Is the 950/950XL still a good investment given Mr. Nadella's recent statements?

[MikkoPaivarinta]

Just turn on the ability to update in the back ground. That function always was there

Yep, no dice. "Backround App update" on iPhone just doesn't work like on a WP. Or OneDrive doesn't work on iPhone like on WP. The photos do get updated on the iCloud, but it's already full

 

[RumoredNow]

I got the figure from the link to the Gartner website you had given in your previous posts...

There are 3 tables, one for smartphone sales by vendor, one for smartphone sales by operating system and table 3 is mobile phone sales, which you had given in your previous post. Table 2 contains the sales by operating system which gives Windows Phone sales of 8.1 million for the quarter. The heading on each table indicates that these are sales to end users.

They have also published the 3rd quarter sales. The link is below. That gives Windows Phone sales of only 5.8 million for the 3rd quarter.

Gartner Says Emerging Markets Drove Worldwide Smartphone Sales to 15.5 Percent Growth in Third Quarter of 2015

Ah... You had originally said "shipped" which I took to mean retail vendor orders. I see now that you were using sold to end user figures all around.

So you subtracted out table 2 figure from table 3 figure to reduce Microsoft. How did you subtract out from other OEMs? Apple is the only other OEM that you could have done this for and they sell no phones outside the "smart" category. Is it true that Samsung, LG, Huawei, et al sell no phones of the non-smart classes and thus Microsoft is the only one that gets such a reduction?

The math is only good if you apply it evenly.

I didn't use a different Quarter as the Q2 2015 is the one thrown into the Verge article originally quoted. But again for Q3 we have the same problem of Android and Apple tablets giving a double dip when Microsoft tablets get excluded from sales by mobile OS. This unintended representation that mobile OS sales equates solely to phones sold is a fallacy. I would love to see the numbers that managed to strip out Android and iOS tablets. The vectoring is at fault here and always has been. Bloggers very often fall into that reporting error of mobile OS numbers = phones without realizing, or at least annotating, the tablet differential. This has become compounded over time as tablet sales continue to increase over year past.

 

[Hoppman]

No phone is an investment, they are just an electronic gadget. Were transistor radios an investment? Were Walkman's an investment? Were boom boxes an investment? No to all of them. They were just the latest and greatest electronic gadget at the time. That is all the 950/950XL is at this time, until the next latest and greatest gadget shows up.

 

[icedave]

Will hang-in as long as there's a WP!!! Use the WP 735 (great). Have been using Microsoft products since booting from 5-1/4" floppies!....735 syncs perfectly with Windows 10. Pretty much only use it for talk/text/email and occasional web search.....though does much more well. Had the iPhone 4 and not bad, but in my opinion Apple not worth the money...plenty of Apps you actually need on WP. Problem is....stopped by Verizon (current provider) and sounds like they've dumped WP again!!!!! Could this be a problem?...hopefully AT&T will continue to support the WP phones, and will switch if need be....or could this be the end?!?!?

 

[sguy156]

Buying a 950 now its not a good investment . Quality of apps on windows phone is not there anymore . Yes I do miss some features of of windows phone but I rather have apps I need ( banks , transit )..

 

[HeyCori]

No phone is an investment, they are just an electronic gadget. Were transistor radios an investment? Were Walkman's an investment? Were boom boxes an investment? No to all of them. They were just the latest and greatest electronic gadget at the time. That is all the 950/950XL is at this time, until the next latest and greatest gadget shows up.

Yes gadgets can be an investment. Anyone that invested in HD-DVD, betamax, the Virtualboy, a Dreamcast, WebOS, or one of many failed devices knows what's it's like when that investment goes sour. It's reasonable to question whether a $600 purchase will still be supported in a year.

Now, we know that Microsoft isn't dropping Windows 10 ever, and (as far as we know) Microsoft has more devices planned for 2016. I would say it's safe to assume that Microsoft isn't going to surprise drop Windows Phone.

 

[JaimitoFrog]

Yes gadgets can be an investment. Anyone that invested in HD-DVD, betamax, the Virtualboy, a Dreamcast, WebOS, or one of many failed devices knows what's it's like when that investment goes sour. It's reasonable to question whether a $600 purchase will still be supported in a year.

Now, we know that Microsoft isn't dropping Windows 10 ever, and (as far as we know) Microsoft has more devices planned for 2016. I would say it's safe to assume that Microsoft isn't going to surprise drop Windows Phone.

Gadgets are not investments, unless you keep them for over 20yrs more, and if lucky someone will pay for your junk.

 

[ninny1176]

"I would say it's safe to assume that Microsoft isn't going to surprise drop Windows Phone."

I wouldn't be surprised one bit - even this year, especially in the US market.

 

[Eddie_Lomax]

Two points, if you are planning to get rich then buying gadgets is not the route. Even a iphone is going to be more or less worthless eventually and the worst thing anyone can do is buy the latest model every year, guaranteed maximized losses.

So the real question is, will this gadget do what I want for at least 2 years, for me I think the 950 will do just that, it has great components such as a powerful CPU, lots of ram and a world class camera that can take good quality photos in low light.

For me I'm not too bothered by apps, and what it supports now is enough so that will do.

As for the future though, I'm not optimistic, people criticize Ballmer, but he was bullish on whatever he went into and supported windows phone properly trying to tread a line between being another Apple and Microsofts traditional business model

In comparison Nadella is turning Microsoft into a "me too" company, unfortunately going for the Google option of pursuing advertising revenue rather than the Apple one of bespoke devices. I fear that for this reason we will see windows phone languish in the dolldrums at best, Microsoft's best hope now is to extend the PC down to the phone and produce phones that are powerful PC's, that takes vision (and a lot of financial risk that only Microsoft can afford), not sitting around waiting for a third party to pick it up.

 

[anon(9709784)]

Am I wrong as basis of long term investment (as I, like many of you, keep my devices active for a long time) to buy into the new Lumia series given Mr. Nadella's recent statements describing WM "unsustainable" and his stronger efforts for an agnostic (OS-wise) presence on other mobile platforms? Do you think these devices will enjoy the lifespan that the 1520 enjoyed?

The 1520 had no choice but to have the lifespan it had because Microsoft did not offer an LTE "flagship" until the 950/950XL, which, in my opinion, is not a good investment for hardware that creaks out of the box. Microsoft is selling a beta operating system to the public, whether enthusiast or layman. Continuum is a hassle that is immediately impeached with the presence of a Surface 3 offering greater productivity for slightly more than the Continuum dock and peripherals.

 

[NHUK]

Onedrive/Office can auto sync on iOS and Android as well. I get it you're happy with your new WP and that's awesome, but the ecosystem of Windows is equally available on all mobile platforms aside for Cortana.

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Its a bit of a hack though, I dont like the fact that you have to open the onedrive app on IOS to sync photos, on win 10 it just syncs as soon as it detects a wifi network, no need to remember to open the app. Onedrive on win 10 is less clunky also. Bizarrely, however, the microsoft health app synchronises much faster with the band 2 on IOS than it does on a 950XL....go figure....

 

[cracgor]

Its a bit of a hack though, I dont like the fact that you have to open the onedrive app on IOS to sync photos, on win 10 it just syncs as soon as it detects a wifi network, no need to remember to open the app. Onedrive on win 10 is less clunky also. Bizarrely, however, the microsoft health app synchronises much faster with the band 2 on IOS than it does on a 950XL....go figure....

Although on windows phone you have to keep downloading screens up for things like maps or games since they don't run in the background. Always a tradeoff.

I also don't understand how people miss the point on this topic about being a good investment. Sure the phone will depreciate in value, but I think OP wants to know if this will be another windows 6 or 7 type device that gets no updates and no apps. Only time will tell, but the track record is poor.

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[xandros9]

Its a bit of a hack though, I dont like the fact that you have to open the onedrive app on IOS to sync photos, on win 10 it just syncs as soon as it detects a wifi network, no need to remember to open the app. Onedrive on win 10 is less clunky also. Bizarrely, however, the microsoft health app synchronises much faster with the band 2 on IOS than it does on a 950XL....go figure....

Pretty sure if you grant it Always location access, OneDrive can upload live in the background on iOS.

 

[jlabelle]

Although on windows phone you have to keep downloading screens up for things like maps or games since they don't run in the background. Always a tradeoff.

How often do you download offline map compared to taking a picture on an iOS device ?
Oh, my bad, of course this is not an issue because you can NOT download offline map on iOS anyway... :wink:

I also don't understand how people miss the point on this topic about being a good investment. Sure the phone will depreciate in value, but I think OP wants to know if this will be another windows 6 or 7 type device that gets no updates and no apps. Only time will tell, but the track record is poor.

Common please. The Lumia 900 was released at the time of the iPhone 4S. Did you try running iOS9 on the 4S ? Even iOS8 ?
All the mobile phones released by Nokia since 3,5 years have ALL been able to upgrade and will upgrade to W10 (but obviously the one with not enough storage like 4Gb very low end one).
This is quite impressive considering that Apple has stripped down every older phones of feature that the hardware could run. For instance, why only the iPhone 6S has Live Images ?

And let's not speak of Android phones upgrade support ...

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[jlabelle]

Yes I do miss some features of of windows phone but I rather have apps I need ( banks , transit )..

I am always puzzled by this. Who are the people that needs ABSOLUTELY their bank application on their phone and cannot use the website for urgency situation or wait having access to a tablet or computer to manage finance more comfortably ?

Also, what transit services is missing on Windows mobile ? I am asking because here in Europe, the coverage is excellent.

 

[jlabelle]

Pretty sure if you grant it Always location access, OneDrive can upload live in the background on iOS.

No.
Plus, you loose the Live images synchronization because Apple user a JPEG + a MOV for the animation separated.
On the Lumia, this is embedded in the JPEG so you share it to anyone. If they open it with a W10 PC (the Photo app) they will see the animation. Even they use DropBox or Google Drive or simply send by email. Much more clever.

 

[Mindi B]

There is one main reason that consumers completely miss that means that Windows 10 mobile will be here and supported for a long time: Business. In business Microsoft give 150%. Business customers are slowly moving to use Microsoft mobile phones, and in business, Microsoft provides long term commitments. This is an important part of the vision and one they are selling hard in the corporate world.

In the consumer space they are committed to Windows 10 and supporting developers in writing Universal Apps which will run on anything. That will benefit the phones too as UWP apps are easily made phone friendly.

At the risk of coming across rather bluntly, are you just making this up to express your optimism for the platform? I hate to break it to you, but you couldn't be further from the truth.

To the vast majority of businesses and corporations, WP doesn't exist, period. They don't write apps to support it, and their major support is for iOS over Android due to easier administration and better security.

On top of that, iOS has great MS apps for it already, there's no need for anyone to even move over to WP, and universal apps aren't even discussed in the industry in regards to W10 let alone W10M.

A few years ago, businesses and corporations found WP "interesting" but that was the extent of where any momentum went. Since then it has faded into obscurity and now is barely acknowledged by anyone in those sectors. The only people left paying genuine attention to it are the fans - like people here. Outside of that, it's pretty much nothing I'm sad to say.

 

[cracgor]

Common please. The Lumia 900 was released at the time of the iPhone 4S. Did you try running iOS9 on the 4S ? Even iOS8 ?
All the mobile phones released by Nokia since 3,5 years have ALL been able to upgrade and will upgrade to W10 (but obviously the one with not enough storage like 4Gb very low end one).
This is quite impressive considering that Apple has stripped down every older phones of feature that the hardware could run. For instance, why only the iPhone 6S has Live Images ?

And let's not speak of Android phones upgrade support ...

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Not being able to upgrade to a new OS is also different than having the app incompatibility. If you are stuck on an older phone, if it has app access it doesn't really matter as much.

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[NHUK]

Although on windows phone you have to keep downloading screens up for things like maps or games since they don't run in the background. Always a tradeoff.

I also don't understand how people miss the point on this topic about being a good investment. Sure the phone will depreciate in value, but I think OP wants to know if this will be another windows 6 or 7 type device that gets no updates and no apps. Only time will tell, but the track record is poor.

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Totally agree on the annoyance of having to keep screens open to download, does seem a weird limitation.

 

[cracgor]

Happens with things other than maps. Podcasts and OneNote are two others that I could not update in the background.

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