly losses in the third quarter this year.