Ecosystem isn't Windows Phone's Achilles heel, hardware is

[rodan01]

There's rarely any rationale behind anything that makes Apple sells, you can't compete with that. They are being outsold by Google precisely because of the wide range of choice available on android. Samsung outsells LG, HTC and Sony because they put a lot of resources towards marketing, not because they make better phones. That doesn't mean that the others are going bankrupt. And I look at it from a customer's point of view, it's better to have an Xperia, One or G3 available to you if you don't like what Samsung is doing; and de facto it's better for the ecosystem. It means people don't have to look away from android just because they don't like the look and feel of Galaxy devices. Windows Phone is lacking hardware options so really the better question is how adding Sony, HTC and LG would NOT help WP?

It would help, but not much. Not only because HTC, Sony and LG are relatively small, also because Nokia is even more dominant in WP and now it's owned by Microsoft.

Samsung is the Only Android OEM making money. The situation for the smaller OEMs will become even more difficult with the launch of the bigger iPhones. Many of the sales of the Android flagship phones are motivated by the size of the screen of the iPhone.

 

[Visa Declined]

Samsung is the Only Android OEM making money.

That's a misconception that I hear frequently, but it's not true. Samsung makes the most profits, but other OEM's make money as well. Sony's handset division has actually been carrying it's other unprofitable products for years. HTC turned a decent profit this year as well. And Huawei has turned into a giant, and is just now being seen as a formidable force. Do you really think Sony, HTC, LG, etc have been making phones all these years without making any money off of them? That doesn't make any sense.

 

[trekgraham]

Samsung is also starting to distance itself from Android, wishing to use their own OS

 

[trekgraham]

Huawei makes terrible handsets, my old Prism II was junk rubbish not worth a dime

 

[0vZ]

The problem is that people often buy "numbers", not features.
In store they see "4 cores", "8 cores", "2 GB RAM", "4 Gb RAM", "100500 MegaPixel", etc.
And, for very long time, Android was overcoming WP in numbers. When people buying a phone in the shop, they don't realise, that the numbers are not so important in fact.

 

[0vZ]

May be new Lumia x30 (930, 530, 630, etc) with 4 cores and cheap price would become more popular

 

[trekgraham]

I've found that my Lumia 521 with it's 512 Mb ram is quite fast, the operating system is very efficient

 

[fatclue_98]

Even the harshest WP critics praise the OS and its buttery smoothness. So explain to me again how hardware is the problem. Unless you're a gamer, 512mb RAM is more than enough for most folks and WP7 was all 512 RAM and single-core CPUs.

The M8 won't be HTC's only device, the 8X has been around a while and Samsung has various devices as well. Speaking of Samsung, we read post after post bashing their "plasticky" phones and yet the OP advocates more Samsungs.

Very contradictory thread. WP needs more users, period. No users, app gap remains - period.

 

[DoctorSaline]

I don't think choice would make a big difference. I don't have data but I suspect Samsung and Apple have bigger market share in the high end segment. People buy iconic phones. Only Geeks spend time comparing LG and Sony phones.

Honestly, at this point there is no knowing what will make a difference. The market is saturated and path to success is a long and slow road for MS. But, flooding market with flagships from other companies might give customers the expression that WP is the "new cool". Also, and this is just my observation, I've seen that companies like Samsung, LG and Sony(which are electronic brands with large revenues and not just a smartphone manufacturer) spend more money on advertising which ultimately proves beneficial for the platform. It's really a toxic effect. OEMs jump ship. Consumers jump ship. Developers jump ship. MS just needs to start a trend and they should use every marketing trick of the book.

 

[DoctorSaline]

Huawei makes terrible handsets, my old Prism II was junk rubbish not worth a dime

New Huawei phones ain't that bad. There is a reason Samsung took a year on year loss in quarter 2 in wake of emerging competition from the likes of Huawei, Xiomi and Lenovo.

 

[Visa Declined]

Even the harshest WP critics praise the OS and its buttery smoothness. So explain to me again how hardware is the problem. Unless you're a gamer, 512mb RAM is more than enough for most folks and WP7 was all 512 RAM and single-core CPUs.

The M8 won't be HTC's only device, the 8X has been around a while and Samsung has various devices as well. Speaking of Samsung, we read post after post bashing their "plasticky" phones and yet the OP advocates more Samsungs.

Very contradictory thread. WP needs more users, period. No users, app gap remains - period.

To people that use Android or iOS, there will be a gap if they switch to Windows Phone. I know that there is no convincing you, but oh well.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[jleebiker]

I'm sure next years' android flagships will ship with 64bit chipsets. If next years' WP flagships won't release with 64bit chipsets because the OS didn't support it then I'll have no hope for Microsoft. *Fingers crossed*

Seriously, why do you think this? WP has proven time and time again it can do just as well with less hardware. What does "keeping up with the Jone's" really accomplish?

There will always be those that have to compare specs (421pp1 vs 418ppi), but do they really matter? I can understand the difference between 512MB and 1GB, but what does a 64bit chipset or even comparing raw numbers against completely different architectures accomplish?

 

[PostItNote]

If ecosystem and hardware were the top reasons for success, iPhone would have 70% market share. The iPhone 5s is still fastest CPU wise than the latest chips from Qualcomm (the Snapdragon 805), and that chip is just now trickling out in some select markets. Obviously other things matter, price being a big one.

 

[jleebiker]

I agree with the OP. It's time we started seeing some really nice handsets. The OS has come a long way, but we NEED something more than what we have now.

For instance, is there a REAL contender for a ruggedized handset that is as sleek as the Samsung S5 Active? No. We have some that are as durable as a tank, but look like one.

We need manuf that will think much more creatively. Right now, they are in the timid stage of "We're not quite sure how many we'll sell so let's do the bare minimum to get a handset to market." We NEED some really nice ones and NOW, before the Christmas buying rush.

 

[DoctorSaline]

Seriously, why do you think this? WP has proven time and time again it can do just as well with less hardware. What does "keeping up with the Jone's" really accomplish?

There will always be those that have to compare specs (421pp1 vs 418ppi), but do they really matter? I can understand the difference between 512MB and 1GB, but what does a 64bit chipset or even comparing raw numbers against completely different architectures accomplish?

Well, it's different for everyone. Personally, I'm a specs freak and so are people when it comes to buying computing products. It doesn't matter how stable windows phone is on a lower specs to a customer who has never even used it. What matters to them is that what they are getting with their hard earned money and if it is less for one and more for other in a similar price, most will opt for higher. It's value for money pure and simple IDK why it is so difficult for people to understand.

 

[trekgraham]

New Huawei phones ain't that bad. There is a reason Samsung took a year on year loss in quarter 2 in wake of emerging competition from the likes of Huawei, Xiomi and Lenovo.

You obviously never owned a Prism II , that handset is pure crap, underpowered and slow as can be

 

[rodan01]

That's a misconception that I hear frequently, but it's not true. Samsung makes the most profits, but other OEM's make money as well. Sony's handset division has actually been carrying it's other unprofitable products for years. HTC turned a decent profit this year as well. And Huawei has turned into a giant, and is just now being seen as a formidable force. Do you really think Sony, HTC, LG, etc have been making phones all these years without making any money off of them? That doesn't make any sense.

HTC had losses in 2013. In the first two quarters of 2014 they're worst.
HTC Investors - Financial Information

"Sony's not going to make a profit in smartphones this year. There are 7 or 8 players in that 2-5 percent market share that Sony is in in the smartphone market and they are all struggling to make money," he added.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sony-forget-smartphones-054156996.html

Lg had a good quarter after three consecutive quarterly losses.
LG reports profit as smartphone sales increase | ZDNet

I don't know if any of the Chinese OEMs have decent profits in the smartphone business.

 

[DoctorSaline]

You obviously never owned a Prism II , that handset is pure crap, underpowered and slow as can be

Haha! Times change things change. LG G3 isn't the same as LG's efforts from 2009. Same goes for Huawei. I've even seen crappy budget phones from Sammy from 2010-11s but things have gotten better since. Technology has matured and it has toughen up the competition. The more comrades you have, the better chances of success you have.

 

[trekgraham]

What Android or IOS phone priced at the cash price of a Lumia 635 can perform as well as the Lumia 635? Similar priced Android phones, most of them perform terribly poor.

 

[trekgraham]

The Prism II is only little over a year old, make it sound like it was released three years ago