Microsoft: Windows Phone isn't our focus this year!

[Vivio vrvly]

W10 in phones need more than a focus, also completition of W10 is main part thats important for phones so I wouldn't say they do not focus. I wish to have wp but not the same as 950, it needs to be another level - final level of phone - like a flagship thats will come with different sizes, prices and same system functions, also coming every year better not just sometimes...

 

[paulxxwall]

I'm sure as is the perception of the majority of consumers , once ms decides to become serious about mobile the consumer will start to take them serious. And since there main focus will not be in mobile neither will it be the consumers focus they'll focus on pc,tablets,Xbox one

 

[Mad Cabbie]

Nobody is arguing that MS isn't doing a lot for mobile or developers.

The argument is over how much MS is doing for WM.


Meyerson clearly stated that not much will be happening for WM this year, and some are trying to reinterpret that as meaning the exact opposite of what he said.

MS has been doing a lot on the app/services/dev front. The Xamarin acquisition is part of that. MS are doing a lot for mobile... just not for Windows Mobile... for now.

I have to say, I'm with you on this one. From what I can tell, and I may be barking up the wrong tree, this coming year is not so much about WM, as developing the UWP project by handing developers the tools to utilise this system. The 'side effect' is that UWP can work across all Win 10 devices. With Xamarin on board, a known app developer, things should start to pick up. As it is, there have been a fair amount of apps appearing in the store, and that can only be good news. As for MS supplying apps to other OS's, why wouldn't they? They exist to make money. My bone of contention is that the other OS's apps seem more 'complete'.

With a year on the back burner for mobile, I can only seen this as 'something big comes this way'. I think it's the sensible option to allow a complete change in the current MS culture. Everything will fall under the W10 umbrella, including all devices. It also gives MS the chance to distance it's self from the debacle that WP has become.

As a glass half full guy, I feel this can reinvigorate, not just mobile, but MS as a whole, rather than the disjointed leviathon it has become. Under the W10 umbrella, instead of being splintered, all depts are heading in the same direction. Unfortunately, we don't have the ability to quiet down the dissenters and those who's glass is half empty.

 

[ohgood]

the market decided it wanted iphones and androids.

microsoft took a long time to realize this, but finally did. good for them.

 

[shagkie]

Since my plan of going back to a nice flagship windows phone just went down the drain, I hope MS will make Android device integration with Windows 10 really easy, nice and sweet.

 

[kpluck]

so happy to switch to Galaxy S7 edge.
I don't think there will be many updates for phones this year, which totally sucks.

Well you're right about not many software updates coming from Android OEMs like Samsung...but that is par for the course in the Android world if you don't own a Nexus. I hope the S7 Edge's extra TouchWiz "enhancements" are worth having a phone that doesn't get regularly patched with security updates.

-kp

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

the market decided it wanted iphones and androids.

microsoft took a long time to realize this, but finally did. good for them.

Well the market is not the brightest. I hate a lack of choice but for now windows phones aren't going anywhere so I can still buy them.

Should the day come I may wind up switching back to a dumbphone....

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

By killing wp MS is killing the band too.

Doesn't the band work with android and iOS?

 

[pedmar007]

I think MS is referring to hardware features and not the OS per se as each day more and more reports are coming out talking about new builds on TH and RS. So from that how could any intelligent person believe that the mobile division will end. I agree that MS has played a major part in the waning interest in their product mobile wise but if you're keeping track of what comes out on Windows Central it paints a completely different story.

 

[jdballard]

Doesn't the band work with android and iOS?

Yep.

 

[luxnws]

Nobody is arguing that MS isn't doing a lot for mobile or developers.

The argument is over how much MS is doing for WM.


Meyerson clearly stated that not much will be happening for WM this year, and some are trying to reinterpret that as meaning the exact opposite of what he said.

MS has been doing a lot on the app/services/dev front. The Xamarin acquisition is part of that. MS are doing a lot for mobile... just not for Windows Mobile... for now.

Clearly put and I have no choice but to agree we are on the same page.

Since you are so good at it, can you educate me about how the guy above tying in Xamarin with UWP is justifying his reason to be glass half full on WP? I don't get it.

 

[luxnws]

the market decided it wanted iphones and androids.

microsoft took a long time to realize this, but finally did. good for them.

How about the holdouts in the EU?

 

[Stephen Townsley]

How about the holdouts in the EU?

I am in the UK with a Lumia 930. Market share is falling here too primarily because no one is promoting Microsoft mobile devices. Basically you go into a store and until now the Nokia branding was around whereas today there is a little shelf in the corner with 'microsoft' on it and no one on the sales floor knows what they are about.

Big Samsung and Apple presence in most places though.

If Microsoft dont care about their devices it's hardly surprising no one else does.

 

[Verne57]

The reasons MS's apps on other platforms seem "more complete" is because those other platforms are far more mature than WM10. It's hard to develop good apps when the underlying foundation is still quicksand (although it appears to finally be hardening now -- well, at least it's not as soft.) Those other platforms have a half-dozen year's head start. MS is in for a long uphill battle, but they are banking/leveraging on their biggest asset, the Windows OS and its vast base of customers, and hoping to pivot that back into phones. They had to merge the two OS's (desktop/OS) for this to happen. If WM10 was a completely different OS, who would develop for it? For such a small existing market? At least by merging the two OS's, they've given themselves a chance that developers will develop for both, with minimal effort in addressing the differences in hardware. They took a big hit in doing this merger. They had to leave a lot of existing phones behind in doing so. And I rather doubt it was MS's intent to leave 50% of their 8.1 phones behind -- they really did try hard to make them work with WM10 -- that's why the official WM10 release was so delayed. I think they decided to just cut their losses without completely killing the platform stone dead.

It remains to be seen whether the gamble they made will pay off.

In the meantime, they are doing what they do best, develop software regardless of platform. That's how they got their start so many years ago. By having a presence on iOS/Android, and by having Azure, they are assured relevance in the future, no matter the fate of W10.

And for all you people who think they should be moving faster in WM by producing more phones -- this to me seems like a dumb strategy. Clearly, the OS isn't quite baked, so releasing even more phones than the 950 would just cost them development/manufacturing money with no clear benefit. Wasn't it bad enough that the 950 was released before the software was finished? Why add even more hardware to this mix? They wouldn't sell that well because people would know/complain that the OS isn't done. Better to retreat and reload, and finish the desktop/mobile OS merger. Which is exactly what they are doing. Is this the right strategy? Time will tell. Was it an ideal way to go? Absolutely not. But their fate on this was sealed many years ago when they stood on their thumbs when the iPhone came out. They are doing the only thing they can do now to try and recover from mistakes in the past.

 

[pechio]

Doesn't the band work with android and iOS?

Yep.

Nope, not fully functional.

 

[Queen Kong1]

Happy to see Microsoft on Androids, however Cortana is missing some features like Quite Hours. I use this a lot for sleeping, and of course Text messaging alerts from Windows 10 PC. .

 

[ManofGod1000]

Doesn't the band work with android and iOS?

Nope, not fully functional.

Please provide proof because, from my experience, it functions even better on Android than WP. (Remember, it uses the Microsoft Health app so I am not sure where you would think it is not fully functional.)

 

[pechio]

Please provide proof because, from my experience, it functions even better on Android than WP. (Remember, it uses the Microsoft Health app so I am not sure where you would think it is not fully functional.)

You can't use Cortana on iOS or Android & you can't replay to messages in iOS.
https://forums.windowscentral.com/e...upport%2Ftiles%2Fusing-cortana&token=5EjL57oy
https://forums.windowscentral.com/e...s%2Fsupport%2Ftiles%2Fkeyboard&token=UVBJ7OND

 

[497362]

wow this thread is so full of "its the end of the world' thinking. so negative. so disconnected from reality. are you all members of a catastrophe cult? do you cry over spilt milk?

 

[xavier geoffrey niroopen]

See this is what will happen when MSFT themselves say we are not going to focus on Windows phone -.- though the OS is one and whatever they announce is for both then why they have to make such a statement in the BUILD?