McLaren? Deep 6 by Microsoft. Are these moves unnerving for developer base?

[Jazmac]

With the new CEO in place, innovation seems to be taking a vacation for the remainder of 2014 and possibly into the first quarter of 2015. Meaning, any new innovation in handsets will again come well after the other two platforms, for which are all due to arrive in the latter half of 2014. Developers for IOS will have access to over Four Thousand NEW API's to develop and innovate and android successor to KitKat, named Lollipop is due to arrive this summer in 2014. Hungry developers are chomping at the bit to dig into the new offerings.



Mark Hatchmen of PCWorld writes: "With Nokia McLaren not happening any more, one must note that the firm does not have a single flagship to show off in the second half of 2014. Major players in the industry have either planned or preparing to launch something extraordinary sometime around IFA Berlin tech show. Microsoft's McLaren was initially projected as the successor to the Nokia Lumia 1020, which is also reportedly set to be phased out in September. So far Nokia has launched the Lumia 930 around the world. The device is being promoted as a flagship handset. Unfortunately, Microsoft hasn't launched the Lumia 930 in India." Elop notes: "Today, ?We will be particularly focused on making the market for Windows Phone. In the near term, we plan to drive Windows Phone volume by targeting the more affordable smartphone segments, [More 520's] which are the fastest growing segments of the market, with Lumia,? Elop wrote in his Thursday memo. ?In addition to the portfolio already planned, we plan to deliver additional lower-cost Lumia devices by shifting select future Nokia X designs and products to Windows Phone devices. We expect to make this shift immediately while continuing to sell and support existing Nokia X products.? In short, it'll be at least a year before any new flagships come out of Redmond.

Developers, developers, developers.
What does these surprising changes say to the developer community? Wait until Microsoft has a direction before advancing or screw this, I got bills to pay too. In tech, waiting to make a move is its own death spiral. Then to wait until the summer of 2015 is simply a bridge too far for developers and users alike. It siphons the life out of your product as well as your brand. So why risk it?

 

[psudotechzealot]

With the new CEO in place, innovation seems to be taking a vacation for the remainder of 2014 and possibly into the first quarter of 2015. Meaning, any new innovation in handsets will again come well after the other two platforms, for which are all due to arrive in the latter half of 2014. Developers for IOS will have access to over Four Thousand NEW API's to develop and innovate and android successor to KitKat, named Lollipop is due to arrive this summer in 2014. Hungry developers are chomping at the bit to dig into the new offerings.

View attachment 72547

Mark Hatchmen of PCWorld writes: "With Nokia McLaren not happening any more, one must note that the firm does not have a single flagship to show off in the second half of 2014. Major players in the industry have either planned or preparing to launch something extraordinary sometime around IFA Berlin tech show. Microsoft's McLaren was initially projected as the successor to the Nokia Lumia 1020, which is also reportedly set to be phased out in September. So far Nokia has launched the Lumia 930 around the world. The device is being promoted as a flagship handset. Unfortunately, Microsoft hasn't launched the Lumia 930 in India." Elop notes: "Today, “We will be particularly focused on making the market for Windows Phone. In the near term, we plan to drive Windows Phone volume by targeting the more affordable smartphone segments, [More 520's] which are the fastest growing segments of the market, with Lumia,” Elop wrote in his Thursday memo. “In addition to the portfolio already planned, we plan to deliver additional lower-cost Lumia devices by shifting select future Nokia X designs and products to Windows Phone devices. We expect to make this shift immediately while continuing to sell and support existing Nokia X products.” In short, it'll be at least a year before any new flagships come out of Redmond.

Developers, developers, developers.
What does these surprising changes say to the developer community? Wait until Microsoft has a direction before advancing or screw this, I got bills to pay too. In tech, waiting to make a move is its own death spiral. Then to wait until the summer of 2015 is simply a bridge too far for developers and users alike. It siphons the life out of your product as well as your brand. So why risk it?

 

[psudotechzealot]

Say it ain't so, Jazmac. So are you leaving us for HTC M8 or Iphone 6?

 

[Jazmac]

Say it ain't so, Jazmac. So are you leaving us for HTC M8 or Iphone 6?

Not my style techzealot. For the record, I'm not going anywhere. If I were to leave, poof.

 

[rodan01]

App development is a business. Developers work in an app because It's possible to make money, not because there are 4500 new APIs, that's irrelevant.
The sales of the last few months have relatively low importance in economic decisions, the size of the installed base is much more important.

I wouldn't call the 3d gimmicks innovation. When was the last time you saw innovation in smartphones?

The 930 is good, there are rumors of a 1525, and maybe they could launch a 1030 without the 3d gimmicks.

 

[Jazmac]

App development is a business. Developers work in an app because It's possible to make money, not because there are 4500 new APIs, that's irrelevant.
The sales of the last few months have relatively low importance in economic decisions, the size of the installed base is much more important.

I wouldn't call the 3d gimmicks innovation. When was the last time you saw innovation in smartphones?

.
The 930 is good, there are rumors of a 1525, and maybe they could launch a 1030 without the 3d gimmicks.

Already stated.
But thanks for sharing that bit of information. Without you, we might have been left to believe all these apps were being built for free.

 

[Elitis]

I'm tired of people acting like Nokia (now Microsoft Mobile) is the only OEM for WP, especially now after all of the announcements of new devices from new manufacturers. Samsung has been rumored to be working on several new WP devices since the rumors of the ATIV SE started. HTC has been rumored to be working on bringing a WP-variant of the One. Sony has stated their interest in creating a WP device. Then we have the other new manufacturers that were announced at Build earlier this year.

So the McLaren can suck it. We've got a good chance of at least one new flagship device this year. And there's still a chance we've see McLaren later this year. Chances are good that the 3D Touch (or whatever it was) was removed from the device, or the device simply has taken on a new name, but they're still planning on releasing it. On the other hand, if it was canceled entirely, I applaud the decision. Too many of you think like the average consumer. A major factor in Microsoft cancelling the Surface Mini was rumored to be that there was nothing to differentiate it from other small tablets. It's likely the same thinking for the cancellation of the McLaren. Why release a product that is no different from your competitor's product? And if it's different, why release it if it isn't better? There isn't a reason to.

 

[rodan01]

Already stated.
But thanks for sharing that bit of information. Without you, we might have been left to believe all these apps were being built for free.

If you're aware of those bits of information, then maybe It's a lack of the basic ability of dismissing inconsistent ideas. Because what you posted doesn't make sense.

 

[Jazmac]

If you're aware of those bits of information, then maybe It's a lack of the basic ability of dismissing inconsistent ideas. Because what you posted doesn't make sense.

Seriously? Move on.

 

[Chregu]

I'm tired of people acting like Nokia (now Microsoft Mobile) is the only OEM for WP, especially now after all of the announcements of new devices from new manufacturers. Samsung has been rumored to be working on several new WP devices since the rumors of the ATIV SE started. HTC has been rumored to be working on bringing a WP-variant of the One. Sony has stated their interest in creating a WP device. Then we have the other new manufacturers that were announced at Build earlier this year.

Samsung makes a boatload of money with their Android devices and if they focus on another platform it's Tizen not Windows Phone. Remember, for their last Windows Phone device (which is only available from one US carrier) it seemed like they took the outdated hardware of the Galaxy S4 and installed Windows Phone on it, while they announced the Galaxy S5.

HTC is in troubles, they hardly will spend a lot of money to invest in a platform Nokia has almost full market share. They are just gaining back grounds with their Android devices.

Both of them might be releasing a Windows Phone device, but it will hardly be on par with their Android flag-ships. There's just no reason for them to do that.

The Sony device was rumored months ago, and since then opinion has rather shifted to "with a PS4, why should they support a platform that is using the Xbox name that heavily?"

All the phones that are really announced and not just hopeful thinking or nebulous rumors are low-end devices without exception.

But, as we know, that's where Microsoft wants to be.

 

[Zomby Jeezus]

Elitis, I agree with your argument on Nokia not being the only Oem. I think people and devs alike may be concerned about the recent moves since Microsoft is making the moves and what these moves may mean going forward. Are these moves being done to be "lean", or are they reflection of their commitment or lack thereof to Lumia, innovation or WP in general. It's hard to tell and there are more questions than answers now (as usual).

Are Htc and Sony going to be more interested or less interested in jumping in Wp now? We don't know yet...

 

[Mike Gibson]

The latest revelations don't concern me too much since I see the entire RT effort as a disaster. As a mediocre independent developer, the entire RT effort was doomed to fail from the beginning because it forced developers to start from scratch with a new API (and new threading constructs, and new file access patterns, and new internet access patterns, etc, etc.). In addition to the increased development burden, there were zero users of the new RT API. Zero userbase + significant development effort = all pain, no gain.

The only way it would have been successful is if MSFT had made RT backwards compatible with Win7 via some sort of "Platform Update". That way I could have shifted to the new app framework and sell the same binary into my installed base of users, who are happy with Win7. MSFT already had a portable API with millions of manhours of experience, Win32. Why they didn't exploit that huge advantage is beyond me. It was a colossal design and implementation blunder and, imho, will end up killing MSFT.

 

[Johnny Tremaine]

I'm tired of people acting like Nokia (now Microsoft Mobile) is the only OEM for WP

Uh, Nokia made up the preponderance of Windows Phone sales. Nokia IS Windows Phone. That's all on Microsoft now.

 

[rodan01]

The latest revelations don't concern me too much since I see the entire RT effort as a disaster. As a mediocre independent developer, the entire RT effort was doomed to fail from the beginning because it forced developers to start from scratch with a new API (and new threading constructs, and new file access patterns, and new internet access patterns, etc, etc.). In addition to the increased development burden, there were zero users of the new RT API. Zero userbase + significant development effort = all pain, no gain.

The only way it would have been successful is if MSFT had made RT backwards compatible with Win7 via some sort of "Platform Update". That way I could have shifted to the new app framework and sell the same binary into my installed base of users, who are happy with Win7. MSFT already had a portable API with millions of manhours of experience, Win32. Why they didn't exploit that huge advantage is beyond me. It was a colossal design and implementation blunder and, imho, will end up killing MSFT.

In this fast changing tech world, learning new things It's part of the job of a developer. I'm not a developer but I see the value of the new async interfaces for file access, http, etc. A non blocking UI is the essence of a touch device.

Implementing Winrt in Windows 7 probably is too costly. Maybe they could have made Windows 8 a free upgrade, but the OS got such a bad reputation that few would have taken the offer.

Microsoft bet everything in the success of the Surface and PCs with touchscreen. They really thought that the touch interface add a lot of value for Windows users, but sadly for them the public didn't agree.

 

[Elitis]

Uh, Nokia made up the preponderance of Windows Phone sales. Nokia IS Windows Phone. That's all on Microsoft now.

Nokia isn't Windows Phone. And it's not all on Microsoft (Mobile) now. Nokia does have the majority of the market share of WP, but, again, they are not the only OEM. There are others, and while the majority may focus on the lower-end, there will be one or two flagship devices.

 

[anony_mouse]

App development is a business. Developers work in an app because It's possible to make money, not because there are 4500 new APIs, that's irrelevant.

No it's not. Think about it. New APIs mean that developers can write, and sell, NEW apps. Sales and use of apps tends to fade over time (with a few exceptions), so developers need to have something new from time to time.

 

[Great deal]

Well im no developer and decided to teach myself C# and become a MS Dev. Why? I own 2 successful companies already and niche in my experience is exactly where the money is at.

MS and Windows are not going anywhere and this lull in activity gives me time to get up to speed, for all the doom, gloom and hope posts out there the facts are clear to see. MS are reshaping, restructuring and 100% committed to taking the fight to the competition, yes no devices 2014, so what? 2015 is the year MS efforts will bear fruit.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

I'm tired of people acting like Nokia (now Microsoft Mobile) is the only OEM for WP, especially now after all of the announcements of new devices from new manufacturers. Samsung has been rumored to be working on several new WP devices since the rumors of the ATIV SE started. HTC has been rumored to be working on bringing a WP-variant of the One. Sony has stated their interest in creating a WP device. Then we have the other new manufacturers that were announced at Build earlier this year.

So the McLaren can suck it. We've got a good chance of at least one new flagship device this year. And there's still a chance we've see McLaren later this year. Chances are good that the 3D Touch (or whatever it was) was removed from the device, or the device simply has taken on a new name, but they're still planning on releasing it. On the other hand, if it was canceled entirely, I applaud the decision. Too many of you think like the average consumer. A major factor in Microsoft cancelling the Surface Mini was rumored to be that there was nothing to differentiate it from other small tablets. It's likely the same thinking for the cancellation of the McLaren. Why release a product that is no different from your competitor's product? And if it's different, why release it if it isn't better? There isn't a reason to.

You might be tired of people acting like Nokia is the only OEM for WP, but your fatigue doesn't change reality. You are free to count on rumor for other companies to produce WP devices, but at this point in time they aren't. Is the bar set so low that rumors are worthy to be counted as if they are reality?

 

[WillysJeepMan]

App development is a business. Developers work in an app because It's possible to make money, not because there are 4500 new APIs, that's irrelevant.

Based on this comment I'm concluding that you aren't a software developer. Although we work on creating software because there is money to be made it isn't the only motivator. Good software requires developers who have a passion for what they're working on. It is that personal investment that drives developers to create software that is of high quality, innovative, and useful.

New APIs means being able to do more things... or do existing things in a more efficient manner. It's exciting to see if a current product can be enhanced and expanded. The availability of these new APIs flips the switch on thinking about new opportunities. I've stopped developing for any of Microsoft's mobile platforms because they talk a good game, but fall far short in their delivery. In the memorable words of Sweet Brown, "Ain't nobody got time for dat!"

Of course there are software mills that churn out basic, no-frills, uninspired apps. Those are the ones that aren't interested in new APIs. But those apps aren't the ones that grab customers' attention.

 

[AR2186]

Samsung makes a boatload of money with their Android devices and if they focus on another platform it's Tizen not Windows Phone. Remember, for their last Windows Phone device (which is only available from one US carrier) it seemed like they took the outdated hardware of the Galaxy S4 and installed Windows Phone on it, while they announced the Galaxy S5.

HTC is in troubles, they hardly will spend a lot of money to invest in a platform Nokia has almost full market share. They are just gaining back grounds with their Android devices.

Both of them might be releasing a Windows Phone device, but it will hardly be on par with their Android flag-ships. There's just no reason for them to do that.

The Sony device was rumored months ago, and since then opinion has rather shifted to "with a PS4, why should they support a platform that is using the Xbox name that heavily?"

All the phones that are really announced and not just hopeful thinking or nebulous rumors are low-end devices without exception.

But, as we know, that's where Microsoft wants to be.

For what its worth, the ATIV SE is basically a GS5 with a smaller screen.