Counter argument for "less apps"

anilraj

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While the less number of apps is clearly a problem, here are some of the arguments I present in front of my friends.

I often run into arguments with friends about WP.
I was not a Microsoft fan until I used Android phone (Epic 4G).
Within a week, I found that phone slow and dragging and even my WinMo6.5 looked better.
From that point, I have been a Microsoft fan.
Paid ETF to move from Epic 4G to Lumia 900.
Paid Early Upgrade fee to move to Lumia 920.

When people see Windows phone, here is what they ask first.
"Are there enough apps?"
Even if I say, there are 100K+ apps, they never sound convincing.
So, recently I changed my tactics.

Again:
PersonA: Are there enough apps?
Myself: What phone you use?
PersonA: iPhone / Android
Myself: Can I see?
PersonA: Here...
Myself: ... mmm... mmm... You have 25 apps installed. Here take my phone and count. Rather let me show you. I have 43 apps installed.
Done.
It doesn't matter how many apps are there in the market place.

  1. It doesn't matter how many apps are there in the market place. What matters is how many are there in your phone. To be more precise, how many relevant apps are there in your phone. By relevant, I mean apps which manipulate Settings, and look and feel doesn't matter with WP8.
  2. Going one step above the previous point. It doesn't matter how many apps are there in your phone. What matters is what can you do with your phone, with those apps. I always ask people this question: "Apart from phone, texting and gaming, what do you do with your phone?" A lot of time, I am able to match it with an app. Why didn't I count game? Because games are completely different category. A lot of times, the same game name doesn't makes sense. There a lot of games in Xbox, which are not there in Wii or PS. But, you can ask the category of games. Like, "When it comes to games, what category of games you play? Like shooting, warfare, simple flash games, arcade, card, strategy, etc." Again a lot of times, I am able to match an app for them.
  3. Another less used argument is this. Just in 2010, Android and iPhone had only 120K apps. Same as WP today. But, I didn't hear anyone talking about they having less apps at that time. Also, the "love" for those platforms was not any less than today. So, just give respect to WP, what you gave to Android / iOS in 2010. Again, this is a less useful argument as app count is always relative.

Here is another thing you have to do when you meet an iPhone guy.
I have tried with iPhone 4 and 4S.
Don't know about iPhone 5.

Ask him to search for "Indian restaurant". (Put your favorite cuisine.)
Then ask him to call the 4th restaurant in the list.
Assume that the 4th restaurant is closed, now call the 8th restaurant.
And then call the 3rd restaurant.
Now, you are satisfied that 3rd restaurant is the one you are going to take.
Ask him to enable driving direction to the 3rd restaurant.

Now, show him you do it.
I guarantee you will always win this one.
Here is how I do it.

  1. Press WinKey long. It opens the voice search.
  2. Say "Indian restaurant". It will give you Bing Local result.
  3. Touch 4th.
  4. Touch Call.
  5. Then, hit back button.
  6. Touch 8th, Call.
  7. Then, hit back button.
  8. Touch 3rd, Call.
  9. Then touch, Drive.
  10. You are ready to drive with the Nokia Drive app.

None of my iPhone 4/4S friends could do it.
"The power of back button.".

I don't even think iPhone should be that bad.
I just believe there is some iPhone way of doing it easily.
But people don't know.
If they don't know, it was a difficult to find option.
"Ease of use."
 

gsquared

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Wow. Quite a writeup.

The whole app debate has historically proven to be pointless. As soon as a good counter-arguement is presented the opposition has always chnaged the subject. Its an easy target for those that really don't know what their talking about but refuse to admit it.

The same holds true when that same crowd exclaims how many apps their platform has. All you need to do is ask "Well how many of those xxx,xxx apps do you actually use?" The normal answer is "Well I only use five but its nice to know there are that many available."
 

power5

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iphone has banking apps for just about every bank in the united states. How many banking apps for specific banks are in WP? I dont mean wallets or budget apps. I mean Bank apps for like Bank of America, USBank, Chase, I think those have apps.

Iphone uses the home double click to open the previous apps. Not sure how it works with search but you should be able to go back to the app.

Also your example only works in USA.
 

mpelti

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It doesn't matter how many apps are there in the market place.It doesn't matter how many apps are there in the market place. What matters is how many are there in your phone. To be more precise, how many relevant apps are there in your phone. By relevant, I mean apps which manipulate Settings, and look and feel doesn't matter with WP8.
Quantity doesn't matter, quality does. Many quality apps are missing from the marketplace.It's still very light on "official" apps, whether for TV networks, sports leagues, airlines, or banks. The type of thing where i might only need one of each, but the ecosystem needs all of them.

Going one step above the previous point. It doesn't matter how many apps are there in your phone. What matters is what can you do with your phone, with those apps. I always ask people this question: "Apart from phone, texting and gaming, what do you do with your phone?" A lot of time, I am able to match it with an app. Why didn't I count game? Because games are completely different category. A lot of times, the same game name doesn't makes sense. There a lot of games in Xbox, which are not there in Wii or PS. But, you can ask the category of games. Like, "When it comes to games, what category of games you play? Like shooting, warfare, simple flash games, arcade, card, strategy, etc." Again a lot of times, I am able to match an app for them.

Alternatives are usually not a "match". I'm not looking for a clone of my iphone friends' favorite game, I want to play against them, or compare scores. Lomogram is a great camera app that beats instagram, but only as a camera, it does not connect me to my friends on instagram. Foursquare lets me check in, but doesn't connect me with my friends/reviews on Yelp.

Another less used argument is this. Just in 2010, Android and iPhone had only 120K apps. Same as WP today. But, I didn't hear anyone talking about they having less apps at that time. Also, the "love" for those platforms was not any less than today. So, just give respect to WP, what you gave to Android / iOS in 2010. Again, this is a less useful argument as app count is always relative.

It's not a useful argument because the important thing is what apps are there, not how many. It's about connecting with your friends, not living in a walled garden of WP8 users, especially when so few people do. Even when iphone "only" had 120k apps, they had better ones then WP8 has now.
 

gsquared

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"iphone has banking apps for just about every bank in the united states."

Dude. You are way off on that statement. I don't even have to look that up.

Anyway, thats not important. How many of those banking apps do actually use? One, two at most?

Personally my bank does offer a WP app but I dont use it. Don't even have it loaded on my device.
 

iamtim

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Oh yeah!? Well... webOS only has about 8,000 apps and lookit how well that's doi...

...er, nevermind.

:D

(And at the risk of being a pedant, why have so few people realized it's not "less apps", it's "fewer apps"?)
 

anilraj

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Here is one important point everyone needs to remember.
Why apps?
Why don't you just go to the website?

  1. iPhone screen and resolution was originally too small. So, typing username and password was a pain.
  2. Long back, there was not even 3G. So, downloading the whole webpage was slower.

Those two limitation's are gone.
You can simply to go chase.com.
I found the mobile chase website is equally fast and good compared to the chase app.

Only issue is that some of the banking apps will allow you to remember the username and password.
The websites, most probably, won't.

Having said that, I never say that WP8 apps is enough compared to iOS or Android.
More apps are definitely better.
I am sure, you will find useful ones among the huge list.
 

othercents

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One of the reasons why I switched from iPhone was to de-clutter the screen. With the iPhone I used the facebook, twitter, and linkedin apps along with the banking apps. I also had a bunch of applications loaded that I would use every so often, but not enough to keep the phone. With WP7 I don't need any of the social media apps since they are all built in and I have my bank which I use to upload checks, but I do wish my other bank would provide an app and I hope Tango gets a WP8 app soon. I leave the gaming applications to the iPad or Android Tablet, since those are better platforms for games and typically I have them with me anyways, so why play on the phone?

One of the major positives on the WP7 is the autoupload for pictures and people are amazed at that feature. I use my phone a lot to snap pictures and videos then upload them to facebook or Skydrive. While I'm showing the phone I typically take a snapshot then launch the Skydrive application. By the time I get to where the photo would upload the photo is already there and I can move it to my special folder that my parents have a link to. There.... My baby picture is ready for my parents to view. Facebook is just as easy. Open the video or picture, click the three dots, choose share..., choose facebook (or Photobucket, Skydrive, Twitter, Dropbox, etc.), type your caption, and choose upload. Videos take a while, but they always get there. Pictures are almost immediate.

I think this gets most of my friends since their parents live in other states or countries, having the ability to upload and share pictures and videos easily and quickly makes the Windows Phone a no brainer for them.

Other
 

mpelti

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Here is one important point everyone needs to remember.
Why apps?
Why don't you just go to the website?

  1. iPhone screen and resolution was originally too small. So, typing username and password was a pain.
  2. Long back, there was not even 3G. So, downloading the whole webpage was slower.
Only issue is that some of the banking apps will allow you to remember the username and password.

Umm, apps do plenty that websites don't do well. It's not just screen size and network speed, just take a look at Facebooks ongoing efforts to make a "native" app that isn't bogged down by going through the web interface. Banking may not be the best example, but even there, look at the way they are now using the phone camera to submit checks.
 

anilraj

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Quantity doesn't matter, quality does. Many quality apps are missing from the marketplace.It's still very light on "official" apps, whether for TV networks, sports leagues, airlines, or banks. The type of thing where i might only need one of each, but the ecosystem needs all of them.



Alternatives are usually not a "match". I'm not looking for a clone of my iphone friends' favorite game, I want to play against them, or compare scores. Lomogram is a great camera app that beats instagram, but only as a camera, it does not connect me to my friends on instagram. Foursquare lets me check in, but doesn't connect me with my friends/reviews on Yelp.



It's not a useful argument because the important thing is what apps are there, not how many. It's about connecting with your friends, not living in a walled garden of WP8 users, especially when so few people do. Even when iphone "only" had 120k apps, they had better ones then WP8 has now.

I don't disagree with you.
We want to be in the same circle as our friends.
That includes playing games, or social sharing.

And by no means, I was trying to say that WP8 app list is enough.
But, these are the counter arguments for people who solely depend on the app count.
 

gsquared

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So their shouldn't be 10 different bank apps because most people only have 1 bank? I think you need to check your math there...

You are missing my point. Actually, you are backing up my point in regards to the original conversation. This is my last post on this subject. As originally stated the whole apps debate is a pointless topic. The conversation topic never stays on target.
 

mpelti

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You are missing my point. Actually, you are backing up my point in regards to the original conversation. This is my last post on this subject. As originally stated the whole apps debate is a pointless topic. The conversation topic never stays on target.

Then what was your point? You said "Anyway, thats not important. How many of those banking apps do actually use? One, two at most?' in response to power5's discussion of how most major banks have iphone apps. It's flawed logic. Even if people only need one banking app, they need the app for their bank, so for most people to get access to their bank, most banks need apps.

No one is actually complaining that there aren't a million apps for wp8. The complaint is that many commonly use apps aren't there. No one actually needs every single missing app, but most of use want a few of them.
 

Reflexx

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If someone asks me if there are a lot of apps, I respond by asking what it is that they want to get done. I don't really ask what app they are looking for. I want to know what TASK they are trying to accomplish.

People are so used to accomplishing their tasks in the way that iOS or Android have conditioned them to. They believe that they way you accomplish a task is by going to an app that is specifically designed for that task.

If they say something like, "I want to post pictures on Facebook and Twitter.", then I can show them how they could accomplish the same task. I can show them how they can even get it done more efficiently without needing to use an app at all.
 

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