Wind(ow)s of Change.

[crystal_planet]

(see what I did there?)

Lately I've noticed a subtle shift in regards to WP7/8 articles I've read on line. It used to be WP was written as an also-ran without any apps to speak of and little to no chance for success in the smart phone market.

Now, it seems writers are taking a closer look at our upstart especially live tiles and are concluding not only are they just a cute little hook, but a potential game changer for the WP. Even in the way they look at our apparent lack of apps, they went to saying "hardly any" to "100,000 and growing".

Now I'm not saying that by Christmas we'll be number two in market share, but if the press is starting to swing around, perhaps the market will as well.

With everyone releasing at the same time it might be a really interesting Autumn.

 

[Scout_313]

I think there are quite a few reasons why WP8 is getting more attention nowadays. From what has been reported on many sites, a lot of it has to do with the fact that carriers are getting sick of paying huge subsidies to Apple to carry the iPhone. When you're putting up $400+ in subsidies per device, that definitely takes a cut out of your profit margin. Android provided some relief from that in being the first true iPhone competitor, but now you have a million devices running various overlays on top of the OS and I imagine it can be a headache for CSRs to troubleshoot all of the issues that may arise. With the carriers looking for a third OS to endorse, the fact that BlackBerry is dead in the water until Q1 2013 definitely makes WP8 the front runner.

As to WP8 itself, it is a closed OS like iOS so there is less chance that a user will brick his phone modifying it and you can troubleshoot WP8 devices in a much more common manner than with Android. Also, with Windows 8 switching to the formerly-known-as-Metro UI, buyers will be familiar with the OS when they are looking for a phone. Microsoft made a very smart move by linking their desktop OS and phone OS so closely together. Windows is by far the most commonly used PC OS so it's almost like free advertising right there.

I'm almost positive that my money will be spent on a WP8 device in the next couple of months for the following reasons:

-iOS, while arguably being the smoothest performing OS, does not offer anything that interests me as I hate the fact that the UI is essentially a big app drawer with no real way to modify it without jailbreaking. I have no use for Facebook integration, all of the major OSes will offer turn-by-turn navigation, and Siri is not something that I would use. Unless they have a huge surprise at the iPhone 5 (or whatever it will be called) event, Apple won't be getting my money even though I have purchased quite a few apps up to now.

-Android has a small chance of getting the nod if Verizon gets a compelling Nexus device that will be updated as quickly as the GSM versions. I have money invested in that ecosystem as well but from now on, it will be Nexus or nothing even though the Galaxy Nexus was a disappointment with its horrible battery life and reception.

-BB10 actually looks like it could be a true contender if RIM survives to release it. While I'm no fan of BB7, I owned a PlayBook for a while and for being a consumer beta test it was a huge breath of fresh air. The video footage RIM has shown has only reinforced my feeling that they are definitely doing something right. My main concern would be their reliance on the BES/BIS platform for e-mail. As a non-corporate user, I hated not being able to see all of my e-mail folders and the lack of advanced functionality was a killer. If I hadn't sold my Galaxy Nexus to maximize what money I could get out of the device, I would almost consider waiting to see what RIM does release. However, RIM faces the same burden of public opinion of their OS that Microsoft did when they went from Windows Mobile to WP7. For years, all I heard was that WM was junk and I never even looked at it to give it a fair shake and quite possibly could have done the same with WP7.

To end this rambling post, all I can say is that it's a great time to be in the market for a smartphone. The next 6 months will see some really great devices released.

 

[cj-m]

I also think the shake up that MS gave with the introduction of the Surface Tablets also gave everyone pause for thought.

 

[eric12341]

Things are changing indeed. Only thing the iPhone 5 will bring is a larger screen and LTE connectivity, nothing special.

 

[GoodThings2Life]

You're absolutely right.

Microsoft has the perfect storm brewing right now. They're finally getting their cloud services in order, their desktop experience is still king, and they're poised to re-launch their Xbox and phone products and launch their Surface products... all under a unified experience that is actually gaining a lot of attention.

On top of that, mix in the Apple vs. Android patent battles, with Microsoft getting paid regardless... and it's a nice way for OEM's to say, "screw these legal battles... let's push Windows and let Microsoft deal with any legal ramifications." Except this time, Microsoft has agreements with Apple and all the OEMs to prevent legal ramifications.

The irony is, Microsoft may be a "boring" giant, but they're not stupid. They never have been. They're the kings of throwing stuff up on the canvas to see what sticks, but it's not just crap at random... it's very methodical.

And don't you doubt for a minute that right now... the giant isn't sleeping, it's wide awake.

 

[SnailUK]

I want to see more on licensing.

If Microsoft can sort it, that a single purchase gets me phone, console, tablet and pc versions of an app, they'll blow the competition away.

Sent from my HD7 T9292 using Board Express

 

[Mio_Ray]

That would indeed be cool! I also see the same winds changing here in DK. Both in the press, carriers and app development. Danish Windows Phone apps where close to non existing untill the the Lumia landed. A big part of the reason was offcourse that danish was not a language in WP until Mango. But is getting better by the day now and I see more and more WP's "in the wild". Very refreshing compared to the usual iP and Galaxy crowd.

As mentioned earlier, I have never seen a tech company with such a massive and perfectly aligned combination of Hardware, Software and infrastructure being rolled out at once. It can't go wrong.

Hope to sit here in my couch in a few months with a Surface and a Nokia WP8. just syncing away to the Win8 on the PC and the Drive in the Sky


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk