5 ms·

Apple, in its position of strength, made the game all about app counts. Year after year, they updated the total app count no matter how trivial the app, and dec

by chaz 13y ago

Apple, in its position of strength, made the game all about app counts. Year after year, they updated the total app count no matter how trivial the app, and declared victory over Google, Microsoft, Palm, and BlackBerry. Microsoft has been baited into the game, and can't possibly win. They need to change the conversation to one of strength. Ray Ozzie (while still at MS) was excoriated in the press for saying, "Apps don't make your phone special ... All the apps that count will be ported to every one of them." But I think he's right. Almost every app that I use every day is available on every platform, or has an excellent equivalent, but there are big gaps in niche categories and games.

skyebook 13y ago
While I understand how you arrive at the conclusion that the iPhone made the game all about app counts, I can't see how that stands up to Android coming along and ending up with a way larger selection. Even though it started as the biggest, Apple has kept a threshold in place that keeps out a lot of the crap. Not all, for sure, but you'd never get away with releasing something with the Facebook logo (or a poor approximation). The fact that Microsoft took the bait of buying into the size of the store rather than going for a curatorial approach is their own doing. Laying blame on anyone but their own decision makers for the quality of their app store doesn't make any sense.
- chaz 13y ago
  Android still wins in sheer installed base. I believe all the metrics still show that iOS users -- on average -- use more data, buy more stuff, and install more apps than Android users, but there are still fewer of them. I don't have any data to support it, but I would guess that Android's foothold in international markets has allowed it to really grow out localized apps. http://www.businessinsider.com/androids-dominance-on-smartphones-2013-11 http://www.businessinsider.com/androids-dominance-on-smartph...
philwelch 13y ago
It's funny because in the 90's, Windows had many more apps than Macintosh and made a lot of hay out of that fact.
- cgate 13y ago
  There are very few killer apps on phones compared to productivity apps like CAD software etc. on the desktop. Plus there are mobile web sites that serve the same function as many specialized apps.
- WA 13y ago
  So maybe MS should do what Apple did in the 90's to differentiate itself and get away from the raw numbers. Do you know what they did? I don't.
  - n09n 13y ago
    Flounder around on the brink of bankruptcy until finding runaway success in a totally unrelated market?
    - philwelch 13y ago
      Apple was on the brink of bankruptcy in 1996 and 1997. The iPod wasn't released until 2001. Between 97 and 01 they returned to profitability and served one of the most brand loyal niches in the world. Of course, there's no one in the world who doesn't work for Microsoft who loves Windows Phone even half as much as people loved their Macs in the late 90's.
  - lostlogin 13y ago
    Get a good Steve back onboard. Rumours of which keep coming up, though generally not with a CEO role. It seems to me that he should either go all in as CEO or sever ties and allow a new person to live without his ever present shadow. http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-30/microsoft-said-to-be-preparing-to-make-satya-nadella-ceo.html http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-30/microsoft-said-t...
bad_user 13y ago
WP has none of the apps that I care about and I can't install approximations unless I trust the source. In the case of WP, the only approximations I've installed come from Microsoft, though for example their Facebook/Twitter clones are pieces of shit.
- chaz 13y ago
  I would say that the low quality of WP apps is a separate failing of Microsoft's. In other words, their decision to focus on app counts in consumer marketing didn't force a consequence of low quality.
girvo 13y ago
Honestly, I think the conversation in 2014 has already shifted to "strength". Ie. does my phone have apps for [insert new virally growing app here], and what's cool is the answer is "yes" a lot of the time now for WP. My girlfriend loves her HTC 8X, and loves the apps on there, but her needs are not long: Facebook/Messenger (the latter is built in), Snapchat (through an amazing third party app that I forget the name of, 6snap maybe?), Pintrest, Instagram, and her bank (she set up a tile for the mobile site). What's crazier, is I've come to the conclusion myself that I don't care what OS my phone runs... All it needs in terms of apps are FB Messenger, and an awesome web browser that integrates with web apps like the iPhone does when you "Add To Homescreen" (the N9 was my favourite for this). Anything else is gravy, basically. The one exception is VSCOCam. You can pry that app away from my cold, dead hands holding my iPhone, heh.

by chaz 13y ago

skyebook 13y ago

While I understand how you arrive at the conclusion that the iPhone made the game all about app counts, I can't see how that stands up to Android coming along and ending up with a way larger selection. Even though it started as the biggest, Apple has kept a threshold in place that keeps out a lot of the crap. Not all, for sure, but you'd never get away with releasing something with the Facebook logo (or a poor approximation). The fact that Microsoft took the bait of buying into the size of the store rather than going for a curatorial approach is their own doing. Laying blame on anyone but their own decision makers for the quality of their app store doesn't make any sense.

chaz 13y ago
Android still wins in sheer installed base. I believe all the metrics still show that iOS users -- on average -- use more data, buy more stuff, and install more apps than Android users, but there are still fewer of them. I don't have any data to support it, but I would guess that Android's foothold in international markets has allowed it to really grow out localized apps. http://www.businessinsider.com/androids-dominance-on-smartphones-2013-11 http://www.businessinsider.com/androids-dominance-on-smartph...

philwelch 13y ago

It's funny because in the 90's, Windows had many more apps than Macintosh and made a lot of hay out of that fact.

cgate 13y ago
There are very few killer apps on phones compared to productivity apps like CAD software etc. on the desktop. Plus there are mobile web sites that serve the same function as many specialized apps.
WA 13y ago
So maybe MS should do what Apple did in the 90's to differentiate itself and get away from the raw numbers. Do you know what they did? I don't.
- n09n 13y ago
  Flounder around on the brink of bankruptcy until finding runaway success in a totally unrelated market?
  - philwelch 13y ago
    Apple was on the brink of bankruptcy in 1996 and 1997. The iPod wasn't released until 2001. Between 97 and 01 they returned to profitability and served one of the most brand loyal niches in the world. Of course, there's no one in the world who doesn't work for Microsoft who loves Windows Phone even half as much as people loved their Macs in the late 90's.
- lostlogin 13y ago
  Get a good Steve back onboard. Rumours of which keep coming up, though generally not with a CEO role. It seems to me that he should either go all in as CEO or sever ties and allow a new person to live without his ever present shadow. http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-30/microsoft-said-to-be-preparing-to-make-satya-nadella-ceo.html http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-30/microsoft-said-t...

bad_user 13y ago

WP has none of the apps that I care about and I can't install approximations unless I trust the source. In the case of WP, the only approximations I've installed come from Microsoft, though for example their Facebook/Twitter clones are pieces of shit.

chaz 13y ago
I would say that the low quality of WP apps is a separate failing of Microsoft's. In other words, their decision to focus on app counts in consumer marketing didn't force a consequence of low quality.

girvo 13y ago

Honestly, I think the conversation in 2014 has already shifted to "strength". Ie. does my phone have apps for [insert new virally growing app here], and what's cool is the answer is "yes" a lot of the time now for WP. My girlfriend loves her HTC 8X, and loves the apps on there, but her needs are not long: Facebook/Messenger (the latter is built in), Snapchat (through an amazing third party app that I forget the name of, 6snap maybe?), Pintrest, Instagram, and her bank (she set up a tile for the mobile site). What's crazier, is I've come to the conclusion myself that I don't care what OS my phone runs... All it needs in terms of apps are FB Messenger, and an awesome web browser that integrates with web apps like the iPhone does when you "Add To Homescreen" (the N9 was my favourite for this). Anything else is gravy, basically. The one exception is VSCOCam. You can pry that app away from my cold, dead hands holding my iPhone, heh.