Do you think Windows Phone Blue will solve all the problems?

[AngryNil]

If you insisted on making it the same day for everyone, I'll tell you exactly what would happen, whichever OEM or carrier was going to be ready LAST would be the one that would determine the launch date.

Mango wasn't rolled out on a single day, and there were still carriers that dragged their feet. However, it was obvious that all the carriers and OEMs at least got the memo that Mango was going to be released. For Portico to launch on a single carrier's device makes me wonder whether Microsoft's partners even knew that the update was coming. I like to think that Ballmer just casually mentioned it over dinner with Chou and de la Vega.

I think Rome was built on a day as well.

This is a little barbarian village trying to grow while being plummeted by two Romes.

 

[DaveDash]

Again, most of the things mentioned here are not what is stopping users buying Windows Phone 8.

Samsung Galaxy S3's get updates a long time after official Google stuff gets updated. People still buy them.
Android handsets performance wise are utterly horrible, and they are filled with bugs. People still buy them.
My Google tablet did not have landscape support until a few months ago. People still bought them.
Facebook on Android AND iPhone sucked horribly until very recently. People still bought them.

Apple was successful because they were first to market, AND have a platform that is more or less unified, and does everything decently.
Android is really the third best platform out of iOS, WP8, and Android, but Google opened it up for developers and practically gave it away for nothing.

Microsoft and Microsoft partners need to either give away WP8 for nothing to gain market share off Android, OR give iPhone users a reason to switch (given Apple's ecosystem, this is near impossible). Giving away Windows Phones with Surface tablets is a good idea, but only AFTER Microsoft unify the Windows Store and Windows Phone Store.

Not only that, Microsoft and partners need to work on PRESENCE. Get these things in stores. They advertised the **** out of the Surface RT, but you couldn't buy it anywhere except online. Who is going to risk buying something totally new like that, without seeing one in a store first? Same with Windows Phone, it lacks presence in stores, lacks availability, and lacks proper advertising. Don't just show celebrities using it, show WHY you should be using it over the competition.

Otherwise we need to settle in for a long haul, we Windows Phone users are the "Mac" users in the PC world. I constantly get people ooing and aahing over my Lumia 920, but will they swap? Most likely not, as our platform is expensive and lacks content (like a Mac).

 

[dukrem]

A couple of things need seeing to well before the 'blue' timeline.

Firstly get carriers as far away from the update process as possible. The first thing they should know about updates is when the notification pops up on their phones.

Secondly fix live tiles. Give the, more flexibility with content they can display and make them updateable more often so they are properly live. We have much more powerful handsets now that can handle a more advanced live tile.

Thirdly for the love of god some kind of notification centre.

And finally make the integrated apps better. They have barely changed since wp7. They may have been some of the best email, messaging, and calendar apps when wp7 was released, but now compared to the competition they kinda suck, they need to evolve on a more regular time frame, not starting at the end of this year either.

 

[DontHate707]

the guy above me knows whats up and we need apps and better sync to windows 8!!

my friend almost got a wp8 why didnt he? no pandora

yes cheaper will help but even cheap androids run instagram and pandora the main thing is when people want something other then a iphone or android there looking at are platform i know plenty of ppl that turn the other cheek because of sheer app count idk how many times i say nope dont have that app i have wp....

 

[DaveDash]

the guy above me knows whats up and we need apps and better sync to windows 8!!

my friend almost got a wp8 why didnt he? no pandora

yes cheaper will help but even cheap androids run instagram and pandora the main thing is when people want something other then a iphone or android there looking at are platform i know plenty of ppl that turn the other cheek because of sheer app count idk how many times i say nope dont have that app i have wp....

Depending on which survey you read, about 35-45% of smartphone users actually download apps. That leaves at least half who don't care about apps at all. A huge portion of Android users don't even use their browser much.

People have replaced the Nokia Symbian phones with cheap Android touch screen phones, and still use them like phones. Its also telling that it's the cheaper WP8 handsets that also sell the best. WP8 success will come from cheaper handsets like the Lumia 620. More/better apps of course will always help, but they don't tell you the entire story.

Apps and "App Stores" are also dead technology. In 5 years it will mostly be HTML5 based WebApps anyway. We've written HTML5 WebApps for iOS that are indistinguishable from the real deal, without Apple cheating us out of their margin, nor having to worry about their ever growing list of Ts and Cs.

 

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

That's a good point.

However...I don't think anyone other than Apple can push out OS updates to every device on the same day.

There are a lot of variables with Windows Phone and Android. Different OEMs, different carriers.

If you insisted on making it the same day for everyone, I'll tell you exactly what would happen, whichever OEM or carrier was going to be ready LAST would be the one that would determine the launch date.

It might make everyone feel better to know it's going to happen on a certain date, but we'd ALL be waiting longer instead of only some of us waiting longer than others.

No, let me tell you what would happen. One OEM or carrier would say we're not releasing the update and then everyone is blocked from the update. Microsoft needs to say it is releasing on this day PERIOD. Throw cash if needed for it.

 

[Ludwig1976]

So apparently reports are that Microsoft is moving to an yearly update cycle.

That's exactly what I was scared of and what I predicted.
MS target is WP13 having all WM6.5 features. 5 years are enough for a OS brand.
In 2018, MS will release another half-featured OS brand, and the story will restart.

 

[sueha]

Unless it has some way to run iPone apps natively on Windows Phone then it will not solve the problems. App availability is the problem.

I'd say WP8 only needs the most basic apps initially. All the others will come the more market share we get (we are still years away from that state though). But we definitely need those most popular apps like Instagram (I hate to say that). WP8 doesnt need a slut of an app market like BB10 but we need to kill all those bigger barriers for potential customers coming from iOS and Android. But famous Apps will never come without any considerable market share, so Microsoft needs to a) make coding as easy as possible (which they did) and b) pay for those biggest apps to come to our platform (or make an app with an open API, which they do occasionally).

 

[Abhishek Upadhyay]

To me its extremely simple.

Everything possible needs to be ripped out of the OS, and made into apps. Mail, Music Client, Settings, Office, etc etc. Then there is no reliance on WP updates, no carrier issues, etc.

Nokia have already shown this is possible, with all the various little apps they have for audio settings, accessibilty, etc.

Make the OS a bare hulk, with APIs for everything, then update all the features reguarly through the app store. This seems to be the case for Windows 8, so why not WP8?

This is actually a great idea.

 

[Angry_Mushroom]

As long as it fixes the screen dimming issue. I'll be fine. Maybe some music support.

To answer the title question: No. We will always find something else wrong. Can't fix em ALL.

 

[wpguy]

It won't solve all the problems, but from what I've seen this is Microsoft working toward finally unifying everything. In the works now is the ability to run WP apps on Modern UI. Microsoft working to unify its Windows and Windows Phone platforms

 

[Coolknight1968]

When did "replacing an unfinished product" with another "unfinished product" ever solve any problems?
MS should not release Blue too early.

 

[snaqvi91]

Omg I'm famous this thread got mentioned in the main wpcentral page woohoo.

 

[starblade876]

Yeah, that works freaking great, doesn't it? Portico randomly released for one device on one carrier in early December, unlocked devices receive it almost two months later, 46% of WP8 devices still without it. Microsoft can't release stuff "as it becomes available" because it clearly doesn't have the organisational chops to do so. A pre-determined schedule means Microsoft and its partners can prepare for it and have a unified launch. You know, like with Mango.

They release fixes and tunings on Windows desktop at the same time, don't they? I've always wanted that for Windows Phone, too.

 

[AngryNil]

They release fixes and tunings on Windows desktop at the same time, don't they? I've always wanted that for Windows Phone, too.

Yes, but Windows isn't beholden to carriers. We've seen with the Surface how quickly Microsoft can roll out updates without carrier involvement.

 

[paulm187]

I just feel MS can't move fast enough. By the time Blue comes out and finds parity with current Android phones it would already be out of step with the latest features of the next Android release. We need an update in the spring that will address all the remaining issues and then Blue in the summer should get ahead of Android.

 

[conanheath]

I just feel MS can't move fast enough. By the time Blue comes out and finds parity with current Android phones it would already be out of step with the latest features of the next Android release. We need an update in the spring that will address all the remaining issues and then Blue in the summer should get ahead of Android.

I completely agree. MS doesn't have anything to offer that Android and Apple don't already have and in some cases do better. I'm afraid MS will never be fast enough to keep up or get ahead with mobile market. They may lead with PCs but that attitude with mobile will not get them anywhere.

 

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

I completely agree. MS doesn't have anything to offer that Android and Apple don't already have and in some cases do better. I'm afraid MS will never be fast enough to keep up or get ahead with mobile market. They may lead with PCs but that attitude with mobile will not get them anywhere.

Honestly, if MS started releasing 1'000'000'000 updates a nanosecond Android would already be releasing 2'000'000'000 updates a nanosecond. Because of the nature of Android it will always be the fastest to update period. As with Apple though... yes Microsoft do need to speed up. But to beat Android, Microsoft needs a different strategy.

 

[a5cent]

Because of the nature of Android it will always be the fastest to update period.

I agree with everyone else here, that MS isn't executing anywhere near fast enough.

However, that WP is somehow at a disadvantage due to the "nature of Android" is very wrong. Might be I'm just misunderstanding you, but the "nature of WP" should actually allow the WP ecosystem to iterate faster. The problem isn't WP, but rather "the nature of Microsoft".

 

[AngryNil]

But to beat Android, Microsoft needs a different strategy.

In terms of the UX, Microsoft has all the pieces in place. I think the way forwards should be to 1) stop skimping out on the essentials, 2) improve + integrate Microsoft services, and 3) show us some differentiation. There are essentials that are still missing, and that annoys regular people, when they know they could have just stuck with the status quo and gotten the features they want. For example, a family member purchased a Lumia 800 last year, and is shocked at how Skype simply isn't functional. I know that's a WP7 thing, but the same can be said of WP8 in other cases, such as the singular volume control.

But we also need to differentiate. The first step towards that is to improve Microsoft's wide range of services and make Windows Phone the #1 choice if you want to use those services. Where's Xbox Video support, and why is Xbox Music so broken? The second step is to go after what Microsoft has promoted and conceptualised. Expand Live Tile capabilities, and make Hubs more than a pretty layout. Hubs is a big one - like it or not, Windows Phone is still very much app-based, just we have some built-in apps called Hubs. The "paradigm shift" that we saw promoted around the original 2010 launch isn't anywhere to be seen today. And that TellMe concept video? Fast track development on it, Siri and Google Now are handing you your lunch.

Google is dominant in market share, yet I feel it is iterating and innovating at a faster pace than Microsoft. When you're the underdog, you have to work hard. And sorry, consumers aren't going to take "kernel change" for an answer.