BARCELONA -- The emergence of theFirefox OSis just one more reason that Microsoft and BlackBerry will need to sharpen their marketing savvy to sell more smartphones in 2013.
Microsoft officials at Mobile World Congress here conceded that the company's Windows Phone 8 platform must be differentiated from the technology of market leaders Android and iPhone, as well as newcomers like Firefox in order to grow above a 5% share of the smartphone market.
[也：Mozilla previews Firefox OS]
“Firefox的抵达表明，智能手机行业是如此竞争力和充满活力的，”Windows Phone的高级产品经理Greg Sullivan表示，在本周在此处在移动世界大会（MWC）的计算机上进行采访时进行了采访。“它远离移动空间中的游戏。”
It seems obvious that Firefox will run on lower-cost smartphones, but the market is still waiting to see what kinds of devices emerge to run it. Meanwhile, Windows Phone can produce a high quality user experience across a variety of low- and high-end devices, Sullivan contended.
Nokia's Windows Phone 8-based Lumia 920 offers "killer hardware," Sullivan said, adding that the company this week also introduced the Lumia 520 and Lumia 720. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop called the new phones a bid to "push innovation to more people." (Only the Lumia 520 will be sold in the U.S., by T-Mobile, so far.)
Microsoft didn't have a booth at MWC, but used shuttle buses to ferry reporters to a hotel where officials showed off how a Windows Phone 8 lets users run an application over various platforms, including a PC and Xbox in a combined Microsoft "ecosystem," Sullivan said.
"The notion is that I have all different ways to get to stuff," Sullivan said.
Microsoft officials here conceded that the company needs to do a better job of showing consumers that they can run Office 360, Excel and other productivity apps on various kinds of computers -- a message Microsoft tried to spread whenWindows Phone 7was first introduced.
Still, users have complained that they must pay for three different versions of many games and apps to run them on three different platforms, such as Xbox, PC and smartphone.
在演示Shogun游戏的头骨期间，一位微软营销官员表示，他不得不购买三个版本的Xbox，Windows Phone 8和一台笔记本电脑的游戏，总共需要25美元。
Sullivan said it is possible that Microsoft will eventually have a single app store for buying applications that work on different devices. So far, Windows Phone and Windows 8 share the same kernel, but are not synonymous and need to be different to allow app developers to accommodate different screen sizes and resolutions and many other factors, Sullivan said.
Windows Phone has attracted honors and recognition for some basics, including its "live tiles" concept on the interface that allows a person to set up a "theoretically endless" number of applications to run on the home screen, Sullivan said.
BlackBerry picked up some of the live tile concept in its newBlackBerry 10smartphone, the Z10, and some Android phones are even showing design (if not function) similarities to the live tiles concept, Sullivan said.
"It's flattering to see others adopt elements of the Windows Phone design and philosophy," he said.
马特·汉布covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at@matthamblen.,或subscribe toMatt's RSS feed。他的电子邮件地址是mhamblen@computerworld.com。
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This story, "Firefox OS should make Microsoft sharpen Windows Phone 8 sales plan" was originally published byComputerworld 。