BGR: Windows Phone has no shot at ever being relevant ! ? ! ?

[cckgz4]

I don't think anyone can predict what could happen but Microsoft does need to be more assertive

 

[D M C]

So, WP8.1 wasn't successful.

Lets see Windows 10 effect on market share.

 

[Godson Arun Kumar]

The way MSFT is going now .. Windows phone will be dead within 3 years

One more astrologer to the count, seems we have quite a number of them over here.

 

[jlzimmerman]

When tech sites hurt for page hits, they bad mouth Windows Phone or Praise Apple because it will bring the click and comments. BGR is just the head super troll of this movement.

 

[runamuck83]

I honestly don't think I've ever seen anything like this in my life.

The all-out effort from all corners of the world to take out Windows Phone is astonishing. I commend Microsoft for even ACHIEVING what little success they have had with so much of a battle against them.

I look at this like the 300 Spartans. Sure, they didn't win - but they put up one hell of a fight against so many odds and they got pretty damn far.

Microsoft can succeed with Windows 10 - time to unleash the beast.

 

[Ian Too]

Microsoft has been far from sitting on their hands this last year... Otherwise, why bother talking about it if it doesn't matter?

Thank you Rhapdog, for what is possibly the best post I've ever read on these forums.

Ian.

 

[Visa Declined]

When tech sites hurt for page hits, they bad mouth Windows Phone or Praise Apple because it will bring the click and comments. BGR is just the head super troll of this movement.

This is all true. They are, and have always been the crappiest tech site on the internet.

 

[jlzimmerman]

So, WP8.1 wasn't successful.

Lets see Windows 10 effect on market share.

It will not be if MS is still seen as an archaic, bureaucratic corporation. Their image is on the upswing but it is still far below google (whose image is dropping, deservingly) and Apple. A classic example is shown in Rubino's article yesterday about Pebble. Younger CEO's (ex: SnapChat and Pebble) just don't see MS as cool and refuse to come on board, or even allow their stuff to be on the MS ecosystem even if MS does all the work. Tech sites share the same discontent. They don't even bad mouth Blackberry as much. This is very evident when buying phones too. Go into a carrier and ask about Windows Phone. They'll not only tell you that you don't want a Windows Phone but they'll look at you like you have three eyes. Personal tech bias runs deep and fogs reason, truth, and open-mindedness. And most people will be like "ok, I'll buy whatever you say is better." Queue floundering WP marketshare....

Another sad bias against MS is in commercial advertising. How many do you see on the TV where iOS and Android are advertised for having an app at the end but not WP? I saw three just the past couple nights with Lowe's, Realtor, and Home Depot. They have official WP apps but don't advertise them.

WS has to hit Windows 10 out of the park to really get the ball rolling. They know that they need to use their Windows and MS Office marketshare to help Windows Phone grow, and the unification of the platform should help IF they don't botch the W10 release. *fingers crossed*

 

[DavidinCT]

WP losing market share is only half the story. Sales are increasing. In fact, Microsoft sold more Lumias last quarter than they ever have. Unfortunately, smartphone market growth is outpacing Windows Phone market growth.

In other words, the number of WP users is going up but the total number of smartphone users is going up much faster.

This is even worse in my eyes. So, in this example, Last year, Apple sold 3 million phones, Android sold 3.5 million phones and WP sold 1 million.

This year, again example for the year, Apple sells 4 million phones, Android sells 4.5 million phones, and WP sells 1.1 million phones.

So on this it's showing sales are LOWER on WP based on the market. For all phones New phones that are being sold, LESS people are choosing Windows Phone over iOS or Android. If anything this is WORSE for WP than anything else.

Maybe at this point Microsoft has thrown in the towel for Windows Phone 8.1 and putting all their eggs in the Windows 10 launch (phone and desktop). It's only dumping low end models out there to TRY to capture market share wile it can but, even in this example, it's failing.

I can't help but think WP could be in a better place if Microsoft went right from WM6.5 to Windows 10 and not redone the OS/kernel 2 times, in between. How did they not have that foresight...

This is Microsoft's biggest failure here and they CLEARLY know it, as they are paying billions to try to get to work in their favor with a little success on a global scale.

When WM 6.5 came out(I was a fan), it was in the market change over, the iPhone was an exclusive to AT&T, Android 1.0 devices were released not too long after. Microsoft sat on WM 6.5 for another few years before we saw Windows Phone 7.

By the time Windows Phone came out, the market was already flooded with iPhones and Android devices. The Mobile stores have been out and sold millions on both platforms. Some people have had a iPhone for 3 years by this time and same with some Android devices. At this point sales are word of mouth and grow big based on this.

For Microsoft to be really in the top 2 or at least a very strong market place share, they would of had to released Windows Phone in-between the iPhone and Android, not 2-3 years later.

This is truly a story of a day late and a dime short and like I said, they are paying billions to attempt to correct it.

I would love to see WP grow HUGE, Microsoft still has a very steep hill to climb. They really need Windows 10 phone to be a major success, if WP 10 is a flop (or sitting like it is now on a global scale) and does not grow as expected, I can almost see the writing on the wall.

Microsoft is a very large company worth many billions of dollars, they are in it for the long term with devices and projects. When you have a department that is costing billons every year but, pulling in very little in return(more spent than coming in) after this long (release of WP7 to now), it is just a matter of time before it's cut short.

So, 2.7% of Millions of phones is a lot phones but, when it really DOES come down to a to a MULTI-BILLION dollar company, it's really not as much as you think.

 

[anon(8555314)]

Big companies often under-estimate the difficulty and effort to successfully perform an acquisition on the scale of Microsoft acquiring the Nokia Handset Division. It takes a gargantuan effort to re-organize into highly functioning groups and teams; it takes a lot of effort to resolve clashes of corporate culture, and the people being acquired may have some resentment and difficulty with the new arrangement at the outset, esp if they were loyal and proud of the old company. All of which is to say, I have the sense that Microsoft spent a lot more time with this behind the scenes cultural work than they had anticipated. Hopefully, now that that is behind them, they can more forward at a much accelerated pace.

 

[Madeye234]

I will say it loud and clear , the #1 Reason is because of the APP GAP with Android and IOS period!! Hardware is great on my 1520, Lumia 2520 Tablet, Lumia 920 (x2) , my Nokia 520....so I cant find a decent app for ,my home security system, my local news app, my cable company app hasnt been updated in over a year. My kids school wants them to use iPads or use Android/IOS apps on their phones for homework help, My favorite airline app Delta has more 1 ratings than I can count and no updates for a year. The cons are getting longer folks...Even my company has apps designed for iOS or Android 3x as many than windows. Developers simply could care less and retail sales agents could care less than that. You have to educate the sales agent, they want to push Apple or Samsung. Plus it doesn't help that Windows always get negative press from the Techwriters, they want to love the hardware of the Nokias but despise the OS. Even the long time loyalists like myself are getting tired of waiting for the Denim update for the 1520 and the lack of the flagship phone until end of 2015 isn't helping perception at all. Windows 10 better be a blockbuster or Satya Nadella gets run out of town.

 

[HeyCori]

Even the long time loyalists like myself are getting tired of waiting for the Denim update for the 1520 and the lack of the flagship phone until end of 2015 isn't helping perception at all. Windows 10 better be a blockbuster or Satya Nadella gets run out of town.

You must not of heard :wink:

The AT&T Lumia 1520 is now getting the Lumia Denim software update | Windows Central

 

[Madeye234]

You must not of heard :wink:

The AT&T Lumia 1520 is now getting the Lumia Denim software update | Windows Central

Well that's one off my long list of grievances lately, the others still apply. Appeased for now

PS Reading negative message boards is an unhealthy obsession.

 

[the real smackbo]

One more astrologer to the count, seems we have quite a number of them over here.

Im not an "astrologer" im a windows phone fan thats pissed off and im not the only one either .. Im tired of waiting for some magical appgap to close .. It hasnt happened yet and It'll never happen dude .. MSFT has given up on WP you dont get it? .. So with my tech experience and my business experience.. The WP OS will be dead within 3 years. Its all about apps .. Why have a smartphone you can do anything with wtf??!!

 

[Dr_8820]

Patience.

MS always plays the long game.

Windows Mobile 6.5.3 is out, Microsoft says "WP7 will change everything!" HD2 never updated.
WP7-7.5-7.8 comes out, Microsoft says "WP8 will change everything!" HD7 never updated.
WP8.1 comes out, Lumia 810 never updated. I think that 5 years is enough patience.

 

[rhapdog]

​The problem is that while MS are buying/rebadging/updating apps on other platforms, they've done nothing for their own platform. Enticing other platform users with nice shiny app experiences that are way ahead of what they've got on their own platform could backfire. Android users are going to be disappointed if they switch to Windows Phone and expect Outlook etc.

You haven't really been paying attention to what Microsoft is doing, have you? They bought Accompli, as a single example because I'm not going to go naming every blasted one. Now, Accompli gets edited just enough to become "Outlook". All they did was a search and replace for the name and recompiled it, for crying out loud. The WP app had never been written. How stupid would it be for Microsoft to not keep it on those platforms? The name change was to get the mindset of the users of those other phone systems to thinking about Microsoft, while Microsoft starts porting all those apps over to WP.

There was a two-fold purpose in buying those app companies:
#1: Be able to get the app ported to WP, which can't be done overnight. The code has to be written, as it had never been ported before! (So stop complaining that MS is releasing it on other platforms and not WP. It was already on those platforms, and they bought it to work on the WP one.)
#2: Get people using other phones to start thinking more positively about Microsoft (which is working, by the way.) That, in the long run, is a great way to get people to switch.

Now, Microsoft needs to purchase a home automation/security company and do a WP app for that.

 

[Geddeeee]

Microsoft has been far from sitting on their hands this last year. Windows 10 ring a bell?
And as far as Windows Phone not being relevant, if it wasn't relevant, it would not even be mentioned anywhere. Yet, there are numerous articles by iOS and Android fanboys recently pointing to the inevitable doom of the platform. They are working very hard to deflect and minimize all the intensely positive news in the press about Microsoft and the upcoming Windows 10, which, will also be for phones. That's the part that has them scared. When people are looking forward to a release of an OS that is going on a phone as well as a desktop, it has got to scare the britches off the poor ignorant so-and-so at BGR. If they don't do something to deflect all the popularity building and get the animosity talk going again, then WP will be the single most dangerous thing to happen to both iOS and Android. It's the trash talk and bad feelings toward Microsoft that has kept WP from getting marketshare and getting the apps, and if Satya Nadella succeeds in getting people to love Microsoft again, it will spell the eventual doom of their competitors.

Is it true that WP has lost "market share" while gaining sales? Yes. However, it's the long term that Microsoft has set up for this last year. They stockpiled their cash so that they could ride this out and make Windows 10 the greatest thing ever. They aren't stupid. This has been a plan for the last few years, but one they have had to be patient to implement.

Right now, Microsoft has the top email and calendar apps on both Android and iOS. They are now getting people used to what they could have on a Windows 10 phone. They also have the best productivity apps with MS Office 365, which people will be able to get free on Windows 10 for phones, instead of getting crippled functionality free and having to pay for advanced features. Windows 10 phone users will get it all free.

As Windows 10 becomes dominate in people's workplace, and people get more accustomed to using and even loving Microsoft services, they will naturally start feeling better about Microsoft in general and the phone share will begin an uptick.

This will take time, yes. That's okay. The platform will not die, and it will take off one day as all this comes to fruition. This is why Microsoft stockpiled so much money. So they could afford to give away Windows 10 instead of making people pay upgrades. This will get people to the platform that Microsoft needs them to be on. One day, as Microsoft says, people will no longer ask "What version of Windows do you run?" because that will become irrelevant.

Windows Phone is far from irrelevant. Otherwise, there would be no talk of it out there. When iOS fansite dedicates an article to it, even if just to trash it, it just proves that it is indeed relevant after all. Otherwise, why bother talking about it if it doesn't matter?

Couldn't have said it better myself. You have a real understanding of the elegant strategy that MS has decided on. A full frontal assault, as other users have recommended, will not work....

 

[hotphil]

You haven't really been paying attention to what Microsoft is doing, have you?

.

​how rude!

​I've been paying more attention than a lot of folk.
​and I think you missed the point of my post. But hey, never mind.

 

[DJCBS]

The numbers that show the decline of Windows Phone to 2.7 are NOT from BGR but from IDC Android and iOS Squeeze the Competition, Swelling to 96.3% of the Smartphone Operating System Market for Both 4Q14 and CY14, According to IDC - prUS25450615

No matter how biased BGR may be, you can't deny the fact that marketshare has dropped. The disappearance of Nokia from the scene and the absence of any other reputable OEM to promote WP is, to me, the main reason for that. People just got sick of waiting for Microsoft to take the platform seriously and with the only company that was making the effort gone, they simply didn't care to put up with it anymore.

I don't think Windows Phone has any future, even under "Windows 10 for mobile". I can see people getting Windows phone devices if they come bundled with their laptops or PCs but I don't think we'll ever see any significant shift from Android and iOS towards WP.

But Microsoft will be fine. They aren't releasing apps and services on Android and iOS for no reason. They know that ultimately, having people use their services is much more important than Windows Phone or Windows X for mobile. Sooner or later I think they'll shut down Microsoft Mobile and Windows Phone with it.

(note: I'm still using "Windows Phone" to refer to what they call "Windows 10 for mobile" too. Because it will never be Windows 10 on a phone until you can run full blown Windows in it. I think using "Windows 10 for mobile" is a terrible idea as it will probably create the same expectations on people that Windows RT did).

 

[Ali Collins]

Really? Then explain how Windows Phones sales are increasing in 22 countries - it was an article on Forbes. I can't post links yet but it's getting more and more popular. Give it time.