Microsoft says Windows Phone is a ‘distant third,’ admits OEMs were annoyed by Surface

Microsoft is making a big shift from being a software company to being a devices and services company, which means that we should expect the firm to have its fair share of hiccups over the next few quarters. Paul Thurrott reports via Twitter that Microsoft COO Kevin Turner admitted during the company’s financial analyst meeting on Thursday that Microsoft has had its fair share of growing pains with its new business model and said that the company in particular has a lot of work to do with Windows Phone, which he said was a “distant third” behind iOS and Android.

Turner also said that there was some “consternation” among the company’s OEM partners when Microsoft decided to get into the hardware game by developing the Surface. Microsoft emphasized, however, that just because it’s becoming a devices company that doesn’t mean that it will make all devices based on its Windows Phone, Windows RT and Windows 8 operating systems.