4 ms·

I don't know why people would suggest that Microsoft fork Android. Windows Phone is by far and away the best experience i've had on a phone, and my Lumia 930 is

by anjc 12y ago

I don't know why people would suggest that Microsoft fork Android. Windows Phone is by far and away the best experience i've had on a phone, and my Lumia 930 is the nicest phone i've used (after coming from a series of iPhones). Don't get me started on the Surface Pro 3, which is probably the most impressive device i've ever had. Microsoft's devices strategy wont be clear until after Windows 10 is launched, I feel, and until a full product line is evident. And you'd be being very silly to discount them at this stage. I feel like people on tech sites/forums experience observation bias because of, maybe, a tendency towards using OSX and Linux, and they seem to forget that Microsoft are utterly dominant in many areas. They've also entered new industries in the last decade and became dominant in short order too.

wdr1 12y ago
> I don't know why people would suggest that Microsoft fork Android. I think the most obvious reason is lack of adoption, both by users & developers. There are lots of apps out there for Android & iOS. Microsoft has such a small market share and, in the eyes of many outside the Microsoft ecosystem, have little change of growing it. Meaning the cost-benefit for developing Windows versions of your apps just isn't there.
smacktoward 12y ago
They suggest it because providing the best user experience appears not to matter much, sales-wise. People keep on buying Android and iOS devices no matter how good Windows Phone becomes. In many ways Windows Phone reminds me of the rebooted Palm Inc. webOS provided a far superior user experience to iOS and Android circa 2008-9, but in the end "meh" hardware and limited carrier support weighed them down more than great UX could lift them up. Microsoft has more money to burn trying to break that cycle than Palm did, of course -- but on the other hand iOS and Android are far more solidly entrenched in the top 2 positions than they were seven years ago.
- anjc 12y ago
  Yeah I get you with the Palm comparison, but I do think that the top end Lumia's are definitely not 'meh' hardware. I recently purchased the 930, so I can see a way Microsoft can increase sales immediately, and you hit the nail on the head. Work with the bloody carriers, but at all levels other than distribution. I went to several mobile phone shops and every single one effectively said "don't buy a flagship windows phone mate, have a look at this cheap shitty mess of an android one". Send some bloody reps around, interact with carriers, incentivise them, and sales will immediately go up.

by anjc 12y ago

wdr1 12y ago

> I don't know why people would suggest that Microsoft fork Android. I think the most obvious reason is lack of adoption, both by users & developers. There are lots of apps out there for Android & iOS. Microsoft has such a small market share and, in the eyes of many outside the Microsoft ecosystem, have little change of growing it. Meaning the cost-benefit for developing Windows versions of your apps just isn't there.

smacktoward 12y ago

They suggest it because providing the best user experience appears not to matter much, sales-wise. People keep on buying Android and iOS devices no matter how good Windows Phone becomes. In many ways Windows Phone reminds me of the rebooted Palm Inc. webOS provided a far superior user experience to iOS and Android circa 2008-9, but in the end "meh" hardware and limited carrier support weighed them down more than great UX could lift them up. Microsoft has more money to burn trying to break that cycle than Palm did, of course -- but on the other hand iOS and Android are far more solidly entrenched in the top 2 positions than they were seven years ago.

anjc 12y ago
Yeah I get you with the Palm comparison, but I do think that the top end Lumia's are definitely not 'meh' hardware. I recently purchased the 930, so I can see a way Microsoft can increase sales immediately, and you hit the nail on the head. Work with the bloody carriers, but at all levels other than distribution. I went to several mobile phone shops and every single one effectively said "don't buy a flagship windows phone mate, have a look at this cheap shitty mess of an android one". Send some bloody reps around, interact with carriers, incentivise them, and sales will immediately go up.