If anything, we can "thank":
a) Islandwood
b) Astoria and
c) developers seeking to target all three platforms with a single app
for the upcoming change in UI paradigms. MS' UAP is not to blame here.
.
Actually that's incredibly helpful and I'm very happy to stand corrected. In summary, then, you're saying the changes in W10M are primarily to make it easier to port iOS and Android apps to W10M, yes?
That's the trade-off: no more WP8.1 design language, in exchange for plenty more apps.
That sounds totally believable. I must say, it's a hell of a risk; they've deliberately thrown away their crown jewels (the WP8.1 design language) on the gamble that they'll get more apps over to W10M. If those developers STILL don't bother to port their apps, then Microsoft loses both ways: no Unique Selling Point (the WP8.1 design language) and no apps either.
FWIW, I wish they hadn't done that. I chose a Windows Phone
because of it's gorgeous UI and design language. Now it looks so much like Android and iOS I can't see any point in using it. Might as well go for the real thing (Android, in my case).
Incidentally, I don't believe it's the lack of apps that is the reason for Windows phones not selling well. I think it's to do with the market already being saturated when Windows Phone launched; and to do with Android and iOS getting there YEARS before, so by now everybody has invested their time and money, and their learning efforts, in those two platforms. I think Microsoft's USP, although brilliant in WP8.1, simply wasn't enough to pull people out of their comfort zones.
That's why I think this gamble will fail. Even if it succeeds, we'll just end up with another iOS/Android look-alike. Yawn.
I can't tell you how upset I am about W10M. I
so wanted to stick with Microsoft and Windows phone. But it'll be WP8.1 for now, and Android for my next phone.
