The article doesn't mention the possibility of freemium for lower end phones, where profits are lower and licensing is likely a higher percentage of overall cos

The article doesn't mention the possibility of freemium for lower end phones, where profits are lower and licensing is likely a higher percentage of overall cost, and a paid model for premium phones, where manufacturers are making more. This would give manufacturers a reason to create windows phones, if they can operate on cheaper hardware than even the cheapest android handset. The challenge may be that windows phone starts to be viewed as a discount or poor OS vs the competition.