Don't understand why Windows phones aren't more popular

lzicc

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I went from Android to Windows once the Windows 8 phone got released. I started with the HTC 8X, then went to the Icon and now recently I got the 950. IMO, the Windows OS feels so much more advanced that Android and IOS. It runs pretty much flawlessly compared to Android. I had many Android devices and they all were problematic. It felt like Android was always in beta mode. Iphones work pretty much flawlessly also, but I don't care for the interface. It feels dated. When I was shopping for the 950, I was very close to getting the Iphone, but I could not pass up the 950. The interface is so smooth and feels really modern.

I guess I don't understand why the WP8/10 is not more popular. I think if it would, there would be allot more apps out there. That is the only drawback I see with the WP10 phone is the lack of apps.
 

emjey

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It came late to d market and by the time it came, it cudnt enter d advanced competition. Moreover disaster from MS that WP 7 cudnt update to wp8 . By the time things came to, place android and iPhone already established
 

Joel Earnest

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I don't really get it either. Those desktops with all the clutter feel so 1984. The first time I tried a WP, tucked away in a corner of the phone company's store, I was sold. So refreshing! This after having an Android phone and then an iPhone for a few years.
As far as apps go, I'm fine with what's there, and when the Swedish bank Nordea dropped their WP app, I just dropped Nordea. The app from their competitor Handelsbanken is much better than what they had for WP as well as the earlier one for iPhones I had used.
 

derek533

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Well, they had their chance with the 920. That was truly a great phone (there have been others, don't get me wrong). After that, they started taking out all the native baked in features that iOS and Android would need apps to do. Then, they started flooding the market with cheap, pre-paid devices and nary a flagship device. Slow updates, lack of developer support, and the fact that by the time they had a serious product offering that could compete with the best of the rest, it was already too late to gain a huge marketshare. In other words, by the time the 920 was released, Android and iOS had a huge head start with their ecosystems and it's hard to get people to make the jump after they've invested in the other platforms.

Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with you. But it's hard to get market share when they don't advertise and have no carrier support outside of ATT. And even with ATT's support, most employees at their retail stores have no clue about the windows phones they sell either. They'd much rather sell an iPhone or a Galaxy device.

Come to think of it, it's a huge feat in and of itself that they do have approximately 2-3% market share as it is considering the gross and tragic lack of community support.
 

lzicc

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I just hope they are not too late in the game to catch up. I'm hoping with the release of Windows 10 desktop will catch on. Windows 8 for desktop didn't catch on at all. It was too much of a change in the wrong direction. Windows 10 seemed to fix that. I notice that it is every other version of Windows that becomes popular, so Windows 10 desktop may bring out the spotlight on WP10. The app gap is a little bit of an issue for me, but that big. How many apps do you need. Allot of the apps out there for Android and IOS are useless, but it would be nice to get some of the more popular ones for WP10 like banking apps and such.

WP8 was solid and now that I moved over to WP10, it is so much more refined than 8, it's hard to believe they could improve like they did and WP10 is still new. Wait till they get some updates sent out to it. It will really feel polished although it works really good now.
 

Paolo Ferrazza

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Time to market, and Microsoft trying to NOT sell its products (phones, band etcetc)

Anyway in Europe it's quite popular for example. And it went from 0.5% to 2.5% in quarterly sales in China year over year, China is a big market if it keeps increasing it will be good. The main problem is U.S. and their ****ty carriers situation and apple addicted population.
 

Bagzton

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To start with, MSFT is to blame. With their mismanagements, no strong marketing and so on at the beginning, killing off some features that made WP stand out, not carrying along early adopters (WP7 users) as they moved to WP8, like Emjey said. Also, app gap played a part in making WP less popular thanks to biased-for-reason tech bloggers/analysts who escalated this issue. But then, if you would trade apps over the look, feel and smoothness of the OS, you're truly not a fan of WP. There're good (if not better) alternatives to these missing apps which sadly, these tech guys won't tell you about.
 
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It's completely Microsoft's fault: they were too late to market with the operating system, and despite Nokia's very nice hardware design, Microsoft mismanaged mobile via lack of resources. Lack of developer support also doomed the platform.
If developers ignore your software platform, it's dead.
 

amcluesent

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Because most buyers are only concerned about not being made a look foolish by their peer group. Buy an iPhone and you're automatically 'kool', as that's the message Apple marketing has been excellent at presenting;
 

Lee Power

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Here in the UK Windows mobile is doing ok. Out of a group of 9 of us that went for dinner the other week, 5 had a I Phone, 3 had Windows phone & only 1 Android. Windows phone also seems to be picking up with Windows 10 & universal apps
 

ashram

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People tend to forget that MS was making smartphones before google and apple.

Windows 7 was a year late, and because of that, devices originally designed for Windows Phone 7 were pushed out with Windows Mobile 6, like the HTC HD2 (which if you have seen on XDA, people have crammed almost any mobile OS you can think of on it!)

Then there was marketing and availability. after the kin/zune, people didn't trust ms harware design (despite the zune being SOOOOO much better than the ipod) and well, anything microsoft released had a stigma of bad software/bluescreens every 20 minutes, which blows my mind. I have caused MANY apple products to break to the point that the "genius'" at the store were blown away.

Even now, people associate anything windows with the 2000's era microsoft, which is a shame. I have had MORE issues with iphones and androind phones (both provided by work) than I ever did with ANY windows phone.... and yet, apple and google get all the recognition as if they are the only 2 smartphone options available.
 

sevoman

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It will take time, but the tide is turning. Windows 10 desktop is amazing, love it. Windows 10 mobile is slowly having all its apps become universal. Developers will catch up eventually. Once they hit 5% global market share (currently estimated at 2.5 - 2.8 %) I think the rate of adoption will increase. Typically anything less than 5% is just stagnant. Windows 8 desktop and phone set back mircrosoft about 2 years in market share adoption as it was widely criticized as being a disaster on both ends. Windows 10 has been well received and for good reason, it's fantastic. Now it's just a war of attrition. have to wait.
 

Ian_Superfly

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MS was actually first to the party but has managed to do endless reboots and lost everything they previously gained.
And, when I went to over to WP we had a lot of unique features and apps. All this is now at least as good on iOS/Android (except Continuum and Live tiles).
Developers can today choose to develop for THE market or for sub 2% (as Microsoft does with Outlook as an example)…
 

Pierre Blackwell

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Being as I've been all over the world, honestly the only places that WP isn't popular is the US and China, which unfortunately make up a large part of the mobile market share. You see windows phones all over Europe and South America. The staff at cell phone outlets in those countries seemed a lot more knowledgeable about the Windows mobile ecosystem too. I asked about Apple and the iphone at one store and the told me it's not that no one likes the product...it's just not too many can afford the price flat out.
 

TechAbstract

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OEMs just prefer Android and that is what they market. It allows them to do more. Imagine Windows desktop OS where OEMs can add their own UI, features, and whatever bloatwares/spywares they want. That's Android for you. Which do you think OEMs will go with? Microsoft is cutting back and let the OEMs free roaming.
 

skhwoody2201

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I don't understand why either. I got a 920 after being an iPhone user then android and i have never looked back. Sure owning a Windows Phone has its foibles, but i like a phone that challenged me.

After the 920 i got a second hand 1520 two yrs back for less than half the price of a comparable ios or android phone and it is hands down the best phone i have ever owned.

Sure uptake is slow, i have converted a few friends over to the WP over the last year and they too love it.

Surely there must be some penetration of the number of WP's being used. A lot of businesses are jumping in with WP now, My employer has just announced everyone is getting a 640XL for work, that's over 2000 phones coming online in the next 4 weeks. If that's just one company, even though they are work phones it must show an increase of the amount of WP's in the market.

I Do think the negative press against WP is mainly driven by the other two main players. We will see in times when apple copy the windows ecosystem in a couple of years and have a unified software approach then claim they invented it and made it cool. (no doubt about it)
 

N_LaRUE

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Here's a simple one word explanation for why WP isn't more popular. IMAGE.

Before you reject my answer allow me to explain.

Microsoft lost a lot of credit when Windows Vista came out to many it was yet another bad OS from MS. So many people left to go to Apple. At the time Apple was in a better position with the iPod doing well and then the release of iPhone in 2007 making Windows look old, dated and not stylish.

Simple truth is what you own is reflected in the marketing and minds of the people you associate with. Own Apple, you're stylish, cool and creative. In London UK everyone who is trying to succeed is using Apple. It's sounds ridiculous but image to these people is very important and right now Apple has that image.

When it comes to Android. They're all about being rebellious. Being the same but different. Android has always been about being in control of things and having it the way you want it. You own an Android device you're one of those people who love things your way. So they have the cool rebellious image.

So now we get to Windows Phone. First off the name killed it immediately because all it brought back were images of Windows Vista or BSOD... Next you had the 'rectangular' interface making it different than what people were used to and the so called 'live tiles' never seemed to live up to their name. Then add in the fact the the OS appeared pretty locked down, unlike Windows OS people were trying to figure out what was good about it. Lack of apps, not being able to run x86 programs (yes I know) etc. People viewed WP as interesting but boring and lacking. Add in the image problems of Windows and you can see why it's been a hard sell. What image does Windows have in people's mind other than 'getting things done'? That's not cool. It's not stylish. It's not rebellious.

I hope I made my point but that is the issue. Also, even though WP is doing OK in the UK I work in a large UK company. There might be one or two other people here with WP, All others are mostly iPhone or Android. I also think WP is more popular outside the London area or other large cities.

Anyway that's my point of view. Maybe a 'Surface Phone' will change minds but I don't know.
 

paulxxwall

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Because most buyers are only concerned about not being made a look foolish by their peer group. Buy an iPhone and you're automatically 'kool', as that's the message Apple marketing has been excellent at presenting;

I made the switch because @ my shop I handle Facebook page and the Facebook app for wp and the pages manager app for wp are horrible! I was missing many 12 volt apps. And the app I do have are like way better on iOS ! Kinda boring, but it just works and works very good not just good enough like on wp or wm or what ever you wanna call it. I still have my 1520 but iOS is running circle around wm at least for me it is. Wm has a cooler interface but screen resuming ' app resuming, horrible web page rendering , I just couldn't take it anymore . 1520 camera is still a bit better hands down. No maybe no perfect os . When wm is just as good if not better than iOS than it will explode but not until then and they still need a ways to go.
 

jeffchapik

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And even with ATT's support, most employees at their retail stores have no clue about the windows phones they sell either. They'd much rather sell an iPhone or a Galaxy device.


This, this, a thousand times, this. More than once I've been actively discouraged from and even mocked for asking about a Windows phone, at both AT&T and Verizon stores.

Until MSFT/AT&T/someone addresses this, it's never going to get any better.
 

TechAbstract

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This, this, a thousand times, this. More than once I've been actively discouraged from and even mocked for asking about a Windows phone, at both AT&T and Verizon stores.

Until MSFT/AT&T/someone addresses this, it's never going to get any better.


My friend went to buy a Windows Phone at AT&T. He came back with Samsung Galaxy S6 and a free Samsung Galaxy Tab promotion they were having.
 

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