Lots of folks say that users don't buy WP because of the app gap and that firm don't develop for WP because of the customer gap. Some of that is just the normal chicken-and-egg issue, but some of it is because Microsoft may have been too revolutionary with WP7 in a way that alienated users and firms.
WP7 looked and worked very differently from iOS and Android and it came to the market after those products were far enough along that most folks knew how things "were supposed to work." Although the launchers were different, apps were pretty similar on iOS and Android, but not on WP. The WP emphasis of text, truncating it, eliminating borders and dividers from touchable objects, and removing direct-access to tabs are all things that users can see -- and dislike as odd -- quickly. Android users found WP alien in a way that didn't apply to iOS and vice versa.
The good things -- easy swiping, controls at the bottom, one-handedness, etc. -- aren't things that are evident in the 30 seconds that someone gives a phone while browsing at a store. Sure, an explanation would help, but neither the customers nor the sales folks want to engage in an education session to pick a phone. (As my mom once said to me after I tried to explain the finer points of paragraph formatting in Word for Windows 1.0, "don't give me that concept sh** -- just tell me how to stop centering.") Android and iOS can be cross-shopped with ease - WP is an oddball (that we all love).
Hubs were designed to help users by gathering similar sources of standardized information (i.e., contacts or photos) and exposing them through a single interface. This saved the users from having to install and deal with a bunch of different apps. This was a revolutionary approach and it was decidedly pro-user. However, Facebook and the big firms do not want an OS to "normalize" them into a set of generic services because it pushes them down in importance to users (and mindshare of investors).
Contrary to popular belief, those big firms are not in the business of providing services to help people find and stay in touch with other people -- they are in the business of selling eyeballs to advertisers. The only way to do that is to control the app experience to differentiate themselves from similar services. WP7's user-focused hubs were an attack on the big firms and those firms reacted by refusing to engage with WP. (Twitter even went so far as to limit developers so that third-party clients could not succeed on any platform.)
Having said all of that, it's worth nothing that the current navigational patterns are a problem for some types of apps. Hamburgers can help in that kind of app and they can help without being shoved into every app. Also, there's no reason that backing off from the old model means fully embracing the others. If WP gets a bit closer, users can understand and move to it without having to take a 2 credit course in Metro. In a weird way, this is like Gates' old "embrace and extend." Like tiles ARE the icons of iOS and Android, but done better -- embraced and extended with more information that's automatically updated. Similar things could be lurking in W10 code that's unfinished in Redmond.
Finally, while I just defended their whole strategy, I'm not sure that I like it. My apps look better than the same ones from my colleagues who develop for iOS and Android. I don't want to loose that visual edge. I'm already thinking of ways that I can introduce a "one-handed" setting that rearranges the UI to better support single-handed use. But other developers and I can't go too far or even speak intelligently about what's happening until we get documentation. That should begin to happen at the end of this month when the Build conference occurs. My fingers are crossed.
least we can do ...
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