The Mobile World Congress event officially kicked off in Barcelona today, and Microsoft seems to be taking the lead in delivering surprising announcements – not only for consumers but also hardware and software developers.

Hardware

Last week, it was leaked that Microsoft plans on offering 70 percent off to OEMs who ship less expensive devices running Windows 8.x.  According to those reports, OEMs with devices priced at $250 or less will only be charged $15 for using Windows 8.x.  This will allow the OEMs to enjoy bigger profits with every device they sell since they don’t have to pay as much to Microsoft.

On the phone side, Microsoft and Qualcomm announced a new reference design that would allow for the fast creation of cheap Windows Phone devices.  The new reference design program includes the baseline hardware, optimized software, development tools, and content needed to get a cheap new Windows Phone 8 to consumers as quick as possible.

“It makes it a lot easier to bring devices to market because [companies] can leverage our engineering expertise,” Qualcomm Technologies VP of marketing Tim McDonough said in an interview ahead of the announcement.

Though the reference design can be used on any kind of smartphone, because it uses Qualcomm’s 200 and 400 series apps processors, it is likely to be used on low to mid-end devices by OEM partners who are already distributing high-end Windows Phones.

At MWC, Microsoft announced that it’s already working with new hardware partners such as LG, ZTE and Lenovo.

Microsoft’s ultimate goal is to streamline its Windows 8.x and Windows Phone platform. By lowering the cost for hardware manufacturers on boths spectrums, it will usher in a new wave of Windows-based devices catered to consumers looking to replace their old phones with something better that won’t break their bank.

Software

Joe Belfiore, Microsoft’s lead for phones, tablets, and PCs, announced at MWC that Windows 8.1 Update 1 and Windows Phone 8.1 will be coming in spring. Belfiore stated that Update 1 will deliver a less confusing and more user-friendly experience.

“Some of those touch affordances weren’t really tuned as well as we could do for those mouse and keyboard users,” says Belfiore.

“We found people weren’t aware of where they should look in the UI. Those are the things we’ve really started to improve for this update coming this spring.”

But recent leaks of Windows 8.1 Update 1 says otherwise.  According to SiliconANGLE’s Mike Wheatley, the update is completely pointless and makes the platform more confusing for users with its misplaced tiles.  If Microsoft thinks that Update 1 will make people love Windows 8.1, well, they’re probably in for a surprise. Let’s just hope Windows users will only have to bear with it for another year and that Windows 9 or Threshold really will be coming by April 2015.

Back in December, sources claimed that Microsoft was testing new features in Windows Phone 8.1 that will deliver an experience akin to what iOS and Android offers. Two of the main features mentioned then were the notification center and a voice assistant, but reports stated that Microsoft is also working on separating the volume control from media playback and ringtone volume, adding Smart Search results, plus VPN support for the enterprise.

Nothing much was disclosed about Windows Phone 8.1 but Microsoft did announce that Facebook Messenger will soon be coming to the mobile platform.

“We’ve been working with Facebook testing out their implementation for a while,” Belfiore said. ”It’s looking good and we will have it for our customers soon.”

Microsoft is quite late in delivering popular apps to its mobile platform but Belfiore remains positive despite the huge delay.  According to him, 2013 has been positive for Microsoft’s mobile division, especially with the arrival of big names app such as Instagram, Vine and Waze.

He added that there are more than 200,000 apps on the Windows Phone store with app downloads totaling 4 billion.

It is expected that Microsoft will officially make Windows Phone 8.1 And Windows 8.1 Update 1 available at BUILD in April.