One heck of a week for W10 Mobile. What's everyone feeling?

[HoosierDaddy]

at Microsoft they think that swiping, pinching, touching a screen aren't natural, human gestures.

So... this explains MS' strategy of just waiting for evolution to eliminate fingers and level the playing field.

 

[BrunoMG]

Telepathy my friend. MS is waiting for the boom of telepathy in communication.

 

[PerfectReign]

Again, implementation remains to be seen, but windows mobile is a long way from abandoned. Windows 10 mobile users on the other hand - they've been pretty much given regular updates in the hope they will stick around for the reincarnation.

If they are able to successfully implement OneCore, and gain a foothold in wearables, home automation, industrial devices, and convergent devices like my X3; there will be a solid future. If not, we'll all be using Chromebooks.




Sent from mTalk

 

[Drael646464]

If they are able to successfully implement OneCore, and gain a foothold in wearables, home automation, industrial devices, and convergent devices like my X3; there will be a solid future. If not, we'll all be using Chromebooks.




Sent from mTalk

Perhaps I can just go back to pen and paper instead, lol. Or *shudders* use a mac.

Should be fine, but just the idea of that is kind of horrific.

 

[BBJonbo]

What am I feeling you ask:

Abandoned, lonely, forgotten, betrayed, let down, disappointed, rejected, ripped off, mislead ....

Having been a uber loyal Blackberry fan for 10+ years and then abandoned, I am now having the same feelings as I had with BB. I switched from BB to MSFT and in some respects had wished I had done it sooner. I purchased 2 x 950XLs on the release day. I have loved the phone and for the most part the OS. A lot of growing pains no doubt but liked the direction it has been heading. I purchased the original Surface Pro and then upgraded to SP3 Pros and love the Surface line.

The lack of a solid plan or at least MSFT communicating what that might be with timelines, I am losing hope that there may be a future for MSFT in mobile or whatever the next great bend in the curve is. The problem is, I and others can't wait another 18-36 months for the bend in the curve. By then, Android and iOS will be so much further entrenched that I doubt MSFT could ever penetrate the market.

Personally I think 2017 is the year that MSFT MUST communicate their vision and start to deliver on it. If they continue to be silent and if actual software and hardware won't be delivered for 12+ months (actually of MSFT more likely 24+ months) then I won't have a choice but to abandone the MSFT ecosystem and dreadfully join the Droid and Crapple alliance.

Let's hope 2017 turns out to be a positive year for MSFT but set your expectations really, really low so as not to be disappointed.

 

[Keith Blackwell]

Shame, I know Microsoft has the resources to make this beautiful UI comparable to iOS and Android. I personally believe WP is better. I carry a iPhone work phone with my WP for the past 6 years. WP is better. I reach for it without thinking and not my iPhone.
We need a superior customizable OS, and WP is really it.

 

[Luuthian]

If Dona said what she said there... as far as I'm concerned that's as close to confirming the death of their cellphone efforts as we'll get until it's official. That's not even a thinly veiled statement IMO.

That being said, I don't fully diagree with the "idea" that cellphones are unnatural. No doubt we'll evolve beyond them. A successor technology is so far off though. Good for Microsoft to use augmented reality as their lead-in to the next paradigm shift... that does absolutely nothing for us today though. Windows Mobile fans are going to be left in the dust if that's the most crumbs we're being offered. It sounds like MS has moved on to what they hope will be the next big mobile endeavour.

 

[Devan Hammack]

I've had an iPad for a while. Had an iPhone for a year. Its easy to use and all, but I cant get past the fact that Apple makes them and they're so overpriced.
I was just given a galaxy S5 to test out Android with. I've had android before and didn't like it, but that was back in Doughnut, or the dark days... So I'm willing to give it a shot.
Well, I've spent two days with it and really don't like it. Sure its flexible and has lots of options, but its also lagged on me a few times (wth?) and the interface is a jumbled mess every idea any has every had thrown at a wall. Jesus, there is no design language.. just put everything in there... everywhere!!! Ugh...

So I'll be sticking with my 950Xl for a while longer. It doesn't have Clash of Clans, Mint, Southwest, or my banking app... but I can access anything I want quicker and easier than I can on Android.

 

[Drael646464]

If Dona said what she said there... as far as I'm concerned that's as close to confirming the death of their cellphone efforts as we'll get until it's official. That's not even a thinly veiled statement IMO.

That being said, I don't fully diagree with the "idea" that cellphones are unnatural. No doubt we'll evolve beyond them. A successor technology is so far off though. Good for Microsoft to use augmented reality as their lead-in to the next paradigm shift... that does absolutely nothing for us today though. Windows Mobile fans are going to be left in the dust if that's the most crumbs we're being offered. It sounds like MS has moved on to what they hope will be the next big mobile endeavour.

Given the skype bot idea of a conversational ecosystem under Cortana, I don't actually think voice as a primary or shared input method is far off at all. Products like google assistant and alexa will be primitive next to this sort of technology (incidently MS also purchased a machine learning software for understanding word context from a little start-up - closest thing anyone has gotten to software actually understanding language).

I could see voice, under this sort of paradigm, growing very rapidly from what is bound to be a close release.

I can for example ask a news skype bot "whats the latest news in such and such place", and while no assistant can answer that without merely differing me to search, the bot can. Bot software can serve in the place of apps. When there's a bot for uber, traffic warnings, news, weather, mail and so on, a whole ecosystem of them, as there is for touch, you can just use a watch, no need for a bulky phone. Or a credit card sized device. The device can just show info cards, and your earpiece can do the rest.

No more staring at a screen all day, pinching and twiddling. Just "hey Cortana, have I got any mail?"

I'm reminded of the movie "her". People used augmented reality, 3d hand gestures, and primarily, voice and machine learning. Touch was basically fairly absent. It seemed very natural.

I really don't think it'll be long before we see the rise of voice, rather than its more gimmicky but functionally questionable current manifestation. And while I doubt it will take off straight away, seems like HoloLens can't be too much longer.

 

[wgrs]

Dona said that???????
Smartphones won't live much longer??

Don't take her seriously. She doesn't have any clues. She is the Twitter girl and she even fails that easy job.

 

[usman iqbal2]

window mobile operating system is most beautiful and best of all mobile operating system. Unforniteyly i feel very sorry for microsoft how easily they let doom this operating system. Microsoft only need to less their developing fee so that small and creative developer give some interest to develop theiir application.

 

[usman iqbal2]

dona sarkar doom the window phone. shame on your. hell with you. mobile is futur of computing. if you lost to andriod phone you will be lose on pc very soon. microsoft you are doom.

 

[wgrs]

dona sarkar doom the window phone. shame on your. hell with you. mobile is futur of computing. if you lost to andriod phone you will be lose on pc very soon. microsoft you are doom.

She isn't responsible. She has no clues and she uses personally an iPhone. Better ignore her.

 

[andrew-in-woking]

Dona said that???????
Smartphones won't live much longer??

When Steve Jobs went back to Apple in 1997 to rescue them, everyone was expecting him to immediately pronounce some great big inspiring aim, like regain market dominance in PC sales, but instead he cut the company right back to a niche PC manufacturer, which he had to for the company to survive.

When he was asked a couple of years later what his strategy was he simply said: "To wait for the next big thing that comes along."

The next big thing was digital Music and Apple came back to dominance through the iPod and then iTunes. From there is was the iPhone and the iPad.

I think Microsoft have, quite rightly, admitted defeat in the smartphone (OS) market and that they are trying to emulate what Steve Jobs did with Apple, i.e. conserve their resources, wait for a significant opportunity and then throw everything behind winning in that new market domain.

Whether they can succeed in this way is yet to be seen but, like all technology, there is no doubt that Smartphones, as we think of them today have a limited lifespan. It is a long term approach which has a short term negative impact.

I wouldn't be surprised if many W10M users feel similarly today as Mac users felt when Steve Jobs came back to Apple and instead of selling some hugely superior Mac he cut the number of models from 15 to one and significantly limited the sales availability of the device.

 

[Drael646464]

When Steve Jobs went back to Apple in 1997 to rescue them, everyone was expecting him to immediately pronounce some great big inspiring aim, like regain market dominance in PC sales, but instead he cut the company right back to a niche PC manufacturer, which he had to for the company to survive.

When he was asked a couple of years later what his strategy was he simply said: "To wait for the next big thing that comes along."

The next big thing was digital Music and Apple came back to dominance through the iPod and then iTunes. From there is was the iPhone and the iPad.

I think Microsoft have, quite rightly, admitted defeat in the smartphone (OS) market and that they are trying to emulate what Steve Jobs did with Apple, i.e. conserve their resources, wait for a significant opportunity and then throw everything behind winning in that new market domain.

Whether they can succeed in this way is yet to be seen but, like all technology, there is no doubt that Smartphones, as we think of them today have a limited lifespan. It is a long term approach which has a short term negative impact.

I wouldn't be surprised if many W10M users feel similarly today as Mac users felt when Steve Jobs came back to Apple and instead of selling some hugely superior Mac he cut the number of models from 15 to one and significantly limited the sales availability of the device.

There are numerous parallels one could draw between job's apple, and Nadella's Microsoft. People have been known to say of late "Is MS the new apple?". I think the marketing is similarly values based, the product design is similarly "vision" based, the goal being not to copy, but to lead.

Of course predicting the next curves is always going to be hit and miss, but they are not far away, and a lot of others have some very half-hearted approaches to the future, with things like smart home products and smart watches with limited application/functionality. An "all in" approach to future product catergories, where you are truly innovating is bound to be more successful.

MS is very fortunate to have its continued desktop dominance, and its enterprise and server products. If a company like apple lost its iPhone at this point, it could be devastating. For MS to lose a little bit of growth over mostly complimentary mobile phones is not such a big deal.

 

[Devan Hammack]

I borrow a galaxy S5 on Friday to use it for a while to see if I could adjust to Android. I haven't used Android for about 5 yrs. After just 3 days of using it, I'm already noticing some serious lagging. Touch events aren't always being recognized, a swipe down to access notifications takes a few seconds to show anything. Swiping left and right through their home screens is delayed, or skips a screen. Simple games (Threes!) are lagging.

Jesus, this is just 3 days (since Saturday)???
Pretty bad.

 

[sd4f]

I have a hunch and am thinking (maybe more wishful thinking) that MS is just trying to hype up a last ditch effort in mobile phones.

I just can't see a compelling possibility that would encourage widespread adoption, but more importantly the abandonment of existing devices and ecosystems in favour of MS' offerings. The next big thing isn't going to stop people from using or wanting existing apps, so it would have to offer something rather special to compel developers to support it. A larger screen and decent browser experience will only get the platform so far, too many apps are only available as an app and I think this is the big problem MS will have.

However, without mobile, windows is kind of stagnant, and hasn't got much to move. I can see with things like the surface studio and creators in mind, MS is targeting entrenched PC use cases which aren't going to be displaced any time soon for multiple reasons, but that isn't going to sustain things for a company like MS.

 

[Drael646464]

I have a hunch and am thinking (maybe more wishful thinking) that MS is just trying to hype up a last ditch effort in mobile phones.

I just can't see a compelling possibility that would encourage widespread adoption, but more importantly the abandonment of existing devices and ecosystems in favour of MS' offerings. The next big thing isn't going to stop people from using or wanting existing apps, so it would have to offer something rather special to compel developers to support it. A larger screen and decent browser experience will only get the platform so far, too many apps are only available as an app and I think this is the big problem MS will have.

However, without mobile, windows is kind of stagnant, and hasn't got much to move. I can see with things like the surface studio and creators in mind, MS is targeting entrenched PC use cases which aren't going to be displaced any time soon for multiple reasons, but that isn't going to sustain things for a company like MS.

So you don't think, a voice platform of "skills" (Microsoft bot framework under Cortana as a superapp), or a large screen situation (folding tablets or 3 in 1s/continuum), or augmented reality (glasses with projected screens), woulld make existing apps far less important, and considerably less in vogue ?

And all of these, folding screens, continuum, augmented reality and total voice control? (All things MS has in the works).

Existing apps are entirely bound in the form factor and input method. As soon as the FF changes, and the input methods change, those apps are then legacy apps.

Take something as present as Samsungs DeX. Its a great platform, but the largest complaint is that despite being on android, there are literally no apps in android designed to run on a larger screen with multi-tasking. Its an android device, with a basically zero ecosystem for the application. That problem only compounds when voice, folding tablets, augmented reality and so on come in. Until the point where having this great touch ecosystem, designed for small screens, really isn't the primary thing you want at all.

Incidentally tablets are a "complimentary" market for the most part (as are phones...ie they don't tend to replace computers but exist along side them), and a new frontier for MS, in which they are the only non-budget player experiencing growth. With year on year growth, and just 5% windows marketshare, there is a great deal of room to expand there.

Their cloud server products are still experiencing growth. And PCs, being in an upgrade cycle, have just restarted growth last quarter. Not only that but the premium smartphone market will stop growing, and start experiencing negative growth really soon, due to saturation.

It's not as simple as "you must do smartphones". That boom is ready to start winding down, and everyone is looking for the next wave of tech adoption.

Really "the next big thing" is exactly what one should be targeting. Because that's where the financial boom will come from. Hence why amazon, google and apple are all trying their hand at assistants, smart watches, smart homes and more, Samsung and apple hybrid forms - they aren't particularly profitable right now, but every one knows that's where the next wave of profit comes from something else, when smartphones slow and get superceeded.

That's just how the tech world rolls. Apps aren't going to mean squat 30 years from now when we have hard AI, and they'll probably mean a great deal less the moment we get bigger portable screens or full voice ecosystems, neither of which are too far off.

 

[mattiasnyc]

I have a hunch and am thinking (maybe more wishful thinking) that MS is just trying to hype up a last ditch effort in mobile phones.

Several fully functional currently updated W10M phones = "dead", and now "dead" = "hype"...?

I must not be getting my memos.

I just can't see a compelling possibility that would encourage widespread adoption, but more importantly the abandonment of existing devices and ecosystems in favour of MS' offerings. The next big thing isn't going to stop people from using or wanting existing apps, so it would have to offer something rather special to compel developers to support it. A larger screen and decent browser experience will only get the platform so far, too many apps are only available as an app and I think this is the big problem MS will have.

Well, if you're a developer of an app that only runs on iOS and Android then there might not be a financial incentive in developing for a tiny W10M phone market. But if MS puts out new devices that are anywhere from 5" and up and millions and millions of users begin to switch over then the customer base is there all of a sudden.

For all those who use desktops for relatively light applications and mobile phones for communications and light work (email/text/etc) there was no option other than to get a PC and a phone, two separate devices. I'm convinced however that there's a good argument for spending less for more flexibility, which is what I think we'll see over the next two years or so.

However, without mobile, windows is kind of stagnant, and hasn't got much to move.

Doesn't look stagnant at all to me. Looks like there's a lot going on, especially under the hood.

 

[Drael646464]

How can 2017 and 2018 not be great years for MS?

We have Cortana Microsoft bot framework intergration coming. That'll be this year I am sure. That already has tens of thousands of developers.

This year will likely see the rumoured CloudBook or Windows Cloud - their UWP based Chromebook competitor, and also Windows on ARM.

Next year, might finally be the year of the HoloLens, they year Cortana's "skills" platform really takes off and likely IMO, the release of both the surface phone and a new mobile form factor.

MS has a lot of pies in the oven. And some number of them are pretty close.