Anti-Windows Phone Sentiment Strong Among Tech Journalists

[tgp]

Quite simple, what are primary functions of a modern smartphone? It needs to of course make phone calls and send text messages CHECK. It needs to be able to browse the internet in an intuitive manner CHECK. It needs to be able to stay connected with email and social network happenings (Facebook,Twitter LinkedIn, Instagram etc). CHECK. It needs to be able to take a picture or record video when something cool or memorable happens suddenly and I wanna capture the moment. CHECK. It needs to serve as an Mp3 player for my music collection CHECK?(sort of Xbox Music). It needs to help me when I'm lost and serve as a GPS map CHECK.

About half of these CHECKS WP doesn't do all that well. Stay connected? Notification issues & low quality gimped apps. Take a picture when something happens suddenly? Slow camera, although if you do capture it the picture is first rate. Mp3 player? I don't use a phone for that, but I've read the posts about Xbox Music in WP8.1.

For the most part iPhones & Androids perform better in at least these 3 areas. Microsoft needs to improve them before using them in sales pitches.

 

[Sir William Wiener]

@Laura
I'm saying what's the true convenience of downloading and installing an app that you may only use once or twice a year (if that). Apps show their usefulness when it's something you use so frequently that using the mobile IE alternative wouldn't make as much sense. You probably check and/or update your Twitter and Facebook daily do you not? So a Twitter and FB app are a must. However as for say a Lowes app? How often are you painting your house that you need to open up your Lowes app to check out paint prices and colors from your phone?

Not all apps are created equal is what I'm saying.

 

[Sir William Wiener]

About half of these CHECKS WP doesn't do all that well. Stay connected? Notification issues & low quality gimped apps. Take a picture when something happens suddenly? Slow camera, although if you do capture it the picture is first rate. Mp3 player? I don't use a phone for that, but I've read the posts about Xbox Music in WP8.1.

For the most part iPhones & Androids perform better in at least these 3 areas. Microsoft needs to improve them before using them in sales pitches.

Those are issues that are of concern to the tech guys at Microsoft, MSFT has been pretty good about rolling out updates and bug fixes (better than Android as of late for sure). The problem is and will continue to be the marketing until further notice.

You don't use your phone for music? You realize millions and millions of smartphone users do though hence the reason I mentioned it as a key feature. iOS and Android aren't much better than WP in terms of general OS performance, if they are it's negligible. Everyone just likes to bash 8.1 bugs without realizing it's a DP and not a finished product with matching firmware (that's coming soon with Cyan). iOS and Android stand out in the App stores and quality/performance of said apps. The WP infrastructure is no buggier than iOS or Android, they all have their faults and problems and they all have huge teams of people to fix those problems as they arise.

 

[Craigtrain]

Everyone just likes to bash 8.1 bugs without realizing it's a DP and not a finished product

Windows Phone 8.1 is finished and has already been released on the Lumia 630. It is a finished product.

 

[Sir William Wiener]

Windows Phone 8.1 is finished and has already been released on the Lumia 630. It is a finished product.

The Nokia 630 already has the Cyan firmware. We're talking about the WP's still running Lumia Black with 8.1

 

[MDMcAtee]

I'm not saying Microsoft needs one 30 second miracle TV ad to turn things around, of course we know it will take much more than that. They need to create a desire/sense in the consumers that says "I want/need a Windows Phone because iOS or Android doesn't satisfy that specific need/want"

Microsoft needs to promote Windows Phone for what it is, which is a fluid, fast and organized OS that offers alot of the buttoned down security of iOS but with a degree of Android-esque customization but not at the cost of security breaches that ruin the integrity of the OS like sometimes is the case with Android. Windows Phone is a marriage of the pros of iOS with the pros of Android while simultaneously a divorce (if you will) of the cons of iOS and cons of Android.

We know of the disadvantages Windows Phone faces against the two titans of iOS and Android, however the advantage of WP is its exclusivity cool factor it can have. What's "cooler" to see driving down your street? A beige 4 door Toyota Camry or bright yellow Lamborghini Aventador? WP is a cool niche right now Microsoft could be using that niche coolness to push the OS enough so that's no longer a niche.

Well...as to the cars...neither suits me to be truthful,but I understand where your coming from.

I have said this before...Microsoft is a company of geeks...now don't take this wrong...I'm glad they have them...but...unfortunately as geeks are normally..they are out of step with the rest of the public. This is from the top down with whose running the departments and the company.

You think WP is a niche product....I'm in agreement with you on this...but ...it needs to loose it's geekieness and become mainstream...not to cater to nonmainstream....at least here in the us.....because where we go..so goes everyone else....oddball colors...no...vibrant colors and plenty of them...yes...


What else...well let's start with the biggest draw back here in USA...

Carrier exclusivity......this is killing WP...before they even build them...until Microsoft grows a set of balls big enough....that won't change...Here in St.Louis the Best Buys don't even stock them,or accessories for them..and the ATT stores have them in the back corners with the cheap stuff and never carry all the extras that you may need..

What else.....to become mainstream....well..how about having 3 phones...they need to consolidate their line...

Now...to really become mainstream...you have to offer best hardware to get a flagship phone close to the other platforms. If you don't...your done before you start. Best harware..you have to have software to use it... and that means apps...

What else?

 

[MDMcAtee]

What else means the what we take for granted...

Music and video...not meaning games...all though that is important to..

You want to stand out in a crowd...if the 1520 had HTC's dual playing speakers...how good would that be..one better...quad speakers....wait a minute..don't they have that...yes..but only for recording....they forgot that many people don't use ear phones....if they hadn't...the equalizer could be used like all mainstream smartphones...as it is...the geeks had their way...see what I mean

 

[ohgood]

spend an hour in wish hour traffic at a stand still. you'll beg for that plane Jane Camry back, with it's working AC, silent engine, good seats, kicking radio and sound deadening in the floor pan.








but any way, I agree with folks about the lack of advertising vs telling people to "wait for our next blah".

when apple releases a new feature/app, it's in the freaking store. now. tested.

when android releases a new app, there are already fifteen different flavors from fifteen different vendors, now.

when Microsoft starts a "coming soon", it's a yawner. six months later, they tease with "it's going to be awesome!" and consumers look at it like a disadvantaged youth.

 

[MDMcAtee]

They have to have real leadership that really wants WP to compete...they don't have that...they never have had that...WP has always been an unwanted red headed stepchild...and treated as such...so much potential...but no one to fight for it at the top

 

[Sir William Wiener]

What method do you propose that would be an effective way of telling consumers that they just need to use a browser when they've been using apps for several years now?

In continuation to my first part of the reply in the other comment...
My proposal as to what should've been done (20/20 hindsight of course) is Microsoft should NOT have bought Nokia's handset division outright. They should have just offered Nokia a low interest loan to keep their business afloat with the caveat that they must only develop for the WP platform. This way Nokia would have to continue to sell phones to stay afloat, with Microsoft owning them there's no longer any urgency. The bills are paid whether they sell 10 or 10 million phones a month, before MSFT bought them they were actually working real hard to market and seek Nokia devices because that was the only way they could keep their doors open, yet they still had problems financially. The loan would've solved this problem while also keeping Nokia independent with the inherent need to move phones to customers right now and not tomorrow.

 

[Sir William Wiener]

They have to have real leadership that really wants WP to compete...they don't have that...they never have had that...WP has always been an unwanted red headed stepchild...and treated as such...so much potential...but no one to fight for it at the top

Exactly, if Satya Nadella could get 100 million more iPhone & Android users to download and subscribe to OneDrive, Skype and Office 365 he'd axe Windows Phone in a heartbeat. He's a cloud/services CEO not a hardware innovation CEO.

 

[techiez]

Exactly, if Satya Nadella could get 100 million more iPhone & Android users to download and subscribe to OneDrive, Skype and Office 365 he'd axe Windows Phone in a heartbeat. He's a cloud/services CEO not a hardware innovation CEO.

And they even plan to move Cortana to ios n androids and editors at WPC too defend that, if nobody understands importance of exclusives then they cant make wp suceed.

 

[Sir William Wiener]

Satya Nadella Probably Owns An iPhone

I'm a Microsoft shareholder (albeit not a big one but big enough) so I pay attention to EVERYTHING & EVERYONE Microsoft related. I was watching Fox Business before work one morning and they were talking about former MSFT CEO Steve Ballmer trying to buy the LA Clippers from Donald Sterling (you might of heard). While the show's hosts were talking they show a video of Ballmer walking out of some fancy building as a visual for their story I guess, as I knew it wasn't the Staples Center or anything NBA related. I really wished I could've got a screen shot of the video showing Ballmer walking out of the building and answering his phone as he was walking away with what appeared to be a silver iPhone 5/5s. He's the former CEO who cares I thought.

Then I watch these Satya Nadella interviews and not only does he fillabuster with nothing but his cloud, Office 365, Azure and Skype services, he's never seen with a WP handset in any video or picture other than that one brief WP8.1 press conference addressing the reporters(orange 930). Whereas I've seen numerous videos of him talking about the Surface and its features even good old Bill Gates has an interview of him holding up a Surface (he was defending the W8 tile interface to the desktop crowd). I've seen one Q&A interview with Nadella addressing Windows Phone by name without being asked specially and that was after the purchase of Nokia. If someone caught him off guard and asked him to show his personal phone on the spot would he pull out a Windows Phone from his pockets? I have my doubts. I wonder if anyone at Redmond outside of the WP division actually has a Nokia Windows Phone 8 handset. I'm thinking if the suits up in the board meeting were using WP's and experiencing some of the WP issues firsthand more resources would be going into WP.

No one here better sit and defend anything Microsoft has done for WP in the past 6 months I'll have none of it I've seen the charts for the sales in the US and they say otherwise. As a shareholder I'm pleased with Nadella he's driving the prices into the $40 range, as a WP enthusiast I'm saddened because I believe in the OS and wanna see it succeed. What are they doing!!

Joe B. thinks this is "a marathon not a sprint" while he's getting lapped by Apple and Google. Joe is right it's not a sprint or a marathon, it's a Formula One grand prix and God love the guy but Joe is like Chevy Chase in that station wagon.

Where are the post Nokia acquisition WP TV ads in the US? This is not to troll I swear. I just hope if we here in the WPCentral community make enough of a fuss they'll at least address our concerns. The Cortana gate is proof of that. Can we create enough of a fuss that MSFT at least tell us they have real marketing campaigns in the works? I mean they can't and shouldn't stay this silent when their charts are looking this bad for WP.

 

[Sir William Wiener]

And they even plan to move Cortana to ios n androids and editors at WPC too defend that, if nobody understands importance of exclusives then they cant make wp suceed.

I would only be okay with Cortana going to iOS because Apple is supporting Bing now but in return I would want them to make an iMessage app for WP8. However if Android gets Cortana after all the **** Google has done to MS. I'd throw in the towel and move back to iOS and get the new iPhone 6. A surrender to Google would be the last straw for me.

 

[Laura Knotek]

I would only be okay with Cortana going to iOS because Apple is supporting Bing now but in return I would want them to make an iMessage app for WP8. However if Android gets Cortana after all the **** Google has done to MS. I'd throw in the towel and move back to iOS and get the new iPhone 6. A surrender to Google would be the last straw for me.

I'd rather see an improved Skype for Windows Phone than iMessage for Windows Phone. I have more friends who have Androids than iPhones, but all of my friends have Skype, no matter what devices they use.

 

[Sir William Wiener]

I'd rather see an improved Skype for Windows Phone than iMessage for Windows Phone. I have more friends who have Androids than iPhones, but all of my friends have Skype, no matter what devices they use.

Well and see I have more friends on iOS than Android so I guess it differs person to person, however Apple and Microsoft have this loose alliance going against Google right now "enemy of my enemy is my friend" Google is not playing nice with MSFT or Apple as of late so I don't think either should be throwing Google any bones if they don't absolutely have to. If Apple gave WP8 and W8 iMessage so users like me could better communicate with iOS users with my Icon and SP2 then I wouldn't mind Cortana on iPhone. But dear God please NOT Google. It's an endgame with Cortana on Android.

 

[techiez]

Re: Satya Nadella Probably Owns An iPhone

+1.

Also coming to advertising in India, they are really pathetic, LG HTC Samsung etc advertise every minor feature like LG advertised even tap to wake, we have that, we have glance too, and there are other frills that can be advertised and anyways there are not much exclusives left to be advertized, skype, office, xbox games all are available on other platforms..

And look at the phone launches no high end phone after 925, (yes there was 1520 but I consider it a niche category as not everyone wants a 6in phone) they come up with a phone such as 630 and it misses front cam, I understand they cut corners for keeping price low, but with such thing they would nt be able to compete with low cost androids,afterall as soon as u hear no front cam, that model will take a backseat in terms of preferences irrespective of whether u wud use that ever or not, and then there's issue of missing games on 512 mb devices. MWC should have seen launch of atleast 2-3 devices, it didnt happen, MS has even slowed down Nokia now.

 

[techiez]

I'd rather see an improved Skype for Windows Phone than iMessage for Windows Phone. I have more friends who have Androids than iPhones, but all of my friends have Skype, no matter what devices they use.

yes and we have whatsapp to fill in for imessage,

 

[Laura Knotek]

Re: Satya Nadella Probably Owns An iPhone

+1.

Also coming to advertising in India, they are really pathetic, LG HTC Samsung etc advertise every minor feature like LG advertised even tap to wake, we have that, we have glance too, and there are other frills that can be advertised and anyways there are not much exclusives left to be advertized, skype, office, xbox games all are available on other platforms..

And look at the phone launches no high end phone after 925, (yes there was 1520 but I consider it a niche category as not everyone wants a 6in phone) they come up with a phone such as 630 and it misses front cam, I understand they cut corners for keeping price low, but with such thing they would nt be able to compete with low cost androids,afterall as soon as u hear no front cam, that model will take a backseat in terms of preferences irrespective of whether u wud use that ever or not, and then there's issue of missing games on 512 mb devices. MWC should have seen launch of atleast 2-3 devices, it didnt happen, MS has even slowed down Nokia now.

The 930 is coming to India. Lumia 930 listed on Flipkart, Indian launch imminent | Windows Phone Central

 

[Laura Knotek]

yes and we have whatsapp to fill in for imessage,

Yes, I use WhatsApp.