If Microsoft had incredible hip credibility and some more luck, the Zune could’ve been a success in line with a solid distant but respected number two. It wasn’

If Microsoft had incredible hip credibility and some more luck, the Zune could’ve been a success in line with a solid distant but respected number two. It wasn’t that late. The advanced iPod video and colors etc were closer to Zune time frame. The public perception of it and likely any product would’ve killed it. Google Wave, Google Glasses, many other products that are otherwise not bad, never got close to a fair shot. Maybe Apple’s Newton was similar? That’s out of my time frame and knowledge. Anecdotally, all my friends mocked the Windows Phone. This is after they didn’t care about webOS too but didn’t actively mock it. The few people I knew who did have a WP, three others, all loved their phones. We all gave up on it as the public and Microsoft gave up on it too. I do think Microsoft should’ve kept on with the Windows Phone. But If they were never going to be able to have even a 3rd of the top couple hundred apps, how would they ever survive? Common rhetoric is to say most people don’t use many apps. Core basic apps are enough. That isn’t the same thing as the general zeitgeist and perception of the device though. Windows Phone was looked down on. They didn’t ever have a majority of the top used social media and other core apps. But I bet even if they did. The PR battle would’ve been a bigger hurdle. Other major hurdles would’ve been Google being in my opinion anti competitive as hell. How they treated Google Maps, YouTube, etc, on Windows Phone. Two apps you need to have on your mobile platform. My fantasy is for Microsoft to have consumed webOS much earlier on. Fast tracked development of that and merge their code bases to that more than change webOS to their code base. If webOS stayed at 7.5% worldwide penetration in the west and 10% in other countries (cheap phones, deals, etc), I’d still be on that and likely never would’ve left it.