Switched to iOS... Switching Back.

[Liam Perry]

So! My carrier offered me a few free months on a plan if I signed up for an iPhone 5S. Who could resist?
Coming from WindowsPhone this was an interesting experience.

The things that made WP7 better than iOS5... They're still better than iOS8. [Insert generic complaint about static icons, crappy keyboard, no camera button, crappy multitasking, bluetooth, still cant pin things to the homescreen etc.]

But what I really want to talk about is apps. I was expecting to find a whole bunch of new apps on iOS that I didn't get to use on WP.... But this wasn't the case. In fact it was the other way around.

WP8 has some awesome homegrown apps that, shockingly aren't available on iOS.

• The Public Transport apps for my city on WP8 are AWESOME. iOS? Pretty terrible selection, even with the sprinkling of official ones.
• E-Reader apps? Turns out you can't even load up an epub on iOS, and good luck downloading anything with the browser. (Hint: you can't.)
• iOS does have it's fair share of great camera apps, but again, we have some INCREDIBLE ones on WP that were hard to match, or find matches to. (Still waitin for VSCO Cam...)
• No uTorrent Remote?
• There were a bunch more that I can't recall off the top of my head.

Microsoft has done a BEAUTIFUL job porting their Outlook Exchange, OneNote, OneDrive and Office apps to iPhone, they work just as well as they did on WP and made switching a lot less painful.

Apps I'll miss on WP?

• Blackboard Mobile Learn (University app, they support BB7 but not WP8??)
• VSCO CAM
• Minecraft (would be nice, but Mojang hates MS platforms.)

Out of the 57 apps, only five weren't on WP....
But will I really miss the iPhone only Burger King app? Probably not.

 

[anon(6038817)]

Thanks for sharing your observations.

I owned an iPhone 5 for 4 months and then I was ready to move on.

Posted from my BlackBerry Z30 via Tapatalk

 

[AG VK]

Where do you live? I ask because in Southeast Asia and Europe, Google Maps is very comprehensive as far as public transport is concerned and WP's options are completely useless. What apps did you try?

 

[Silviu Bogusevschi]

I think much of big app developers (Google or whatever) don't make apps for WP on purpose, it's not even much about money or advertising. But when WP will reach a great market share (and I'm sure it will happen it the NEAREST future), they might think again about it.
May the force be with Nadella.

 

[Silviu Bogusevschi]

Where do you live? I ask because in Southeast Asia and Europe, Google Maps is very comprehensive as far as public transport is concerned and WP's options are completely useless. What apps did you try?

HERE transport is pretty much fine for public transport.

 

[neo158]

HERE transport is pretty much fine for public transport.

I use UK Bus Checker here as the HERE Transport app seems to miss certain bus stops near me.

 

[MDMcAtee]

So! My carrier offered me a few free months on a plan if I signed up for an iPhone 5S. Who could resist?
Coming from WindowsPhone this was an interesting experience.

The things that made WP7 better than iOS5... They're still better than iOS8. [Insert generic complaint about static icons, crappy keyboard, no camera button, crappy multitasking, bluetooth, still cant pin things to the homescreen etc.]

But what I really want to talk about is apps. I was expecting to find a whole bunch of new apps on iOS that I didn't get to use on WP.... But this wasn't the case. In fact it was the other way around.

WP8 has some awesome homegrown apps that, shockingly aren't available on iOS.

• The Public Transport apps for my city on WP8 are AWESOME. iOS? Pretty terrible selection, even with the sprinkling of official ones.
• E-Reader apps? Turns out you can't even load up an epub on iOS, and good luck downloading anything with the browser. (Hint: you can't.)
• iOS does have it's fair share of great camera apps, but again, we have some INCREDIBLE ones on WP that were hard to match, or find matches to. (Still waitin for VSCO Cam...)
• No uTorrent Remote?
• There were a bunch more that I can't recall off the top of my head.

Microsoft has done a BEAUTIFUL job porting their Outlook Exchange, OneNote, OneDrive and Office apps to iPhone, they work just as well as they did on WP and made switching a lot less painful.

Apps I'll miss on WP?

• Blackboard Mobile Learn (University app, they support BB7 but not WP8??)
• VSCO CAM
• Minecraft (would be nice, but Mojang hates MS platforms.)

Out of the 57 apps, only five weren't on WP....
But will I really miss the iPhone only Burger King app? Probably not.

Really..better than IOS 8...sure..

Tell me....how would you know this?

 

[tgp]

I think much of big app developers (Google or whatever) don't make apps for WP on purpose, it's not even much about money or advertising. But when WP will reach a great market share (and I'm sure it will happen it the NEAREST future), they might think again about it.
May the force be with Nadella.

It is ALL about money! Besides the normal costs of app development and maintenance, the big developers likely figure in how many users it keeps away from WP. This would apply to Google. But I wonder how much that figures in, because there are plenty of other big names who are not competing with Microsoft that aren't providing WP apps or just did recently. And I believe you're correct that if WP's market share grows that they might think about it again, including Google.

At the end of the day, they choose whichever route gives them the most profit at the end of the day.

 

[Silviu Bogusevschi]

It is ALL about money! Besides the normal costs of app development and maintenance, the big developers likely figure in how many users it keeps away from WP. This would apply to Google. But I wonder how much that figures in, because there are plenty of other big names who are not competing with Microsoft that aren't providing WP apps or just did recently. And I believe you're correct that if WP's market share grows that they might think about it again, including Google.

At the end of the day, they choose whichever route gives them the most profit at the end of the day.

It's all about influence, not money. If the company puts money first - it's gonna fail. Big developers apparently are not interested in a bigger share of WP because they might lose the influence.

Edit 1: Why do you think, for example, Google and Facebook buy a lot of small companies? Because they want to be present everywhere, in every place and every mind. Does WhatsApp worth 16b $? It's all about influence.

 

[tgp]

It's all about influence, not money. If the company puts money first - it's gonna fail. Big developers apparently are not interested in a bigger share of WP because they might lose the influence.

Edit 1: Why do you think, for example, Google and Facebook buy a lot of small companies? Because they want to be present everywhere, in every place and every mind. Does WhatsApp worth 16b $? It's all about influence.

Businesses are pragmatic; in the end, it's all about the money. If they want influence, it's because influence turns into money. Think a company is spending money to be the nice guy (for example Microsoft providing 1st class apps for iOS & Android)? Sure they are, but it's because they know it'll turn a profit. Google and Facebook buy those small companies because they expect the deal to turn a profit in one way or another.

In the end, it's all about the money. And I have no problem with that. A business must be profitable to be a benefit to society.