App Gap Becoming a Myth by the Hour

[Jorge Holguin]

I was watching CNET UK reviewing the Lumia 930 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFQ_dO-fdJo
great video but with a caveat. Watch it and you see the review of the phone is one of the best I've seen until the same old theme came out, It feels as the guys have an agenda mentioning this [The App Gap]. I totally don't understand this if you are going to review a phone do it by the phone features what it can and it can't do, specs and more... I know and understand how important apps are becoming for the every day user, but apps are not part of the phone core.

So I decided to look at some of the apps I owned and own to see how big the gap really is. Check the list and please don't be afraid to add some apps you believe are good it does not matter if they are 3rd party apps, like 6tags and 6snap. Note: I posted some games because I wanted to focus in other area. I know we have a huge stack of games so we are not short in that area.

1. Accessory Shop
2. Adobe PhotoShop Express
3. Adobe Reader
4. Amazon
5. EBay
6. Facebook
7. Twitter
8. Instagram [Beta] but is there.
9. Whatsapp
10. KiK
11. Amtrak
12. Another Level
13. At Bat
14. Bank of America
15. CNN
16. CNET
17. Discus
18. Dictionary.com
19. Doorstep
20. Dailymotion
21. Emergency Kit
22. Engage
23. ESPN hub
24. Evermore
25. Eztube
26. Fandango
27. Fhotoroom
28. Fresh Paint
29. GasBuddy
30. Hike Messenger
31. Hipstamatic Oggl
32. Hotel tonight
33. Hues
34. IMDb
35. Intrix Traffic
36. Mint
37. Netflix
38. NFL Mobile
39. Network Speed Test
40. Number Guru
41. OneLens
42. OneMusic
43. ooVoo Video Call
44. Pageonce
45. PayPal
46. PDF reader
47. Photo Editor by Aviary
48. PhotoBeamer
49. PhotoFunia
50. Photosynth
51. Piano.Tiles
52. Pocket Recorder
53. Privet lite
54. Rebel
55. Remote Desktop
56. Ringtone Maker
57. Skype
58. Sicker
59. Telegram Messenger
60. Textme
61. Travel
62. Truecaller
63. Tuneln Radio
64. Unit Converter
65. Upload to YouTube
66. VEVO
67. Fiber
68. Vimeo
69. Wikipedia
70. Walgreens
71. GoPro
72. Redbox Instant
73. Wells Fargo
74. Keek
75. Vine
76. CamScanner
77. WeChat
78. Hulu
79. Roku
80. Xfinity TV Remote
81. History Channel
82. Lifetime
83. A&E Be Original
84. Discovery
85. Animal Planet
86. Pandora
87. Spotify
88. iHeartRadio
89. Shazam
90. Beats Music
91. SoundHound
92. Google Search [Haven't been updated in awhile though]
93. File
94. UC Browser
95. Flashlight
96. QR code readers.
97. App Folder
98. ShopSavvy
99. Stopwatch
100. Surry
101. Univision
102. Domino's
103. Zillow
104. Group on
105. Pizza Hut
106. Newegg
107. The Home Depot
108. RedLaser
109. McDonald's
110. CarMax
111. Best Buy
112. Kids TV
113. Pocoyize
114. Weather Channel
115. Zinio
116. NBC news
117. Fox News
118. USA today
119. ABC news
120. Bloomberg
121. Today
122. Al Jazeera
123. AP Mobile
124. Site
125. Prognoza
126. MapQuest
127. Priceline
128. Copilot GPS
129. Yelp
130. Hilton HHonors
131. TripAdvisor
132. Kayak
133. United Airlines
134. Car Dash
135. Alaska Airlines
136. Scout GPS Maps
137. Delta airlines
138. Expedia
139. American Airlines
140. Hotels.com
141. Translators...
142. Compass...
143. Orbits
144. Avis
145. Despegar.com
146. National Car Rental
147. YPmobile
148. Hotels 4D
149. N Spanish Translator
150. Hertz
151. Endomondo Sports
152. 6 Week Training
153. Runtastic Pro
154. Health & Fitness.....
155. PicsArt
156. textPlus free text
157. badoo
158. Tagged
159. Line
160. Linkedin
161. Pinterest Beta
162. Nearby Live
163. Vyclone
164. Tumbler
165. Groupie
166. Ask.FM
167. Haywire
168. Nimbuzz
169. Foursquare
170. Tapatalk
171. IM+
172. Football Pro 14
173. ESPN radio
174. Basketball Pro 14
175. Televise Deportes
176. CBS sports
177. NASCAR Mobile
178. NBC sports live extra
179. WWE
180. PGA Tour
181. Yahoo! Cricket
182. Chase Mobile
183. GEICO
184. USAA
185. Budget Buddy
186. Fidelity Investments
187. E*Trade Mobile
188. Esurance Mobile
189. TD Ameritrade
190. ATM Hunter
191. UPS
192. Box
193. Splashtop Personal
194. CBNC
195. Yammer
196. HotSchedules
197. Cisco WebEx Meeting
198. Concur
199. Ally Bank
200. Amazon Kindle
201. Audible
202. Bible
203. PublicStuff
204. Politico

And more related to each one of those mention above. Plus the MS[Nokia] Collection. Yes we may be missing some apps like YouTube, but we have Vimeo, VEVO and others. Clash of Clans no, but we have Royal Revolt 1 & 2,
Total Conquest, Throne Wars, Kingdoms & Lords, Hugo Troll Wars, Rule of Kingdoms and so on. So choose . The App Gap excuse is less than 10% and getting smaller by the day.

 

[MDK22]

You've got all those apps on your phone (or is that your list of owned, including uninstalls) ?

... like to add Weave News Reader ( News consolidator)

 

[Jorge Holguin]

You've got all those apps on your phone (or is that your list of owned, including uninstalls) ?

... like to add Weave News Reader ( News consolidator)

I have close to 10% of the list. I have installed a least 65% to try it and see if I have use for it. Yes, owned and installs.

 

[EchoOne30]

Are all those apps full feature parity with the other 'big two'? I would guess probably not.

Unfortunately for me the app gap is a small number of apps, but they are indeed a big gap.

Missing from my list:
Almost all Canadian banks
Sirius/xm (one of the biggest gaps)
A working myfitnesspal
BBM (yes I know the beta)

I lament this as someone who has been with WP since it began in 2010. The gap to me is as big as ever.

 

[Anglerdk]

As a non English language user the gap is enormous. I would guess 1 out of 20 apps comes for WP, the other is analyst
Android / ios only... Also the wp8 apps is worse than the android counter part (eg Netflix doesn't have seasons splits and so on).
Sent from my RM-892_eu_sweden_243 using Tapatalk

 

[Jorge Holguin]

Are all those apps full feature parity with the other 'big two'? I would guess probably not.

Unfortunately for me the app gap is a small number of apps, but they are indeed a big gap.

Missing from my list:
Almost all Canadian banks
Sirius/xm (one of the biggest gaps)
A working myfitnesspal
BBM (yes I know the beta)

I lament this as someone who has been with WP since it began in 2010. The gap to me is as big as ever.

Yes they all are full feature party apps. I clear stated which ones are not in my note. I understand the gap can vary by person to person but in general the gap is closing really fast. We don't even have all U.S.A banks but they are coming; I never use myfinesspal but it is there are other good health apps available.

 

[twint7787]

Think about it this way. It is a great OS and it is extremely underrated. However it does not do anything radically better than the competition. Because so they don't bother going into how the OS works and how smooth it is. They are then only focusing on what other people use their smartphones for; which are apps. If they can do something which makes navigating your phone easier or more intuitive, it will always be about apps.

 

[wavefuncollapse]

I think at this stage, it's easier to list what's missing.

Slack and Foogi for me.

 

[godse573]

I believe that as soon as 8.1 goes live, things will get serious. It adds so many things that will definitely bring people in. Like pretend you were a life long android user just browsing at the windows phone os. It would more than likely laugh. but things like the action center and volume controls are small things that people look for. I just think that Microsoft isn't taking this whole 8.1 update seriously, or the entire os seriously. As soon as they do this, app developers are going to finally see potential (hopefully) and start developing apps for the Windows Phone os.

 

[Jorge Holguin]

I will be posting new apps every day as soon I learn from them.
Nokia Pocket Magnifier 2014
Climatology 7/15/2014
Video Tuner [MS] 7/15/2014
Adidas miCoach. 7/20/14
Video Calling Via Tango 7/16/2014

 

[explosive0]

Take eBay, for example. I just tried to review offers I have and I get a nice warning saying I can't review my offers and I need to use a browser. You call that full featured?

 

[Blkacesvf41]

Are all those apps full feature parity with the other 'big two'? I would guess probably not.

Unfortunately for me the app gap is a small number of apps, but they are indeed a big gap.

Missing from my list:
Almost all Canadian banks
Sirius/xm (one of the biggest gaps)
A working myfitnesspal
BBM (yes I know the beta)

I lament this as someone who has been with WP since it began in 2010. The gap to me is as big as ever.

Sirius XM is one of the apps
am waiting for!

 

[anon(5383410)]

Getting most major banks and credit card companies in the fold would pacify a lot of people. I myself didn't groan about my bank not having an app (mainly because it's a credit union that has NO apps), but now that I moved to bank of America who has an app I can appreciate the convenience of never having to visit or even call the bank anymore.

 

[Jorge Holguin]

Take eBay, for example. I just tried to review offers I have and I get a nice warning saying I can't review my offers and I need to use a browser. You call that full featured? ��

It is featured. There is a difference between featured and updated. And as WP 8.1 is getting released updates will be coming it just doesn't make sense to update your app if the OS is not fully ready. What I've been noticing is as 8.1 is rolling out updates are coming.

 

[Richard Culverhouse]

For me, missing apps are Vodafone uk and Nationwide (building society). But then that's no big deal - I use the mobile browser or wait till I get to my PC.

 

[MaxyBley]

What I'm saying to think is that what they do is either just go with the "they still don't have any apps" story without even checking. Or they would check... but, for like one or two random unpopular apps that they use. It probably goes like this.
> searches for first app
> is not there
> searches for second app
> that one not there too
Then they just go like "yup, the app gap is still there".... Just unf*cking believable. Trust me man, the last place you want to check for news and reviews is Cnet.

 

[MaxyBley]

I checked The Verge's review on Windows Phone 8.1 (yes I know it's not a phone review but still). And I though that it would be a biased review. But no, it was actually a fair review. I know respect the guys at The Verge. They make fair reviews.

 

[Jorge Holguin]

What I'm saying to think is that what they do is either just go with the "they still don't have any apps" story without even checking. Or they would check... but, for like one or two random unpopular apps that they use. It probably goes like this.
> searches for first app
> is not there
> searches for second app
> that one not there too
Then they just go like "yup, the app gap is still there".... Just unf*cking believable. Trust me man, the last place you want to check for news and reviews is Cnet.

I agree 100% but you have to be open to listen to others so we don't live in a bubble.

 

[DavidinCT]

Dish Network's sling app... Something I have been dreaming for...

Anyone who says there is not a app gap, does not have a lot of apps. No question in my mind there is STILL a app gap on Windows Phone, Sure they have a lot of common apps now, it but, there are applications and games released every day, and some AAA titles but, not for Windows Phone....

Think of Cut the Rope for example, yea, we got the first 2 but, there is 3-4 more that we don't have. Then we have quality problems on apps, sure most apps have original apps or 3rd party apps but, the app refinement is not to the level as iOS or Android...(my wife had a 928 for a while coming from a iPhone 4, she showed me 25 apps one by one and compared them to the iPhone version, no question there is an issue here)

 

[Silviu Bogusevschi]

It's not so much about the app gap, it's mostly about perception of mobile support.
When a company is releasing a mobile app, everybody (literally, everybody) is expecting it to be released on Android and iOS, because it's already usual and normal, while WP (unfortunately) is getting less attention and every time we get an official big app (anyone: Instagram, BBM, etc etc) WP community somehow "celebrates".
When the perception itself will be changed, there should not be any more tears and complaints about "App gap".