Re: The good things about WP8 (Why WP will succeed)
The good things about WP8 and why it will succeed:
- It's about you. Rather than rehashing the same old grid of icons and separate app for everything that you need to jump in and out of, Microsoft wiped the slate clean and started with a completely new way of thinking. Windows Phone is the first truly user-centric smartphone OS, a clear departure from the app-centric paradigm every other platform is stuck in. I think this is one of the most important features of Windows Phone and its often overlooked. But I think once a person recognizes it, that is the point where they go from merely interested in WP and actually become enamored. That's how it happened for me.
- Tiles, tiles everywhere. The Live Tile concept is a good one. It incorporates the function of an icon with some of the capabilities of a widget. It manages to do this without getting lost on a busy background picture or taking up too much room and looking messy and ill fitting like widgets often do. The tile idea is neat, clean and utterly functional and it doesn't make sacrifices in functionality or legibility for the sake of being cute or flashy. Once people get acclimated to using tiles on their desktop computers on Windows 8, seeing the same interface on phones and tablets will be familiar and reassuring. People will begin to question buying a phone with or tablet with a messy little smattering of icons and it'll be "Hey look honey, these phones and tablets look just like the new PC we just got. We know how to use that!". That, to me, is where the real tipping point for Windows Phone will be, and its only a matter of time. Unifying the ecosystem across devices is the holy grail in computing right now and Microsoft has a huge lead by connecting everything visually with Live Tiles and the fact that Windows runs on 90% of the worlds desktop computers.
- It's new. It's different, but it's safe. Let's face it. A lot of people are just bored with iOS and tired of Android. The Rule of Three suggests that there needs to be at least 3 competitors in any industry in order for consumers to enjoy the benefits that healthy competition for their business brings, i.e. lower prices, more innovation and differentiation. Microsoft is perfectly positioned to be that third option. Windows Phone is easily identifiable. As soon as you see it, you can't mistake it for iOS or Android, and now thanks to Nokia's Lumia 900 and 920 and HTC's 8x, they have hardware that is easily identifiable as being different from an iPhone or Android. Microsoft is also in a great position to be that third option but because they having staying power. Unlike RIM, Microsoft has virtually all the time and money in the world to see that Windows Phone succeeds. So Windows Phone is truly different, it looks different and its finally got some compelling and attractive hardware. Furthermore, it's backed up by one of the few tech companies that people trust to be around for the long haul, so making a move to it doesn't seem nearly as risky as going to RIM which could fold in a year or less, taking its OS with it or any random upstart like Firefox, Sailfish or Ubuntu.
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