Chris Carlon / Android Authority
☕ Good morning! There’s a huge fruit conference in Berlin this week, covering everything from new fruit, to top packaging, to logistics, to quality, to building… I can try and see if there’s anything to report. Or eat!
Microsoft + Android
Microsoft has confirmed one Windows Central Scoop from last week: As part of the company’s usual restructuring that takes place every 18 months, it has consolidated a new dedicated segment around Android.
From the report:
- In a memo earlier this week, Chief Product Officer (CPO) Panos Panay announced that the company is moving its Surface Duo OS, SwiftKey, Phone Link, Microsoft Launcher, and a few other Android teams under a new dedicated Android Org. Platform and experience “(AMPX.)
- “… This new dedicated Android segment is designed to help the company double its Android offerings and really focus on the platform as a first-party effort with Windows.”
- Let’s not ignore history: Microsoft has obviously maintained a close relationship with Android over the years. My colleagues have written all sorts of things about dropping Microsoft’s ball, dropping most of its Windows Mobile QA testers, and so on.
- Theoretically, in 2022, we can draw a line and say that it was then and now it is, although there is some interchangeable luggage.
Why it’s important:
- Microsoft continues to invest in Android projects, and integrating it into a single company under Panos Panay tells you that there is something in this Windows + Android + Surface state.
- Microsoft announced last week that your phone will now be known as Phone Link, as that app seeks to bring Android phones and Windows PCs closer together.
- Hope more come.
What next:
- Microsoft may be investing some of its energy in Android, but much remains unknown, such as how closely it works with Google. It’s a somewhat mysterious relationship.
- Microsoft’s partnership with Amazon’s Appstore vs. Play Store has told us enough to bring the app to Windows 11 that Google is not exactly collaborating with Microsoft’s Android team.
- Android is certainly not owned by Google, although Android is a development.
- How this happened is still a mystery Both The Surface Duo and Duo 2 have been able to launch with many terrible bugs.
- (Although the good news is that the Duo 2 is apparently closer to where it should be now, a few months after the patch?)
- And will have a Duo 3 based on previously reported asset allocations.
- In terms of the extended Windows ecosystem, there’s Windows + Android, there’s Chrome OS + Android, and if you really look, there’s Samsung One UI + Windows + DeX?
- Nothing is as integrated as Apple’s MacOS and iOS, but tie-ups are becoming more significant.
Roundup:
If you missed it: our OnePlus 10 Pro review, or I suggested for a title: “Buy Only OnePlus 9 Pro” (Android Authority).
নতুন A new Roku Ultra is coming soon based on a model number slip on its support pages, and here are five useful things it can do (CNET).
Have a great start to the week,
Tristan Rainer, Senior Editor