It is the season of major strategy changes. Keeping up with the flow is Samsung Electronics, which is planning an upheaval- doing away with all the TouchWiz bloatware that made you grit your teeth- taking in their place, you’ll now see pre loaded apps offered by Microsoft on the next Samsung S series release, Samsung Galaxy S6., if sources of the generally reliable SamMobile are to be believed.
Yes, drastic changes are all rage this season.
In recent months, Samsung had taken note of the fact(finally!) that people aren’t too hooked on TouchWiz- the front end touch interface- so, apps like S Voice, My Galaxy, ChatOn (yea…), S Health, Samsung Hub and Scrapbook are expected to be gone, making the Lollipop experience a fluid and a clutter free.
Of course, if you do use some of the apps and don’t find them on the phone anymore, they’ll be available with aesthetic modifications, in the Galaxy Apps Store. Microsoft Apps like Microsoft Office Mobile with a free Office 365 subscription, OneNote, OneDrive, and Skype, will be the ones you get to experience. Ironically, the Galaxy S series phones have seen best sales, with Android.
The move is not only acting in the best interests of Samsung, but Microsoft too- it will be putting its apps on the most talked about phones of the year (taht title is fading away though), where they revert back to the field they are masters in- software/ services.
An encroach on the Google/Android area? These are certainly baby steps, with another move by Microsoft, with reports of the company getting ready to invest $70 million in Cyanogen. They’ve been coming up with apps for iOS and Android over the past few months, Outlook Mail app for iPhone and Office for iPad. Both companies were embroiled in a patent royalty case last October- looks like they’ve made up and ready to work together again.
All of this gives out positive vibes, as long as one bloatware does not go and replace another. All rumours will be cleared on March 1, in Barcelona, before Mobile World Congress starts.
