It doesn't matter who makes Windows Phones. The problem is the OS, and Microsoft's insulting "We know better than you..." hubris. It's been three years, and if Nokia hadn't finally gone after the low end market, Windows Phone would hardly sell at all. Consumers have voted with their wallets. The majority of people just don't like the OS. The members of this forum in no way represents the general public. Beside myself, I know three people who own a Windows Phone. One bought it because it was a cheap Gophone, and the others, like myself, were curious. None of us will be buying another for the same reasons we've all heard a thousand times, so I won't bother repeating them in detail (volume controls, start screen organization, lack of apps, gapless playback, VPN, dialer app organization, etc.)
Microsoft needs to get off their asses and stop taking so long with updates and features, and actually listen to the complaints. 8.1 which will remedy some of these issues won't be here until April 2014.
The other major problem is that they named the thing "Windows Phone." Microsoft is under the delusion that the "Windows" brand is gold with the general public, when the exact opposite is true. Yes, Microsoft has vastly improved security in Windows, but most people over 25 still associate the name with viruses and blue screens. Sad, but true. "Surface" would have been a good name, but Microsoft has ruined that brand through stupidity, arrogance, and incompetence like they did with Kin and Zune.
What's going to happen is Microsoft is going to "dog food" (look it up) Nokia, which means firing or demoting all the Nokia department heads, then installing Microsoft stooges. Look up what happened to Danger and The Kin the last time this happened. There's a reason Roz Ho was banished to Siberia, and you can't find anything about her from Microsoft.
Anyway, enough with the rambling, and with Microsoft's colossal blundering. It's like they want to fail. I'm not interested in being chained to Apple's obscene markups and iTunes store, so it's back to Android, I guess. I hear 4.4 is finally at iOS quality.