The real shame of where WP is at in the US market...

[FindleInClev]

So common story here- Win mobile user, been on WP since day one, Lumias since they came out in the US, etc. But decided to make the switch on Friday, and traded in my beloved 1020 for a LG G4. So I headed over to Best Buy after work and saw how the US market has evolved, and the real shame that WP just can't make it here. I saw at least 4 people trading in their current phones- most like S3's, some IPhones, for new Galaxy 6 and 6Edge phones, and NONE of the people doing this, getting sucked in to the Next or Verizon payment-plan carrier deals truly need 1/3 of the power/features these phones have. These were all people, who I could tell by their interactions with the clerks, didn't do any more than take some pictures and check their Facebook. I don't want to stereotype- these were all past-middle-age folks, and 3 of the 4 didn't even know what their google account username was to transfer to their new phone. If I was one of the Best Buy people I'd lose my mind dealing with that everyday. More power to them!

Anyway, as I stood there watching all of this I couldn't help thinking - this is what the REAL market for WP should have been. Oh sure some token flagships for those of us who crave having that, but these folks would be just FINE with a 535, 635, 640, etc. WP would have been a much more user friendly OS for them, without the expense Apple tags to their 'it just works' devices. But if MS could have just reached these masses 3-4 years ago, that could have been their real growth market. I thought about it again the other morning when I had my first dealing with a 'Rogue App' sucking up my battery, and it was simple enough to dig through the settings and find where to shut the offender down (I actually like the monitoring built into Lollipop for that), but then I thought about those people getting their shiny S6's- they wouldn't have the first clue how to do that. Such a waste.

A side note- standing there in that Best Buy, it struck me harder than ever, that unfortunately the US phone market, until something really disruptive happens, is sewn up. These people buy phones, they don't even know what for, and the clerks just want to sell what people are most familiar with. I don't think WP can happen here at all, much as I hate to say it. Hopefully in a year I'll be wrong and I'll have a nice shiny Lumia or even G4-WP to upgrade to. But I'm not nearly as hopeful at this stage.

 

[Chinocop]

US market is dead for MSFT. I'm here in China for work, and there's no way MSFT will catch up. Everybody is using Android or Apple. It's too little too late. They should concentrate on Europe, India and South America. Also, push Hololens. That's the future.

 

[silentFan]

Dead or not. So long as windows phones are produced, the os and few apps I use are updated, I care less if I'm the only one in a million with a windows phone..

 

[Chinocop]

That's fine, but MSFT is scraping the bottom of the barrel in the US and China. If they had any clue, they would target people who don't need apps and aren't glued to their telephone 24/7 in both markets. Honestly, they should make a Jitterbug type Windows phone for Senior Citizens.

 

[hiya15]

I am from India, and even here you get to see less number of WP on display at any huge store. Few days back i had the same experience in reliance digital - it sells everything electronics. There was just one Lumia 730 on display and customers ,atleast in front of me, enquired about Samsung or other cheap Android phones. I tried to show them how cool L730 was in terms of performance , screen , and camera ,that too, at such a low price . One of them pointed out that he never saw anyone using this phone in reality and since his friends were using Samsung he was going to go with that only , sound logic.

Although , if you cover whole India, i agree market of WP is on the rise here.

 

[SteveNoza]

Nothing is set in stone in the tech market, BlackBerry is struggling after being THE smartphone before they were even called smartphones. Apple almost died and came back as the powerhouse it is today. Literally, anything is possible in this market.

 

[Blacklac]

The average person buys a phone based on what acquaintances tell them to buy, so its no surprise.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[Laura Knotek]

People in the US have typically wanted to "keep up with the Joneses". That isn't anything new. If one can afford the latest and greatest expensive item, then that is what he or she typically buys. It could be a car, house, TV, or even a mobile phone. That's just the nature of many American consumers.

Sent from my rooted Nexus 7 (2013) using Tapatalk

 

[LockOnTech]

Can't be helped, I'd love to buy a windows phone; but that isn't always what neighbor, friends, and colleagues want. Even if most of them are not technically inclined will spend money to get what is currently trending even if they do not use any of the features on the device. Also I mostly stay away from best buy and try to buy my product online; it is hassle free for me.

 

[fdalbor]

Mark my word, there will come a day when the so called smartphone is no longer the thing. Don't know what it will be or who will be the big name with it
But it will happen, its the way things are.

 

[bsayegh]

There are lots of reasons my WP isn't succeeding in the US. They were late the market, opened with underpowered and undersupported devices, forced people to buy a new phone to upgrade from WP 7 to WP 8, offered a tile UI that in-store reps had trouble explaining the benefits of to users, and didn't even have a youtube or facebook app when the device was launched. Microsoft also had the stigma of releasing broken products for old people and were considered out of touch with younger people (which is odd since they are behind the Xbox brand).

Microsoft did it to themselves. This Windows 10 release needs to be HUGE and near-flawless. If the release of Windows 10 and W 10 mobile is buggy and doesn't go smoothly, its done. Windows 10 will go on, but not for mobile. They need the phones to stand out and they need the benefits of going to WP to be clear from the get go. They need this to be an event.

So far they are doing a good job testing the products with the insider program, but they aren't building much hype. Of course anyone on this site is hyped for Windows 10 mobile, but most of the iPhone and Samsung crowd doesn't even know that the OS is coming out. If they don't step their game up, we will soon be mourning this OS.

 

[Blacklac]

If they hyped it now, it would be considered a flop. It's just a reskin of 8.1 on the surface. App will take time to come. It will probably be similar to 8.0 and 8.1. 8.0 was was decent, but the OS never felt complete til 8.1 and here we are, moving away from it again.

I doubt we'll see anything close to a "complete" OS until 10.1 or 10.2, if they still label their updates like that.

People will probably complain about that, but you could make points that iOS and Android do the same thing. iOS8 was fairly rough, Lollipop was basically a massive flop til 5.1.1 (I've used every official build).

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[theefman]

Microsoft did it to themselves.

They certainly did. Who launches a smartphone platform lacking a feature that a competitor was just previously mocked for just adding; ie copy & paste? Who then goes on to half heartedly support said platform from within, not develop it fast enough, not provide devs with critical api's for them to develop against? Who launches then relaunches, then relaunches again their platform, starting from scratch each time having to readd functionality that was present in previous versions, while their competition marches on with constant evolution of their product, building a mature platform? And to top it off completely fail at marketing the product. All the failings of WP are solely down to Microsoft not focusing nor prioritizing the OS enough to make it competitive with ios and android.

I doubt we'll see anything close to a "complete" OS until 10.1 or 10.2, if they still label their updates like that.


Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

And if that's the case, they really shouldn't bother. android and ios by now are complete, mature platforms. If Microsoft is still faffing about after launching W10 mobile and having to add things later in 10.xxx or whatever they call it, it will be pointless. Because yet again while Microsoft plays catchup the competition would have moved the goalposts leaving Microsoft back at square one.

And at the end of the day, that is why the people the OP referred to were buying galaxy's or iphones, because even though they may not need all the "power" of a high end device, all the things they DO want to do will be possible on those devices. With a WP device today, it'll be one compromise after the next, having to find alternatives to this, that and the other app which is something only dedicated fans are willing to do, while everyone else just wants to get on with enjoying their purchase.

And that is why, until WP reaches that same level of maturity and can provide the same functionality without compromise, its not really a good choice for anyone but dedicated fans of the platform.

 

[Blacklac]

And if that's the case, they really shouldn't bother. android and ios by now are complete, mature platforms. If Microsoft is still faffing about after launching W10 mobile and having to add things later in 10.xxx or whatever they call it, it will be pointless. Because yet again while Microsoft plays catchup the competition would have moved the goalposts leaving Microsoft back at square one.
.

Ehh, they are never "complete". Just look at iOS8 and Lollipop. They both took multiple updates to get smoothed out. That won't change. Every major update will take a .1 or .2 update to get it right, not to mention the new devices that need support and old devices that need optimizations or will just get left behind. It's a never ending cycle.

Feature wise, they keep screwing themselves, making kernal/core OS changes. Hopefully this is over for a LONG time, with Windows. 8.1 update 2 was really becoming a nice OS.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

I don't think WIndows Phone is done in the US....but Microsoft needs to give WIndows phone an it-factor and it truly lacks that. There is no it factor for windows phone because there is no marketing behind it really.