4 ms·

I think you're missing the point. It takes a massive amount of effort to design, build and ship the operating system and device that you like. This is a tremend

by crabasa 11y ago

I think you're missing the point. It takes a massive amount of effort to design, build and ship the operating system and device that you like. This is a tremendous resource drain on Microsoft, who could be using the money and manpower to do other things. There isn't one engineer on that team who is happy at the thought of their work being used by only 1% of people with mobile devices. Beyond being a business disaster, it is a morale disaster. Unless they can do something remarkable and turn around the trajectory, your device will go the way of the Zune.

WorldMaker 11y ago
I'm not sure I was explicit enough about part of my point: Microsoft has very clearly pointed its resources at making the Phone OS the same as the PC OS (the same as the Xbox OS, the same as the HoloLens OS). I think that leverage means that at least for the near future Microsoft has a lot of good reasons to continue to invest in phone, because, finally, a lot of those investments are also investments into the PC, the Xbox, the HoloLens, etc. You said I should be concerned about apps, but I'm not concerned about apps because developers unlike myself that don't care about Windows phones still likely care about PC users, Xbox users, and eventually HoloLens users, et al. If I have concerns it would be with hardware, but the 950 is still new and exciting and I likely have a few years before I start to worry about replacing it, if history repeats itself similarly to my 920. As for "morale disaster", the problem with percentage statistics (as with most statistics) is that it is a kind of lie. Sure, 1% (or more accurately 2-3%) of the smart phone market sounds small and scary, but keep in mind that 1% is still millions of devices, presumably used by millions of people. I don't know about you, but as an engineer I would be ecstatic to know my product was used by millions of people (many daily, many happy) I would certainly still feel that way even knowing that product was in a distant third place. It's a good old fashioned scrappy underdog story, with a chance to make millions of people happy, sign me up. As for the Zune, the "ancient Microsoft adage" is "Top 3 or Bust". Zune never quite hit the Top 3 in what became clear was a dying product category, so bust. Phone is in the Top 3, and barring some weird dark horse appearing from nowhere or a hard Android fork accidentally splitting the market (which seems perhaps more likely), it's likely to remain in the Top 3. I do hope they do something remarkable (and I'm kind of betting they will) to turn around sales on the 950 or bring in sales to new, potentially exotic hardware, but unlike you I don't think that Windows phones go by way of the Zune even if they fumble the ball a bit and don't do something truly remarkable in the near term.
jimbobimbo 11y ago
What about Bing? It was a money pit for a very long time, until it wasn't.

by crabasa 11y ago

WorldMaker 11y ago

I'm not sure I was explicit enough about part of my point: Microsoft has very clearly pointed its resources at making the Phone OS the same as the PC OS (the same as the Xbox OS, the same as the HoloLens OS). I think that leverage means that at least for the near future Microsoft has a lot of good reasons to continue to invest in phone, because, finally, a lot of those investments are also investments into the PC, the Xbox, the HoloLens, etc. You said I should be concerned about apps, but I'm not concerned about apps because developers unlike myself that don't care about Windows phones still likely care about PC users, Xbox users, and eventually HoloLens users, et al. If I have concerns it would be with hardware, but the 950 is still new and exciting and I likely have a few years before I start to worry about replacing it, if history repeats itself similarly to my 920. As for "morale disaster", the problem with percentage statistics (as with most statistics) is that it is a kind of lie. Sure, 1% (or more accurately 2-3%) of the smart phone market sounds small and scary, but keep in mind that 1% is still millions of devices, presumably used by millions of people. I don't know about you, but as an engineer I would be ecstatic to know my product was used by millions of people (many daily, many happy) I would certainly still feel that way even knowing that product was in a distant third place. It's a good old fashioned scrappy underdog story, with a chance to make millions of people happy, sign me up. As for the Zune, the "ancient Microsoft adage" is "Top 3 or Bust". Zune never quite hit the Top 3 in what became clear was a dying product category, so bust. Phone is in the Top 3, and barring some weird dark horse appearing from nowhere or a hard Android fork accidentally splitting the market (which seems perhaps more likely), it's likely to remain in the Top 3. I do hope they do something remarkable (and I'm kind of betting they will) to turn around sales on the 950 or bring in sales to new, potentially exotic hardware, but unlike you I don't think that Windows phones go by way of the Zune even if they fumble the ball a bit and don't do something truly remarkable in the near term.

jimbobimbo 11y ago

What about Bing? It was a money pit for a very long time, until it wasn't.