I'd like to make a point about WP app development. Many times we hear about the app gap, which has been closing concerning the apps that actually matter (we don't need iOS/Android's 40,000 frat apps). Fitbit came not long ago, more and more banks are showing up, Dropbox hast committed to making an app...
But then you see that there are glaring omissions. While there's several examples of this, I'm going to go with UP by Jawbone as it's the one that's frustrating me more as of late. I had a Samsung Focus years ago, after that I moved to a Nexus 4 to try Android, hated it, sold it, bought a 620 and am now using a 920. During my time on Android, I found that there were MANY apps that updated daily. Literally, every single day there would be several updates. UP is one of the apps that would get regular updates on my Android. And yet, now that I'm considering getting one of their bands for Xmas, I find that somehow Jawbone still has no app for WP. Even though they were looking for WP devs in February 2014. And said 3 months ago soon we'd have an app. And the same this week. Still it's been 9 months without the effing app.
It would be as easy as maybe not updating an Android app 4 times a week and use some of those resources to develop a WP app. I know I would have been happy if some of my apps on the Nexus 4 "only" updated twice a week instead of every single darn day. Nobody's complaining about the state or polish of those apps on iOS/Android. Do they really need so many updates? Wouldn't their business be better served by making a WP app (which frankly isn't that hard to do) and augment their username - that is currently going to Fitbit's devices? I like the design of the UP better than the Flex, but I can't buy it because Jawbone still doesn't support WP.
This is something I cannot explain with logic. It does not take 9 months to create a WP app, specially not one that is fully developed and constantly improved on iOS/Android even though they really don't need improvement there. I can only explain the lack of some of these apps as open hostility towards the WP platform, there is no other explanation or excuse to take this long. Don't talk to me about market share, there's easily 60 million people using WP at this point, and yes I know iOS/Android sell that many devices in one quarter, but 60 million people is not a small market. That's sizeable. That's a business opportunity worth pursuing. I can't stand when people still use the argument that it's risky. 60 Million is NOT risky. It's a pretty safe bet. Don't think in extremes, Jawbone doesn't need to halt iOS/Android development to focus fully on WP. They just need to divert like %20 of their effort to create a WP app in 2 months. iOS/Android won't suffer, their apps are in great shape already, meanwhile, WP users will also get access. It makes zero economic sense not to do this, thus why I can only explain the situation through open hostility against Microsoft.
And you know what? It certainly makes me angry, but in the long run, I'll chose the less opportunistic platform that has been consistently keeping me safer than competitors for 4 years now. I'll keep being Windows Phone all the way until the day it dies... because they've shown more integrity overall than what I'm seeing on Apple/Google (and don't mention WP7 upgrades... inform yourself, understand kernel changes and flashing processes and accept the break was for the better, and what will allow us to have Win10 in every single hardware format).
But then you see that there are glaring omissions. While there's several examples of this, I'm going to go with UP by Jawbone as it's the one that's frustrating me more as of late. I had a Samsung Focus years ago, after that I moved to a Nexus 4 to try Android, hated it, sold it, bought a 620 and am now using a 920. During my time on Android, I found that there were MANY apps that updated daily. Literally, every single day there would be several updates. UP is one of the apps that would get regular updates on my Android. And yet, now that I'm considering getting one of their bands for Xmas, I find that somehow Jawbone still has no app for WP. Even though they were looking for WP devs in February 2014. And said 3 months ago soon we'd have an app. And the same this week. Still it's been 9 months without the effing app.
It would be as easy as maybe not updating an Android app 4 times a week and use some of those resources to develop a WP app. I know I would have been happy if some of my apps on the Nexus 4 "only" updated twice a week instead of every single darn day. Nobody's complaining about the state or polish of those apps on iOS/Android. Do they really need so many updates? Wouldn't their business be better served by making a WP app (which frankly isn't that hard to do) and augment their username - that is currently going to Fitbit's devices? I like the design of the UP better than the Flex, but I can't buy it because Jawbone still doesn't support WP.
This is something I cannot explain with logic. It does not take 9 months to create a WP app, specially not one that is fully developed and constantly improved on iOS/Android even though they really don't need improvement there. I can only explain the lack of some of these apps as open hostility towards the WP platform, there is no other explanation or excuse to take this long. Don't talk to me about market share, there's easily 60 million people using WP at this point, and yes I know iOS/Android sell that many devices in one quarter, but 60 million people is not a small market. That's sizeable. That's a business opportunity worth pursuing. I can't stand when people still use the argument that it's risky. 60 Million is NOT risky. It's a pretty safe bet. Don't think in extremes, Jawbone doesn't need to halt iOS/Android development to focus fully on WP. They just need to divert like %20 of their effort to create a WP app in 2 months. iOS/Android won't suffer, their apps are in great shape already, meanwhile, WP users will also get access. It makes zero economic sense not to do this, thus why I can only explain the situation through open hostility against Microsoft.
And you know what? It certainly makes me angry, but in the long run, I'll chose the less opportunistic platform that has been consistently keeping me safer than competitors for 4 years now. I'll keep being Windows Phone all the way until the day it dies... because they've shown more integrity overall than what I'm seeing on Apple/Google (and don't mention WP7 upgrades... inform yourself, understand kernel changes and flashing processes and accept the break was for the better, and what will allow us to have Win10 in every single hardware format).
Even if it's almost half in ?'s.
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