6 ms·

I'm not sure why they don't just pull the app. They admit that it's bringing them virtually no users and it's a frustrating experience. With only a 1.3% market

by latch 14y ago

I'm not sure why they don't just pull the app. They admit that it's bringing them virtually no users and it's a frustrating experience. With only a 1.3% market share (1), what reasons can there be to bother with it? (1) http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/?p=32494 http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/?p=32494

pooriaazimi 14y ago
Funny thing is that the ancient, discontinued Windows Mobile has 2.9% market share, more than twice of that of Windows Phone 7 Mobile Pocket edition, released October 2010 (21 months ago)!
- Mythbusters 14y ago
  It took android a couple of years after it was launched to actually take off...
  - SwellJoe 14y ago
    That's inaccurate. HTC had a record-setting quarter with the introduction of the G1 at the end of 2008, and the Dream was also a bestselling device. By the second year Android was outselling iPhone (which had been the fastest selling phone in history up to that point). Android was, by all reasonable measures, an explosive and rapid success. One could argue it took a few months to "take off", but its sales numbers have vastly outpaced Windows Phone, even from the very first months. By the time we were 21 months into the story it was obvious to anybody paying attention that Android was going to be Apple's primary competition in the smart phone market. Windows Phone is a flop. It may be good (I wouldn't know). But it is demonstrably not popular.
    - majormajor 14y ago
      It's fantastic. Either it'll eventually take off, or else either Apple or Google will copy all the good ideas and I'll switch back. Either way works for me, frankly. (Well, no, that's not entirely true. I'd prefer it take off next year and Nokia survives intact, because nobody else is making hardware that isn't hopelessly bland looking.)
      - tluyben2 14y ago
        What's fantastic about it? I have a new Lumia (I make apps) and it's really not very great. The hardware is nice, but the software... It looks nice at first but it happens to annoy me no end compared to iOS / Android after a while. I still cannot put my finger on it what that is. It's also massively instable for me; someone here told me that must be hardware issues so I had it replaced; same issues. 3 out of 5 times when someone calls me and I decline the phone simply reboots. Two different phones, latest OS version. Metro is very inefficient with screen space (I'm a coder, so 'normal' folk might not care about that) and it feels very awkward and instable; I see the Vodafone logo far too often (which happens after a reboot, if you have Vodafone). Anyway; what do you find fantastic about it?
        gjulianm 14y ago
        Funny thing. The only time my Lumia crashed it was because I really messed up with the app I was developing. About space inefficience, with Metro I can see at a glance the most important things. You know, less information density -> more focus. For me, the best features are fluidness (I still see last generation Android phones which are laggy), the live tiles are great to have all the information at a glance, and I really love the Metro design. Also, the deep integration with Twitter and Facebook makes it a really good system.
        tluyben2 14y ago
        Yes, I have heard that (stability), but when I invite people over to demonstrate said stability I am able to crash the thing every single time. There are apps in the Windows Market which just crash the entire phone when you start them. That shouldn't even be possible? But yeah this is all blahblah and bullshit unless I can show it; I just have a feeling people are not using there phone. When I have a smartphone I LIVE that thing; I use it for work fulltime instead of a laptop; my android or iphone 4 crashed 0 times (at least I cannot remember it as it has been at least 4-5 years since it happened) doing that while the lumia simply crashes 4-5 times per day. And like I said; we develop apps; we have a lot of Windows, Android and iOS devices in the office; the WP ones are by far (with such an annoying stretch and no-one using them that most clients tell us to forget about devving for them) the most instable to work with and develop on.
technoslut 14y ago
Sometimes I think it's best for a developer to take a chance instead of playing it safe because it can bring a greater reward. They chose a platform they enjoyed and which they could get in on the ground floor. As they say, fortune favors the bold. As an example, if The Omni Group decided to go to Windows instead of NeXTStep, there's a possibility that they would never be successful as they are now.
- latch 14y ago
  Explains why they tried, doesn't explain why they are sticking to it, unless they imagine the story, both in terms of market penetration and developer support, is going to get considerably better.
  - Mythbusters 14y ago
    the Windows Phone platform is going through some churn. With the new Windows 8, apps can share the marketplace so you can target the Windows installed base with your apps too. If you have already spent efforts developing the app, leaving it there seems worth it.
    - jasomill 14y ago
      Unless you build an app optimized for small form-factor mobile touchscreen devices, in which case much of the same Windows installed base will find it more convenient to use on their Android and Apple smartphones.
  - technoslut 14y ago
    Many analysts believe that WP will see more success which is where it starts (with consumer interest). Many devs put up with Apple's flawed and constantly evolving policies because they believe there is financial success waiting on the other side which isn't entirely untrue.
amishforkfight 14y ago
I'd imagine the allure of getting in early, perhaps?
einhverfr 14y ago
I don't know what markets Windows Phone is used in though. if you look at a device like the Symbol MC50 and think about how much nicer it might be to integrate actual phone service with it, so there may be room in the market for Windows Phone PDT's and the like (the Symbol MC50 is basically a portable data terminal with WIFI capability running Windows Mobile. Again it may depend on your market.
zanny 14y ago
1.3% of ~a billion strong device market can still be a lot of customers in a 13 million target device audience. Not as big as the other players by an order of magnitude, but many folks the size of app dev teams make livings off small town shops serving less than a thousand customers.

by latch 14y ago

pooriaazimi 14y ago

Funny thing is that the ancient, discontinued Windows Mobile has 2.9% market share, more than twice of that of Windows Phone 7 Mobile Pocket edition, released October 2010 (21 months ago)!

Mythbusters 14y ago
It took android a couple of years after it was launched to actually take off...
- SwellJoe 14y ago
  That's inaccurate. HTC had a record-setting quarter with the introduction of the G1 at the end of 2008, and the Dream was also a bestselling device. By the second year Android was outselling iPhone (which had been the fastest selling phone in history up to that point). Android was, by all reasonable measures, an explosive and rapid success. One could argue it took a few months to "take off", but its sales numbers have vastly outpaced Windows Phone, even from the very first months. By the time we were 21 months into the story it was obvious to anybody paying attention that Android was going to be Apple's primary competition in the smart phone market. Windows Phone is a flop. It may be good (I wouldn't know). But it is demonstrably not popular.
  - majormajor 14y ago
    It's fantastic. Either it'll eventually take off, or else either Apple or Google will copy all the good ideas and I'll switch back. Either way works for me, frankly. (Well, no, that's not entirely true. I'd prefer it take off next year and Nokia survives intact, because nobody else is making hardware that isn't hopelessly bland looking.)
    - tluyben2 14y ago
      What's fantastic about it? I have a new Lumia (I make apps) and it's really not very great. The hardware is nice, but the software... It looks nice at first but it happens to annoy me no end compared to iOS / Android after a while. I still cannot put my finger on it what that is. It's also massively instable for me; someone here told me that must be hardware issues so I had it replaced; same issues. 3 out of 5 times when someone calls me and I decline the phone simply reboots. Two different phones, latest OS version. Metro is very inefficient with screen space (I'm a coder, so 'normal' folk might not care about that) and it feels very awkward and instable; I see the Vodafone logo far too often (which happens after a reboot, if you have Vodafone). Anyway; what do you find fantastic about it?
      - gjulianm 14y ago
        Funny thing. The only time my Lumia crashed it was because I really messed up with the app I was developing. About space inefficience, with Metro I can see at a glance the most important things. You know, less information density -> more focus. For me, the best features are fluidness (I still see last generation Android phones which are laggy), the live tiles are great to have all the information at a glance, and I really love the Metro design. Also, the deep integration with Twitter and Facebook makes it a really good system.
        tluyben2 14y ago
        Yes, I have heard that (stability), but when I invite people over to demonstrate said stability I am able to crash the thing every single time. There are apps in the Windows Market which just crash the entire phone when you start them. That shouldn't even be possible? But yeah this is all blahblah and bullshit unless I can show it; I just have a feeling people are not using there phone. When I have a smartphone I LIVE that thing; I use it for work fulltime instead of a laptop; my android or iphone 4 crashed 0 times (at least I cannot remember it as it has been at least 4-5 years since it happened) doing that while the lumia simply crashes 4-5 times per day. And like I said; we develop apps; we have a lot of Windows, Android and iOS devices in the office; the WP ones are by far (with such an annoying stretch and no-one using them that most clients tell us to forget about devving for them) the most instable to work with and develop on.

technoslut 14y ago

Sometimes I think it's best for a developer to take a chance instead of playing it safe because it can bring a greater reward. They chose a platform they enjoyed and which they could get in on the ground floor. As they say, fortune favors the bold. As an example, if The Omni Group decided to go to Windows instead of NeXTStep, there's a possibility that they would never be successful as they are now.

latch 14y ago
Explains why they tried, doesn't explain why they are sticking to it, unless they imagine the story, both in terms of market penetration and developer support, is going to get considerably better.
- Mythbusters 14y ago
  the Windows Phone platform is going through some churn. With the new Windows 8, apps can share the marketplace so you can target the Windows installed base with your apps too. If you have already spent efforts developing the app, leaving it there seems worth it.
  - jasomill 14y ago
    Unless you build an app optimized for small form-factor mobile touchscreen devices, in which case much of the same Windows installed base will find it more convenient to use on their Android and Apple smartphones.
- technoslut 14y ago
  Many analysts believe that WP will see more success which is where it starts (with consumer interest). Many devs put up with Apple's flawed and constantly evolving policies because they believe there is financial success waiting on the other side which isn't entirely untrue.

amishforkfight 14y ago

I'd imagine the allure of getting in early, perhaps?

einhverfr 14y ago

I don't know what markets Windows Phone is used in though. if you look at a device like the Symbol MC50 and think about how much nicer it might be to integrate actual phone service with it, so there may be room in the market for Windows Phone PDT's and the like (the Symbol MC50 is basically a portable data terminal with WIFI capability running Windows Mobile. Again it may depend on your market.

zanny 14y ago

1.3% of ~a billion strong device market can still be a lot of customers in a 13 million target device audience. Not as big as the other players by an order of magnitude, but many folks the size of app dev teams make livings off small town shops serving less than a thousand customers.