How many good apps are needed to fill the app gap ? What do you think?

[Amit Kore]

How many good apps are needed to fill the app gap ? What do you think?

hii!! i am from india as far as india is concerned i think most apps are available but not updated long time a go. problem is now one seems interested in making UWP apps and 99% people have android & ios so they dont need PC for any app. even if new apps start comming to windows platform with others even that will solve most of problem.
so i think its just 10 odd apps that are missing and some old apps upgrading to UWP platform will solve most of problem.
but i think unless & until new windows phone does not come to market it is not going to happen.
and i am sure the moment whatsapp drops support to windows phone its all over. so whatsapp taking interest in UWP is also important.
i will be here till last moment.

 

[gold-stars]

No apps can fill the gap because Windows is no longer relevant in what the financial types like to call the digital life segment of the market.

Mobile completely dominates digital life the only area were MS still has a foot hold in digital life is in gaming consoles and on the PC it doesn't even remotely have the number 2 spot.

So what does MS have, enterprise, small office, content production,, legacy desktop, video games. If MS ever returns to mobile it can only leverage those options, so the devices will be platforms that facilitate content production not content consumption (digital life) so business focused devices for professionals.

The only area were MS could make a content consumption device were it could with extreme luck claw it's way back into the digital life segment is with mobile gaming and Xbox, but MS has now has Nintendo to deal with in this area and I doubt MS is willing to commit the resources necessary to grow/build an Xbox Phone/handheld.

So no apps aren't going to make any difference, MS need to re-think the purpose of UWP & expand it as a functional equivalent to Win32.

 

[vazulka15]

How many good apps are needed to fill the app gap ? What do you think?

nekem csak egy pár alkalmazás hiányzik .

 

[Moe920]

There's is no "hero" app or apps that can save windows mobile 10. Even if by some miracle the top 10 apps on ios and droid were available, WM10 version has always had little to no kind of supports or updates from devs. Which consumers already know which is why they switched to iOS or droid.

 

[Senthil Perumal]

How many good apps are needed to fill the app gap ? What do you think?

1000 apps

 

[Charles Goin]

Anyone still on WP doesnt have an App gap. We know to use Edge and live tiles to make our own app launchers. Also those still on the system dont care about apps for the most part. The issue isnt apps, its new phones at this point.

 

[Gary Ritter]

Personally I'm fine 99.9% of the time using my Lumia 950XL still. I never suffered much from app gap because I don't use my phone for things other than communicating and productivity most of the time.

The only apps I wish I had on occasion are the mobile banking apps for my bank so I can mobile deposit checks.

Other than that, I have everything I want: Outlook, OneDrive, Skype, Facebook, Twitter, and Pandora. I do use YouTube a ton but honestly I don't mind using the website since they don't have an official app. It still works completely fine and I enjoy the videos no less having them full screen from Edge instead of full screen from an app. I don't really know why all the complaining about a dedicated app when the website on mobile is totally fine. It's really well optimized if you ask me. There's no other apps I wish I had.

So, I have an old android phone running ICS in a drawer for the odd time every other month when I want to deposit a check from home and otherwise never had an issue with my Windows 10 Mobile being my daily driver for years now.

I jumped on the team with Windows Phone 7 on a Lumia 710 and have owned a handful of different phones since then but all of them Windows 7, 8, or 10.

 

[tejanaqkilica]

How many good apps are needed to fill the app gap ? What do you think?

I don't think that the gap is really there.
The only big app missing is YouTube, but the biggest problem in my opinion is the quality of actual apps. They are years behind their iOS and Android counterparts.

 

[marisayjaime]

Apps for all the social media platforms that are from the platform itself; not third party. Google apps (mail/ maps/ etc). Apple apps (iTunes, mail, maybe even maps). Realistically, there are third party apps all around that cover most of these uses, but people apparently don't consider them.

Bank apps would be the next one I think. Banks should be trying to do most of their stuff through a secure website I think; even taking pics of checks for deposit should be able to be done through html5, although mobile web browsers may still have issues with it.

All in all, about 100 or so apps would do it. The rest is largely fluff, especially when considering the apple/android stores may have 10000 flashlight apps while we may only have 100 (boohoo?), even though everyone has a flashlight function built in...

There is a lot of garbage when you get past the most used apps.

Well, MS can't force/bribe Google/Apple to develop native apps when they have no desire. We use BOA, their app works fine in Mobile 10 (including depositing checks).

 

[Andrew Pengelly]

#1 Pokémon
#2 Banking apps
#3 Airline apps
#4 Social media - apparently some people like getting constant interruptions to their lives.

 

[LausHLu]

App for sync smartwatches or smartbands (Chinese ones).

 

[Shalin Pather01]

How many good apps are needed to fill the app gap ? What do you think?

It can very easily be filled. It's just about two things.

I love Microsoft a lot, but here I blame them for not properly advertising all the advantages of Windows 10 Mobile, like Continuum, etc. That's what needs to be nicely advertised to lure the developers in.

It is also about developers "finding it in their hearts" to develop for the platform. All the problems and solutions with Windows 10 Mobile are connected. Lack of apps, low market share, developers not bothering, etc. It's clear Andromeda OS would be the last hope of Windows' revival in the mobile segment.

 

[Shalin Pather01]

Stooks Jones, Windows Phones seem as good as dead, but as far back as 2012 with Windows 8, Microsoft has seriously surprised not only us, but the iSheep with new built in apps, beautiful looks, etc. That those old Mac vs PC adverts criticised Windows PCs for not having. Ever since they have been full of surprises, especially recently where they beat Apple at it's own game of prettiness with Surface Studio. I mean, we do not know what Microsoft has in store for us on the road to making its mobile comeback.

 

[naddy6969]

It's no longer an app "gap". It's a Grand Canyon sized chasm.

Besides, Win 10 Mobile is dead. That it has no apps is the least of its problems. It's so cute that people here STILL believe that adding some apps will rescue Microsofts "mobile vision".

It is to laugh.

 

[chrisevans937]

To answer the question. MS needs to have the top 100 apps between Apple and Android to compete.

What MS needs to do is get these developers into a contract where they pay them to develop and maintain the apps just as they do on other platforms for a 5 year period or so. MS has enough money to pay these developers to make apps for Windows. These apps need to have full features just like other platforms and not half baked like apps were before, that may have been partly MS to blame due to the restrictions they had on windows phone. But first MS needs to get Windows all on one track to where one app can be used on all Windows devices. It has to be one marketplace, a more unified OS that adjust to whatever device you are using. At this point in time MS is going to have to pay to play if they are serious about competing with other mobile platforms.

 

[chrisevans937]

Why cant MS just use Androids marketplace and then somehow use MS porting tool to make the apps have the Windows feel and look instead of a direct port of Android that will look and feel like an android app. This would make sense to me on filling the gap if MS doesn't want to pay developers to develop and maintain apps specifically for Windows.

 

[Guytronic]

Why cant MS just use Androids marketplace and then somehow use MS porting tool to make the apps have the Windows feel and look instead of a direct port of Android that will look and feel like an android app. This would make sense to me on filling the gap if MS doesn't want to pay developers to develop and maintain apps specifically for Windows.

Why bother with a WM using ported Android apps when devices built for WP/WM are quickly becoming dinosaurs.
Why not simply purchase a phone built for Android.

 

[kevin_tenza]

How many good apps are needed to fill the app gap ? What do you think?

1 million... literally

 

[Jackie Earley]

I personally am not bothered too much with the app gap. I do think that a certain number of apps is hard to define as everyone has different use cases. Some people need just one app. Others need 10. Quite a few would like to have the option to download 50.

A solution to this app gap would be for Microsoft to speedily develop PWA support for Windows 10 (Mobile). The main reason for apps to begin with was because websites didn't fit or work well on tiny mobile screens with touch input. We also benefitted from access to local components such as the camera and GPS.

PWAs solve this issue and most companies are tired of even developing apps for both iOS and Android. They would much rather focus on their websites as they can focus on a web standard, HTML5, and make their websites available to the vast majority with minimal development costs and variation (solved through responsive template design).

Of course we are a long way away from powerful PWA games but for the vast majority if simple apps, especially if they have a mobile website version, having a PWA will be more than enough. Web wrappers are beneficial as you don't have the browser chrome to deal with and multitasking is a more pleasant experience with them. PWAs are of course much better.

If Microsoft came out with a truly innovative mobile device with telephony and supported PWAs, then we would only need the number of apps that don't have a website such as Snapchat. And since Microsoft dug this hole with their inactions and consistent and avoidable missteps, they should foot the bill to develop the top apps not available. YouTube should have been an app they fought long and hard for. Many people turned away from WP just because of that fact. Microsoft gave up way too easy.

 

[KickAssLumia]

1000 good well maintained apps focusing on the most downloaded/used apps on IOS for only ONE large market like the US/EU/China. Focusing the efforts one one region will help market share improve while working on the next market region.