Got an answer today at the Verizon store on why they don't like to sell Windows phones...

[realwarder]

I agree with that- got one for my father because I can make huge tiles for the phone , messaging and sport scores lol. I will say he has asked about a few apps and Windows doesn't have them of course. Got a new car that has the ability to remote start and other things and of course Chrysler doesn't have a Windows app for it. I can see that being an isssue that Verizon doesnt want to deal with- someone getting a WP and then taking it home only to find some apps their friends have are not on it then coming back to the store complaining.

People forget it took Android a few years to become a must support platform by companies. Windows is starting to get to this point. Only users complaining to companies will give them motivation.

 

[colinkiama]

People forget it took Android a few years to become a must support platform by companies. Windows is starting to get to this point. Only users complaining to companies will give them motivation.

At this point, android had more marketshare than iOS. Look at us now.

 

[mrruz]

Isn't the HTC M8 windows version an ATT exclusive?

 

[pursuit2550]

People forget it took Android a few years to become a must support platform by companies. Windows is starting to get to this point. Only users complaining to companies will give them motivation.

How many few years do we need to give WP. Every time I turn around theres a new product thats compatible with Android and Apple, WP are getting no love, which sucks.
By the way I just came from BJ's and was looking at the G3, very nice. A tad bigger than the M8, but the bezel to bezel screen is awesome. Didnt play with it much but it looked nice.

 

[pursuit2550]

Isn't the HTC M8 windows version an ATT exclusive?

No. It was a VZW exclusive. Everyone should have it now.

 

[humanhowever]

Everyone says using WP is "difficult" for someone who hasn't used it before. And that is true. But it also applies to all the other platforms too. I tried IOS a few weeks back, not because I was thinking of getting an iPhone, but because a friend of mine was having problems with her phone and asked me for help. It made no sense to me whatsoever. I found it extremely cumbersome and difficult compared to what I am used to. And I think that's the issue. Change is not easy, even if it may be for the better. We are comfortable with what we know. If I had used IOS for weeks, then maybe I'd change my view, but as a first time user, sure it's hard. And I can understand why people think WP is too. But people want instant results. And it transcends out of technology into how we perceive people too in some cases. Sad cases, but they occur nonetheless. (HAHA this is going totally off topic)

I can agree with the app issue. Though I don't use THAT many apps, there are some I wish were on WP. For example, an app to manage my Oyster card (Londoners would know what this is), make top ups, see journey history etc etc, or an app from the Poetry foundation. Those are the two I miss the most from my android days. And others may have their own choices of apps that they want / miss / desire for WP.

 

[djarchow]

Everyone says using WP is "difficult" for someone who hasn't used it before. And that is true. But it also applies to all the other platforms too. I tried IOS a few weeks back, not because I was thinking of getting an iPhone, but because a friend of mine was having problems with her phone and asked me for help. It made no sense to me whatsoever. I found it extremely cumbersome and difficult compared to what I am used to. And I think that's the issue. Change is not easy, even if it may be for the better. We are comfortable with what we know. If I had used IOS for weeks, then maybe I'd change my view, but as a first time user, sure it's hard. And I can understand why people think WP is too. But people want instant results. And it transcends out of technology into how we perceive people too in some cases. Sad cases, but they occur nonetheless. (HAHA this is going totally off topic)

I can agree with the app issue. Though I don't use THAT many apps, there are some I wish were on WP. For example, an app to manage my Oyster card (Londoners would know what this is), make top ups, see journey history etc etc, or an app from the Poetry foundation. Those are the two I miss the most from my android days. And others may have their own choices of apps that they want / miss / desire for WP.

I don't get this "difficult" comment on any of the various mobile operating systems. I just moved to WP from Android and the rest of my family all uses IOS devices. I have no issues using any of them, even the first time. I may struggle a bit figuring out what apps of the 4000 my wife has on her phone to use on IOS but that is about it. I also struggle occasionally on IOS with doing some low level thing my wife can't figure out, only to discover that apple doesn't let you change the way that works. As far as WP, I struggled far more my first time on Windows 8 on a non touch screen PC than I ever did with WP.

So I just don't get some of the vitriol people spew towards one OS or another...'Android is the worst thing ever'...'IOS is absolute garbage...' etc. They all have pluses and minuses, but are more similar than they are different. In the end, you are still tapping on some icon to open an app to or change a setting, I have to admit though, that I do curse the keyboard on WP almost every time I use it. Most of my passwords all are a fairly long mix of letters and numbers and constantly having to switch back and forth between the letters and numbers version of the keyboard just to log in somewhere is maddening. I may just have to go back to using 'abcd' as my password for everything.

 

[saulgould13]

Perhaps Verizon /ATT etc.. sales crew is or isn't educated in which phone they sell (most only care that they sell a phone and make a commission) the other end of that comes down to consumer purchasing choices of which there are many. As when buying a car for example, one researches, is it an electric car, hybrid, gas mileage, SUV, wagon etc.. Point is, when buying anything that's worth an investment one can deduce that an educated customer doesn't need a sales pitch.

 

[Loc Ngo]

Lets see:

Trello? Nope.
Offcial Youtube? Nope.
Hangouts? Nope.
Gmail app? Nope.
Teamwork? Nope
Trillian? Nope
Github? Nope
Chrome? Nope


Thats just off the top of my head for apps I wish I had and used to in iOS and Android.

Never expect to use anything Google when you use a Windows Phone. Why would you? I've hardly ever opened my gmail on the website since I bought my Lumia. And again, the 3rd party app for Youtube is way better than the pathetic official app from Google. And I have got better alternative to every single Google service.

 

[Adrynalyne]

What is better than Hangouts, when that is what everyone I know uses?

Anyway, the poster asked for a list, he got one. There is no arguing it unless you can provide a source to get said apps.

Out of the 8 apps I listed off the top of my head, only 3 were Google, and twice now posters have focused on those three alone, as if suddenly the app gap doesn't exist because I had some Google apps on there.

 

[Jas00555]

Out of the 8 apps I listed off the top of my head, only 3 were Google, and twice now posters have focused on those three alone, as if suddenly the app gap doesn't exist because I had some Google apps on there.

I think your math is a little off. You said Youtube, Hangouts, Gmail, and Chrome. So half of your list is from Google.

 

[Adrynalyne]

I think your math is a little off. You said Youtube, Hangouts, Gmail, and Chrome. So half of your list is from Google.

Yep, I missed one.

Doesn't change anything though, does it? Did me missing that single app when I counted them, making it suddenly appear on the app store? Did it cure the app gap? Or is the fact that half of my list is from Google mean that the app gap doesn't matter? Would you like me to add to that list further?

Official Harvest app--no way I am giving my work credentials to some random app developer and the reviews on the ms store show it doesn't work anyway. Going to the site on mobile IE is painful.
Official Dropbox app--the knockoff pales in comparison
Swiftkey
WolframAlpha


Just a few more that I once used regularly. Now that my list is no longer half from Google, is it suddenly more valid? Or is the fact that there a lot of apps missing from the ms store reason enough?

 

[andrygun]

I came from android, been using it since 2008 (Yup, HTC Magic, cupcake version). Watched it grew up until it reached kitkat 4.4.2.

Now I would say (as some people have mentioned), none of these OS (android, ios and windows) are easy to use. You need to learn it no matter what. The real problem is that not everyone is willing to learn from scratch. They just want what is comfortable for them. Heck none of my friends willing to root their phones and loaded custom ROM during my android days. They prefer to just go to ios.

What I'm trying to say is those big carriers do nothing wrong. If I own a store where the majority buys ios & android, then that's what I will provide to the customers. I won't care about which one is easier to use etc. As long as it sells well, expensive contract and the customer satisfaction is high.

Regarding the apps, sadly Google online services are second to none. If you think that people going to change to outlook, onedrive, calendar just to move to WP, then you're mistaken. The fact that none of Google apps are available actually hurts WP a lot.

 

[Adrynalyne]

I came from android, been using it since 2008 (Yup, HTC Magic, cupcake version). Watched it grew up until it reached kitkat 4.4.2.

Now I would say (as some people have mentioned), none of these OS (android, ios and windows) are easy to use. You need to learn it no matter what. The real problem is that not everyone is willing to learn from scratch. They just want what is comfortable for them. Heck none of my friends willing to root their phones and loaded custom ROM during my android days. They prefer to just go to ios.

What I'm trying to say is those big carriers do nothing wrong. If I own a store where the majority buys ios & android, then that's what I will provide to the customers. I won't care about which one is easier to use etc. As long as it sells well, expensive contract and the customer satisfaction is high.

Regarding the apps, sadly Google online services are second to none. If you think that people going to change to outlook, onedrive, calendar just to move to WP, then you're mistaken. The fact that none of Google apps are available actually hurts WP a lot.

I've moved to OneDrive and Outlook, but there is no denying that they simply are not as good as Google's counterparts.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

I've moved to OneDrive and Outlook, but there is no denying that they simply are not as good as Google's counterparts.

In your opinion. Stop speaking as if that is fact.

 

[Adrynalyne]

In your opinion. Stop speaking as if that is fact.

Of course I never said it was a fact, those were your words. If I say something is a fact, I state, it is a fact. For example, it is a fact that there is a considerable app gapp.

You think google's web services aren't better?
Prove to me otherwise. Ready and...go.


Come on, you can do it. Provide us something past your typical Nokia ****** tirade against HTC.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

Of course I never said it was a fact, those were your words. If I say something is a fact, I state, it is a fact. For example, it is a fact that there is a considerable app gapp.

You think google's web services aren't better?
Prove to me otherwise. Ready and...go.


Come on, you can do it. Provide us something past your typical Nokia ****** tirade against HTC.

Perhaps you should practice comprehension as I didn't say you said it was a fact. I said stop speaking as if it is fact. Because I have no reason to prove to you that Google's web services are better or not because it is an opinion. You're free to believe that but follow it up with imo. Furthermore you are absolutely ridiculous. Nobody is mentioning HTC or Nokia so what purpose is there to mention that to me aside from whining about my negativity over the m8. Get over yourself and your arrogance please. Your constant whining about being a "Nokia fan boy" is growing redundant. Especially when no one mentioned it.

Again I don't need to prove to you that Google or Microsoft is better. For me I've yet to see anything worth switching to Google....and I left Gmail for outlook and it works just as good as google...in my opinion. Ymmv.

Anything else, sweetheart?

 

[Adrynalyne]

Perhaps you should practice comprehension as I didn't say you said it was a fact. I said stop speaking as if it is fact. Because I have no reason to prove to you that Google's web services are better or not because it is an opinion. You're free to believe that but follow it up with imo. Furthermore you are absolutely ridiculous. Nobody is mentioning HTC or Nokia so what purpose is there to mention that to me aside from whining about my negativity over the m8. Get over yourself and your arrogance please. Your constant whining about being a "Nokia fan boy" is growing redundant. Especially when no one mentioned it.

Again I don't need to prove to you that Google or Microsoft is better. For me I've yet to see anything worth switching to Google....and I left Gmail for outlook and it works just as good as google...in my opinion. Ymmv.

Anything else, sweetheart?

What a copout.

 

[donkiluminate]

Personally I think it's a hard sell because it does look different.

My anecdotal evidence. It took a lot of convincing to get my technophob wife to get a windows phone because it was so different. Even though ironically she hates Android because it's "too computer like".

After a month with her l925 she confided in me that she loves her windows phone because it's so easy and will probably never get another android again.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

What a copout.

Yes it is a copout because unlike you, I don't feel
The need to argue someone's opinion on a forum daily lol. If that is what you want to call it then go for it