Lack of Apps: The Deal Breaker

[Doohickie]

My Windows Phone, an HTC 8X, is my first smartphone and I really like everything about it. Smooth, trouble-free operation all the way, with some nice features. I like the tile GUI. Just about perfect.

I'm a little over 6 months into my 2-year deal on this phone. Unless something changes in the next year or so, this will be my last one. Simply put, I'm just tired of of the lack of apps.

The apps that are out there are great. At first it didn't bother me much that I couldn't get apps like Strava or Intellicast, because there are other apps out there that do the same thing. The deal breaker came when I bought my new Fiat. They have apps for the car, but in iPhone and Android only. I started to think about it, and I realized my bank, my newspaper, my hockey team, my.... all kids of other things in my world.... have apps for iPhone and Android but not for Windows Phone.

I'm tired of being a second-class citizen. If I could change my phone out right now, I would. I'll live with it for another year+ and we'll see what happens. But if what I would call "commerce" websites- the official apps of companies- don't start putting out Windows Phone apps, I'm out of here. It gets to a point that I don't care how good the product is if I can't get the apps I want for it.

Anyone else out there feel the same?

 

[DBDev]

It is really sad... I'll stick to WP, but I understand that this is a big problem for many

 

[palandri]

Just my opinion, but I think applications are extremely overrated. I think Apple had pounded, "There's an application for that", into our heads. You can normally find a mobile webpage for most applications. Even things like an expense tracker can be done with a simple excel spreadsheet, and there are simple excel instruction all over the web that anyone can understand.

Just my two cents.

 

[SnailUK]

Why aren't you moaning at the people making the apps then?

Generally you get the same "Not enough marketshare" response, but the more people moan, the more companies will start paying attention to the platform.

 

[aximtreo]

Did you doyour research before buying the 8X? The status of WP apps had been writtenabout for months so you would have known what the situation was. I’m sorry youfeel like abandoning the WP world but a simple search, Bing or Google, wouldhave given you the heads up on what was going on.

 

[k0de]

This is very true a great OS and hardware and we know this is not enough. MSFT is doing all that they can to get developers to this platform. It is not MSFT fault but the developers.

You have a choice to make. Only purchase products that support WP. Or try to encourage the developers of the product that buy that don't support WP to develop for WP.

Dont leave yet. Windows Phone is on the rise. The best is yet to come. And more and more apps are coming into the store.

 

[AUCLABruin]

A year is a great amount of time to decide if you want to switch platforms. However, will you need every app you mentioned, or is there a percentage of apps that would satisfy you to stay with Windows Phone? I expect WP8.1 and these new cell phone makers to attract more people to WP, and will push companies to no longer ignore developing apps for WP. I can't blame you if after 1 year there is still stagnation in major apps (Not games!) that makes you choose a different OS for your next cell phone.

 

[Doohickie]

Why aren't you moaning at the people making the apps then?

Generally you get the same "Not enough marketshare" response, but the more people moan, the more companies will start paying attention to the platform.

I'm not mad at Windows Phone. It's a great operating system. It's the ecosystem of WP that I'm disappointed in.

I went through the effort of requesting WP apps from content providers, but I got tired of it.

 

[Ordeith]

Four years ago it was iOS getting all the apps and Android begging to be noticed. Things change.

 

[Doohickie]

Did you doyour research before buying the 8X? The status of WP apps had been writtenabout for months so you would have known what the situation was. I’m sorry youfeel like abandoning the WP world but a simple search, Bing or Google, wouldhave given you the heads up on what was going on.

Frankly, no. I picked WP in Best Buy after messing with it for about a minute. I liked the interface and at the time, that was good enough for me. Of course, that research you suggested wouldn't have done anything for me. This is my first smartphone; the whole concept of apps didn't mean anything to me before getting a smartphone. I had no clue what a smartphone could do, or what apps did. It's only through using a smartphone that you get a feel for that kind of thing. Reading about it doesn't really communicate the reality if you have no background.

 

[Doohickie]

Four years ago it was iOS getting all the apps and Android begging to be noticed. Things change.

I don't see WP growing near as quickly as Android did.

 

[chmun77]

So true. Even if there are 3rd party apps, they are not working well too. Particular MetroTube and other YouTube apps. None of them can play any videos when I'm connected to mobile network. No such issues on my HTC One at all. MetroTube feedback to me that it may be due to carrier restrictions. But an app being restricted by the carrier, but not on Android? Seriously??!

 

[Doohickie]

You have a choice to make. Only purchase products that support WP. Or try to encourage the developers of the product that buy that don't support WP to develop for WP.

I'm not that invested in WP to the point that I am going to change what car I buy or what bank I use based on whether they have a WP app. To me, making a choice like that based on app availability is just kind of senseless, especially since I can get the apps simply by changing platforms. I don't see WP as somehow morally superior to Android. I'm not a fan of the Apple model so I don't see switching to iAnything, but I've got nothing against Android.

Dont leave yet. Windows Phone is on the rise. The best is yet to come. And more and more apps are coming into the store.

I'm not. I've got over a year with this contract so I'll be around. But when it comes time to pick a new phone, if the apps I want aren't available on WP, I'll probably move on. I like the concept of several competing phone operating systems, but if the OS I use doesn't meet my needs, I'll switch. I'm not a ******.

 

[Doohickie]

A year is a great amount of time to decide if you want to switch platforms. However, will you need every app you mentioned, or is there a percentage of apps that would satisfy you to stay with Windows Phone? I expect WP8.1 and these new cell phone makers to attract more people to WP, and will push companies to no longer ignore developing apps for WP. I can't blame you if after 1 year there is still stagnation in major apps (Not games!) that makes you choose a different OS for your next cell phone.

Oh, it's not all or nothing. When it comes time to switch I'll evaluate my familiarity with WP versus app availability in WP and Android, and make a call. Like I said though, just kind of tired of being a second class citizen with a phone that isn't supported by a lot of businesses, products and sites.

 

[palandri]

I don't see WP growing near as quickly as Android did.

Wait a minute, is that a chicken on your head?

 

[Ordeith]

I don't see WP growing near as quickly as Android did.

It is actually growing faster than android did at this point it its life if you look at the increase in unit sales. It is harder to see because the market is now so much bigger.

 

[ShreyansShah]

I don't see WP growing near as quickly as Android did.

buddy, u r lacking a heap of info.
for ur information Android is here almost equal time when Symbian came up. but, Android got growth when Nokia made wrong policies about Symbian apps access (to curtail piracy...whatever, eventually fall of Symbian) and Samsung & Sony moved on to Android just to keep check on Nokia (the market leader then).
now u compare growth. Android grown in 12-14 years and WP grown till now.
u should not compare someone's chapter 20 to others chapter 2.

 

[DNHill]

I can empathise too, being in a similar position. I just got my first smartphone (also an HTC 8X) about 6 weeks ago as a company phone. But I also run a Nexus 7 (2012), and just comparing the app environment between the two is night and day. I'm not fully sold on WP8 as an operating system, but it works well enough for the phone that I'm not actively against it in any way (although having non-MS (and their friends) live tiles update more than once every half-hour would be nice, if even more battery-killing than currently).

I also just constantly see stuff available for Android that isn't on WP8, or that needs a mess-around or additional app to achieve (for example file/folder-sharing - why do I have to buy something like Sharefolders to do something that should be core?). So whilst I do have various apps on the 8X, for a lot of stuff I fall back to the N7 with the 8X acting only as a hotspot.

PS What duck?

 

[Doohickie]

Wait a minute, is that a chicken on your head?

Why yes it is. Is that a problem?

 

[Doohickie]

buddy, u r lacking a heap of info.
for ur information Android is here almost equal time when Symbian came up. but, Android got growth when Nokia made wrong policies about Symbian apps access (to curtail piracy...whatever, eventually fall of Symbian) and Samsung & Sony moved on to Android just to keep check on Nokia (the market leader then).
now u compare growth. Android grown in 12-14 years and WP grown till now.
u should not compare someone's chapter 20 to others chapter 2.

Growth or lack of it doesn't bother me directly. What I want to see is growth in adoption of WP by businesses who produce apps specific to their products (my car, my bank, etc.) I hope that within the next year I'll see a jump in companies that offer WP versions of their apps, but so far in about 8 or 9 months, not one of them has put out a WP app. Why fight it? When my two years is up, if they haven't adopted WP as one of their systems, I'll just go Android. If they get their apps together by my next turnover, then maybe I'll come back to WP.