Another Doom & Gloom article about WP8

[migueli2]

The biggest issue is really that Android phones are selling for much cheaper than Lumia counterparts, Android has more apps, Android is more capable, and Android is closing the OS fluidity gap as we speak.

About the apps - having apps that do really nothing interesting is not an advantage. More capable? In what? Fluidity? Not really.

 

[ttsoldier]

Lumia sales continue to rise yet people continue to bash WP8.

Why? Because to them, the world does not exist outside of the U.S. If U.S sales are bad, this means WP8 sales are bad/suck/going to fail

It's pretty funny actually.

 

[WereRat]

Marketshare as a statistic is a funny thing these days. Total marketshare can be completely thrown off by a glut of shovelware phones (thinking the cheapo Androids here). At the same time, among the 'elite' phone users, it's a different equation; people want not the best phone but the one the other guys have (aka: what the people in the job you want have).

Then there's a completely different equation: can it get development mindshare? I would honestly hate to debut a new app on Android right now. There's so much chaff out there that I'd need to catch the right meme at the right time to make any decent impact. Also, all the people who buy the above cheapo phones are probably not lining up to actually PAY for apps. iOS is kind of a different story; there I think people are willing to pony up, but a new effort has to be really polished. WP is the area where I think a bootstrap effort can succeed.

Bottom line: with really competent bargain WP phones (521, etc.) selling out, and Nokia rocking the 'elite' phone world a bit with the 1020, WP has almost all it needs to break out. The missing piece, as you guys identified, is M$; they need to keep delivering the good updates to bring WP's featureset to fruition. I think they (MSFT) have realized they need to get their act in gear, thus the reorg. I hope they deliver; two-party races are not the best for us as consumers.

 

[jmshub]

Hit piece.

 

[MikeSo]

The article is specifically about the US, so the situation in Russia is irrelevant.
I think it's hard to refute the author's arguments, but the headline is sensationalistic.
The core issue is: carriers don't believe in WP, and stock very little, and thus sell very little, and that reinforces their lack of belief, which makes them not willing to promote it, etc... How to break this cycle?
I don't know enough about the cell phone business in the US to have an answer. But when you see WP phones constantly shoved away to make room for whatever new Android phone is on the market this week, it makes you wonder how WP will make it.

 

[sumothong01]

The thing is, I bet Forbes writers don't care. They've all been shorting MS like crazy I would bet.

Oh I know they don't care. The author doesn't get paid to care only to write. But calling something a failure that hasn't had time to even get established is ridiculous.

 

[sohail mahajan]

I mentioned in respect to multi tasking and not the overall experience.

p.s: had a rooted ROM LG Optimus One(512MB) before it was pretty decent for the battery life and the loud speaker volume!! A cheap JB Droid may lag sometimes but still you will get used to it, because there are some good apps on Android, loads of launchers+customization compared to a no-frills WP8 phone which is as closed as IOS. You cant even set individual ringtones for different persons on WP, no continuous vibration(my 620 stops after a couple of rings), there is a whole lot more. There is a reason why its got only 3% marketshare, Android (and IOS though its fading to Samsung's droid attack lol) is so dominant right now.

you can set different ringtones for different persons in wp8....

 

[OzRob]

About the apps - having apps that do really nothing interesting is not an advantage. More capable? In what? Fluidity? Not really.

That's right. But having apps that do really useful stuff like being able to determine whether you are at home or at work and then set the ring tone and volume to something more appropriate for a quite environment and then automatically make it louder again when you leave home/work (aka Llama) IS an advantage. And WP doesn't have it.

So I would say Android is more capable than WP8 in many areas, and it's certainly more flexible. Of course, that flexibility means it's more capable of being set up stupidly by someone who doesn't know what they're doing. WP8 is great if you're happy with a relatively 'dumb' smart phone, but it doesn't have the flexibility of even a cheap Android phone that's set up well.

 

[sinime]

IDK, it's a little off topic, but was at BB the other day and looking to buy a new TV... Anyhow, the BB rep was talking to me about TVs and trying to up sell me on the Sonos sound system... He pulled out his S3 android to show me how "awesome" the Sonos system is... His phone opened the app fine, then sputtered and was unresponsive when trying link different speakers and "show off" the app.... I thought the S3 was a flag ship before the S4? I guess android just doesn't perform like all the media says... I'm gonna stick with WP for now.

 

[lippidp]

Maybe someone at Google will pull a Snowden and reveal just how evil Google is. Maybe then people will stop using their "free" garbage. Nah, probably not. Just like there was not outrage or riots over PRISM. Everyone is so docile as long as you give them free shiny toys.

 

[OzRob]

Maybe someone at Google will pull a Snowden and reveal just how evil Google is. Maybe then people will stop using their "free" garbage. Nah, probably not. Just like there was not outrage or riots over PRISM. Everyone is so docile as long as you give them free shiny toys.

Yes, that's so true. I believe Microsoft proved this in the 90s when it used it's dominant market power on the desktop to shut out Netscape and rivals from competing in the browser space. I didn't hear of any riots back then, though DOJ and did launch an inquiry and the European regulatory body did find Microsoft guilty of evil monopolistic practices. I guess Joe Public just has a low distraction threshold.

 

[Jazmac]

Doom and Gloom is right. Gloomy futures is ALL this guy ever talks about. Tero Kuittinen low information writer. He is pretty much unimportant.

 

[snowmutt]

Do you want to know why I believe that WP is in good shape??

People are posting negative comments on our forum. Writers are slamming it. Other companies trolls are belittling it.

Yep, if WP was failing, NO ONE would care about it.

In five years, just think how many people will be saying "I always knew WP was going to be a major player!! I just KNEW it!!"

 

[OzRob]

Do you want to know why I believe that WP is in good shape??

People are posting negative comments on our forum. Writers are slamming it. Other companies trolls are belittling it.

If that's a winning criteria then Blackberry must be doing absolutely fantastically!! LOL.

 

[sumothong01]

Its true WP8 isn't perfect. But you have to remember its only been out for 8 months. I was on android when Verizon first came out with the original Droid. At that time Android was as sloppy as a soup sandwich. It took some time but Google slowly improved the OS. That's what Microsoft is/should be doing now with GDR2 and blue.

 

[Chregu]

Its true WP8 isn't perfect. But you have to remember its only been out for 8 months. I was on android when Verizon first came out with the original Droid. At that time Android was as sloppy as a soup sandwich. It took some time but Google slowly improved the OS. That's what Microsoft is/should be doing now with GDR2 and blue.

And then they can just release Windows Phone 9 and start over with the same excuse again? And why should we be giving Microsoft a chance when they are behind the competition now? Because they are cute and cuddly?

GDR2 doesn't improve WP8 in any significant way. Great, they brought back FM radio which was on WP7 all along. That's about it.

 

[N_LaRUE]

Its true WP8 isn't perfect. But you have to remember its only been out for 8 months. I was on android when Verizon first came out with the original Droid. At that time Android was as sloppy as a soup sandwich. It took some time but Google slowly improved the OS. That's what Microsoft is/should be doing now with GDR2 and blue.

I'm really tired of the excuse that 'WP is only ... months old...' It was unveiled in June 2012 and released in October. Look, MS had all the information in the world available to them to make the OS anyway they wanted to and they 'should have' released the OS with the most up to date features. Instead they decided to do it 'their' way. What they didn't account for is: if people start coming over from other OS platforms they're going to want some of what they feel are the 'basics'. What these people fail to realise is that WP is a completely striped back to the barebones OS with 'integrated' software that was suppose to implement things differently. WP OS is a very basic OS solely for the purpose of being able to run smoothly without clutter. Part of the issues that have arisen on WP is the fact that it's too different and basic for some people. The other is that it wasn't a 'complete' OS on release. They rushed it and stuffed up some things up along the way. Other issues tend to be with apps, it seems that a lot of apps have issues, regardless of the lack of them.

Now before anyone harps on me about being negative, I actually want the bloody thing to do well because I like it. I also think as users we should be the OS's toughest critics and MS should be listening to us. I know some people are 100% happy with WP as is, that's fine, however there have been too many small issues that should haven't never been (i.e.: music + video) and the other being features that should never have been missing in the first place (i.e. attaching multiple documents to an email or reply email).

Also to clarify your statement. GDR2, then GDR3, then WP8.1. The GDRs are mostly bug fixes and extensions to exisiting software (I don't see HD as a 'new' feature). I don't see us getting any additional features of any sort until WP8.1, in otherwords 1st quarter sometime in 2014. That doesn't mean we won't get anything at all in GDR3 I just don't think we should get our hopes up too high, GDR2 should be proof of that.

All in all we all want the best for WP, I think those of us on it who may complain would like to see it get better, I just think there's a lot of people who are cautious of what MS plans are. We really have no idea where WP is heading. What needs to happen is for us to just let the updates happen and see what comes of it. If at that point WP doesn't suit you go somewhere else. I have no qualms with changing OS. I like the fact we have choice in the market and I hope more people will take up this type of thinking. Just because you like WP, if it's not doing it for you then take a break from it and then come back when it hopefully does. No point being frustrated by 'not getting your way' with a multibillion dollar corporation.

 

[rockstarzzz]

This is such a good example for any economics student. Low inventories is playing defensive strategy. This is needed for a company like Nokia that is trying to recover from massive loses. For Apple and Samsung huge inventories will not affect their turn around times and hence their sales to inventory ratios are always going to reflect a positive outcome. However, with lower inventories, Nokia is guaranteeing itself a higher sales to inventory ratio and hence stays in positive books for investors and stake holders. This strategy is used by almost ALL companies that have sensible economists on their side. I am glad Nokia has quiet a few of those.

 

[psudotechzealot]

I'm really tired of the excuse that 'WP is only ... months old...' It was unveiled in June 2012 and released in October. Look, MS had all the information in the world available to them to make the OS anyway they wanted to and they 'should have' released the OS with the most up to date features. Instead they decided to do it 'their' way. What they didn't account for is if people start coming over from other OS platforms they're going to want some of what they feel are the 'basics'. What these people fail to realise is that WP is a completely striped back to the barebones OS with 'integrated' software that was suppose to implement things differently. WP OS is a very basic OS solely for the purpose of being able to run smoothly without clutter. Part of the issues that have arisen on WP is the fact that it's too different and basic for some people. The other is that it wasn't a 'complete' OS on release. They rushed it and stuffed up some things up along the way. Other issues tend to be with apps, it seems that a lot of apps have issues, regardless of the lack of them.

Now before anyone harps on me about being negative, I actually want the bloody thing to do well because I like it. I also think as users we should be the OS's toughest critics and MS should be listening to us. I know some people are 100% happy with WP as is, that's fine, however there have been too many small issues that should haven't never been (i.e.: music + video) the other being features that should never have been missing in the first place (i.e. attaching multiple documents to an email or reply email).

Also to clarify your statement. GDR2, then GDR3, then WP8.1. The GDRs are mostly bug fixes and extensions to exisiting software (I don't see HD as a 'new' feature). I don't see us getting any additional features of any sort until WP8.1, in otherwords 1st quarter sometime in 2014. That doesn't mean we won't get anything at all in GDR3 I just don't think we should get our hopes up too high, GDR2 should be proof of that.

All in all we all want the best for WP, I think those of us on it who may complain would like to see it get better, I just think there's a lot of people who are cautious of what MS plans are. We really have no idea where WP is heading. What needs to happen is for us to just let the updates happen and see what comes of it. If at that point WP doesn't suit you go somewhere else. I have no qualms with changing OS. I like the fact we have choice in the market and I hope more people will take up this type of thinking. Just because you like WP, if it's not doing it for you then take a break from it and then come back when it hopefully does. No point being frustrated by 'not getting your way' with a multibillion dollar corporation.

Good post N_LaRUE.

 

[gab1972]

Having freshly switched from Android and Apple to a WP8 L928, I can agree that WP8 is lacking in some areas. I can also agree that they are lagging a bit to get features out that most have been crying out for. However, I don't see how WP is going to fail in the US.

WP did a good thing by making an OS that is different. When Android came out, it had the same 4 standard icons at the bottom and icons all over the screen as Apple - the only difference was it was open, it had a separate app drawer, and the G1 had a physical keyboard in addition to a soft keyboard. It took Android a while before it got apps in it's App Store that made people think twice. I love Android, don't get me wrong. But what plagues it is the fragmentation. And yes, fragmentation is still a big problem. I believe the one thing that keeps Android going strong is the fact that you can root them and do what you want with it. Rooting kept me with the latest OS. Rooting allowed me to change things around. Rooting allowed apps you wouldn't normally get. But that was all because someone had that device and was willing to support it. So the rooting community is almost like another OS in and of itself because Android puts out a new OS, it gets released by the manufacturer, and then you have to hope a developer cooks something up. Otherwise, you're still left waiting.

With Apple, you either stick with what you have or jailbreak it.

So the rooting community keeps Android going strong and Apple has it's faithful fanbase. WP needs one of those two. And while I agree they need to start implementing some features that Apple and Android have - I want them to take their time because, well, if I wanted Android or Apple, I would get one of their phones.