7 ms·

I think you are underestimating the quality of Windows Phone devices. We'll see what I happens, but I wouldn't write Microsoft off the mobile market yet. Edit

I think you are underestimating the quality of Windows Phone devices. We'll see what I happens, but I wouldn't write Microsoft off the mobile market yet. Edit: market share is around 10% in five European countries according to this: http://www.kantarworldpanel.com/global/News/news-articles/Apple-iPhone-5S-outsells-5C-three-to-one-in-Great-Britain http://www.kantarworldpanel.com/global/News/news-articles/Ap...

nine_k 13y ago
While WM7 may be quite fine (I heard this multiple times from real users), it would take long time and much effort to acquire enough mindshare. What WM devices lack is a killer feature. They are just another fine smartphone line, unfortunately incompatible with software for market leaders, Android and iOS. With this regard, Jolla looks about as good, and it runs Android apps, too.
- at-fates-hands 13y ago
  >>>> What WM devices lack is a killer feature. They are just another fine smartphone line. This is pretty much the case for any smartphone. A "killer feature" for me is something other than taking pictures and video, running apps, making calls and texting. I have yet to find a phone that has something besides these 5 basic features. Microsoft has always been dominant in the enterprise market so the retail game is not where they're going to win and they know it. It looks like they're going to go after the more lucrative enterprise market: "The new feature pack includes VPN functionality that will automatically trigger when protected resources are accessed, Microsoft said, plus S/MIME to sign and encrypt email and EAP-TLS enterprise Wi-Fi support. The pack will be released in the first half of 2014, Microsoft said in a blog post on Wednesday." source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2044035/microsofts-enterprise-feature-pack-for-windows-phone-adds-auto-vpn.html http://www.pcworld.com/article/2044035/microsofts-enterprise...
  - jerf 13y ago
    "A "killer feature" for me is something other than taking pictures and video, running apps, making calls and texting. I have yet to find a phone that has something besides these 5 basic features." The phone that slides into a clamshell laptop unit and becomes my laptop, with appropriate blended features. Acer has prototyped it, and a couple of others, I think, but the time may have come. Tablets are doing it, but there's probably still room for this to work. 'Course, Apple's probably got this already prototyped out somewhere and will be dropping the iPhoneMac on the world about two years before Microsoft can react....
    - chadwickthebold 13y ago
      If you need the "clamshell laptop unit" around to make this work, doesn't it just make more sense to carry an actual laptop? Motorola did this with the Atrix I believe, and that was piece of garbage.
  - nine_k 13y ago
    The killer feature of iPhone was everything about it. The killer feature of Blackberry was keyboard and excellent corporate user support. The killer feature of Android was openness and much lower prices. What makes WM stand out? They need it.
    - at-fates-hands 13y ago
      >>>> What makes WM stand out? They need it. Are you serious? 1) Let's start with the interface which didn't completely copy iOS like Android and BB did. 2) Live Tiles - which neither Android or iOS have 3) Nevermind Android or iOS don't have live tiles, you can also make the tiles small, med, or lg depending on the app. Again, something neither platform has. 4) Built in feature Data Sense which conserves your data usage and lets you know which apps are using the most data. Not available on Android or iOS 5) Built in support for Office. Available on both android and iOS - but for a fee though. 6) 41 megapixel camera? Oh yeah, only available on a Nokia WP8 handset. So yeah, if you actually look at the features and benefits of WP8, you'd see that stuff too. Most people just write it off, but I give them cred since they didn't just jump on the iOS bandwagon. They really built a separate, independent OS that stands on its own. You can't say that about Android.
      - nknighthb 13y ago
        1) "Different" is insufficient. The UI on my cable company's DVRs is much different from my TiVo DVRs, but that makes it "stand out" in much the same way a rusty nail sticks out of an old board on the ground ready to stab your foot. 2&3) An anti-feature. One Android actually has, unfortunately, adopted to some degree. 4) I don't know how it "conserves" data usage, but both iOS and Android absolutely do tell you how much data each app uses, and iOS at least lets you disable cellular data usage for specific apps. 5) An increasingly irrelevant office suite. Couldn't care less. 6) A marketing gimmick for the uninformed. Packing more pixels into a smaller sensor only goes so far when your optics are hamstrung by a fixed aperture and the need to fit in a pocket.
      - nine_k 13y ago
        This all are nice-to-haves, except for the impressive camera. See. iPhone: a sleek, compact, highly integrated, fashionable-statement smartphone vs large clumsy geeky devices. BB: corporate-controlled employee smartphone vs employee-controlled smarthpone. Android: $300 smartphone vs $700 smartphone (and if you fancy to produce your own, you can join for free). Each is a solid, obvious deal for some large market segment. For efficient adoption, WM needs a deal like these, large and unique. Yes, good MSO integration, and other types of (MS-centric) corporate integration, security features, etc might be it. The niche of corporate-friendly smartphone is a bit vacant with BB's demise.
- ufmace 13y ago
  I don't think even a killer feature would help that much at this point, due to the lock-in iOS and Android have at this point, in the form of enormous app catalogs. If they had the current Windows Phone with a killer feature or 2 around when the Verizon Droid came out, then they might have taken the market instead of Android, but I think it's too late now. They're doomed to a ~10% or so market share for the foreseeable future, much like Apple was in the 90s, and for pretty much the same reason, interestingly enough.
badman_ting 13y ago
I am sure they are very nice, but quality is not a differentiator in that market. It's part of the entrance fee. Microsoft has crazy amounts of money and influence, so we can all say "don't count them out yet". The point is they are huge and have no power in the most important market in the industry.
huxley 13y ago
I seem to recall that Kantar does consumer surveys to generate their marketshare estimate, so it wouldn't be a direct measure of sales and there might be distortions depending on their methodology.

nine_k 13y ago

While WM7 may be quite fine (I heard this multiple times from real users), it would take long time and much effort to acquire enough mindshare. What WM devices lack is a killer feature. They are just another fine smartphone line, unfortunately incompatible with software for market leaders, Android and iOS. With this regard, Jolla looks about as good, and it runs Android apps, too.

at-fates-hands 13y ago
>>>> What WM devices lack is a killer feature. They are just another fine smartphone line. This is pretty much the case for any smartphone. A "killer feature" for me is something other than taking pictures and video, running apps, making calls and texting. I have yet to find a phone that has something besides these 5 basic features. Microsoft has always been dominant in the enterprise market so the retail game is not where they're going to win and they know it. It looks like they're going to go after the more lucrative enterprise market: "The new feature pack includes VPN functionality that will automatically trigger when protected resources are accessed, Microsoft said, plus S/MIME to sign and encrypt email and EAP-TLS enterprise Wi-Fi support. The pack will be released in the first half of 2014, Microsoft said in a blog post on Wednesday." source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2044035/microsofts-enterprise-feature-pack-for-windows-phone-adds-auto-vpn.html http://www.pcworld.com/article/2044035/microsofts-enterprise...
- jerf 13y ago
  "A "killer feature" for me is something other than taking pictures and video, running apps, making calls and texting. I have yet to find a phone that has something besides these 5 basic features." The phone that slides into a clamshell laptop unit and becomes my laptop, with appropriate blended features. Acer has prototyped it, and a couple of others, I think, but the time may have come. Tablets are doing it, but there's probably still room for this to work. 'Course, Apple's probably got this already prototyped out somewhere and will be dropping the iPhoneMac on the world about two years before Microsoft can react....
  - chadwickthebold 13y ago
    If you need the "clamshell laptop unit" around to make this work, doesn't it just make more sense to carry an actual laptop? Motorola did this with the Atrix I believe, and that was piece of garbage.
- nine_k 13y ago
  The killer feature of iPhone was everything about it. The killer feature of Blackberry was keyboard and excellent corporate user support. The killer feature of Android was openness and much lower prices. What makes WM stand out? They need it.
  - at-fates-hands 13y ago
    >>>> What makes WM stand out? They need it. Are you serious? 1) Let's start with the interface which didn't completely copy iOS like Android and BB did. 2) Live Tiles - which neither Android or iOS have 3) Nevermind Android or iOS don't have live tiles, you can also make the tiles small, med, or lg depending on the app. Again, something neither platform has. 4) Built in feature Data Sense which conserves your data usage and lets you know which apps are using the most data. Not available on Android or iOS 5) Built in support for Office. Available on both android and iOS - but for a fee though. 6) 41 megapixel camera? Oh yeah, only available on a Nokia WP8 handset. So yeah, if you actually look at the features and benefits of WP8, you'd see that stuff too. Most people just write it off, but I give them cred since they didn't just jump on the iOS bandwagon. They really built a separate, independent OS that stands on its own. You can't say that about Android.
    - nknighthb 13y ago
      1) "Different" is insufficient. The UI on my cable company's DVRs is much different from my TiVo DVRs, but that makes it "stand out" in much the same way a rusty nail sticks out of an old board on the ground ready to stab your foot. 2&3) An anti-feature. One Android actually has, unfortunately, adopted to some degree. 4) I don't know how it "conserves" data usage, but both iOS and Android absolutely do tell you how much data each app uses, and iOS at least lets you disable cellular data usage for specific apps. 5) An increasingly irrelevant office suite. Couldn't care less. 6) A marketing gimmick for the uninformed. Packing more pixels into a smaller sensor only goes so far when your optics are hamstrung by a fixed aperture and the need to fit in a pocket.
    - nine_k 13y ago
      This all are nice-to-haves, except for the impressive camera. See. iPhone: a sleek, compact, highly integrated, fashionable-statement smartphone vs large clumsy geeky devices. BB: corporate-controlled employee smartphone vs employee-controlled smarthpone. Android: $300 smartphone vs $700 smartphone (and if you fancy to produce your own, you can join for free). Each is a solid, obvious deal for some large market segment. For efficient adoption, WM needs a deal like these, large and unique. Yes, good MSO integration, and other types of (MS-centric) corporate integration, security features, etc might be it. The niche of corporate-friendly smartphone is a bit vacant with BB's demise.
ufmace 13y ago
I don't think even a killer feature would help that much at this point, due to the lock-in iOS and Android have at this point, in the form of enormous app catalogs. If they had the current Windows Phone with a killer feature or 2 around when the Verizon Droid came out, then they might have taken the market instead of Android, but I think it's too late now. They're doomed to a ~10% or so market share for the foreseeable future, much like Apple was in the 90s, and for pretty much the same reason, interestingly enough.

badman_ting 13y ago

I am sure they are very nice, but quality is not a differentiator in that market. It's part of the entrance fee. Microsoft has crazy amounts of money and influence, so we can all say "don't count them out yet". The point is they are huge and have no power in the most important market in the industry.

huxley 13y ago

I seem to recall that Kantar does consumer surveys to generate their marketshare estimate, so it wouldn't be a direct measure of sales and there might be distortions depending on their methodology.