What would it take for you to come back to Windows Mobile?

[buzzard75]

Take a page out of Apple's book. Introduce a single flagship device that works on all major carriers. Don't do multi-tiered devices. Pull the software updates out of the carriers hands. And if you're not going to make the device yourself, find someone to do it for you (hint, hint, Nokia would have been good for this). On top of that, populate the app store. Invest in it. Pay developers of currently popular Android and iOS apps upfront to create apps for the W10M platform with guaranteed support for X-number of years. You'll make your money back and they'll make money on top of it. I think that is a big one and it shows commitment to the platform. No one wants a smartphone if they can't do anything with it. In order to gain more market share, focusing solely on enterprise is not a viable option. There isn't enough market share there to make a difference. Besides that, most people would rather have one device that does it all, unless they are forced to use a specific device for business by whatever company they work for. Thus, devices tend to serve dual purpose and most consumers aren't going to buy a device that has an app store that is dying. I personally don't use a lot of apps, but there are some that would be nice to have that just don't exist on W10M. And no, I'm not talking about just games and time wasters. Don't get me wrong, I love my W10M device. I just know there's going to come a day sometime soon when I have to make a decision to stick it out just a little while longer or make the switch. And if things continue the way they are, my decision to switch will be that much easier.

 

[Scienceguy Labs]

Sounds like a good plan to me.

 

[Drael646464]

Take a page out of Apple's book. Introduce a single flagship device that works on all major carriers. Don't do multi-tiered devices. Pull the software updates out of the carriers hands. And if you're not going to make the device yourself, find someone to do it for you (hint, hint, Nokia would have been good for this). On top of that, populate the app store. Invest in it. Pay developers of currently popular Android and iOS apps upfront to create apps for the W10M platform with guaranteed support for X-number of years. You'll make your money back and they'll make money on top of it. I think that is a big one and it shows commitment to the platform. No one wants a smartphone if they can't do anything with it. In order to gain more market share, focusing solely on enterprise is not a viable option. There isn't enough market share there to make a difference. Besides that, most people would rather have one device that does it all, unless they are forced to use a specific device for business by whatever company they work for. Thus, devices tend to serve dual purpose and most consumers aren't going to buy a device that has an app store that is dying. I personally don't use a lot of apps, but there are some that would be nice to have that just don't exist on W10M. And no, I'm not talking about just games and time wasters. Don't get me wrong, I love my W10M device. I just know there's going to come a day sometime soon when I have to make a decision to stick it out just a little while longer or make the switch. And if things continue the way they are, my decision to switch will be that much easier.

In what parallel universe is "the app store dying"? At least if you make such claims, back it up with something, IMO, give some examples or evidence. The stores getting bigger all the time, dying just doesn't make any sense.

Google play has 2.8 million. The windows store is only up to 700,000 so far, its only slightly bigger than the amazon app store.

I really don't think spending major cash on Spotify and snapchat is going to sell the platform. You need a great deal more than that. And MS is a company that makes less than a quarter of what alphabet makes, and less than a tenth of what apple makes

If it were to play the game of bribing developers, not only would it just be a "me too" product, it would be doing so in a manner than could easily be outclassed by its competition who have vastly more cashflow.

Windows on mobile devices needs to be more than a third copycat. It needs to be noteably better at something that people want. There is no room for a third look-a-like.

And this is 100% out of apples book. When apple was nearly beat in desktop, and nearly when under, steve jobs came back, cut costs, leaned up the company and focused on development and innovation. They also "betrayed their users" by switching to intel over risc, and reduced the total number of macs, to just one.

Years later they came out with the ipod. Then the iPhone. And that's how we arrive at today. He is on record as saying his strategy was "to wait for the next big thing". MS is cutting costs, slimming down, and focusing on innovation. It's a basic steve jobs play, straight out of apples playbook.

And that's why they are not pouring money into phones, but trying to fight battles they have better odds of winning, while focusing on future technologies.

Also, premium markets are literally just about to start shrinking. They already are in mature markets. The make money from iphones model is a well that's going to run dry. Which is why google, apple, Samsung, are all also looking for 'the next big thing".

 

[RumoredNow]

Bribing developers has been done before. It gets you poorly performing apps that aren't maintained and go bad. The devs take the payment, cobble something together and walk away.

 

[buzzard75]

In what parallel universe is "the app store dying"? At least if you make such claims, back it up with something, IMO, give some examples or evidence. The stores getting bigger all the time, dying just doesn't make any sense.

Google play has 2.8 million. The windows store is only up to 700,000 so far, its only slightly bigger than the amazon app store.

I really don't think spending major cash on Spotify and snapchat is going to sell the platform. You need a great deal more than that. And MS is a company that makes less than a quarter of what alphabet makes, and less than a tenth of what apple makes
If it were to play the game of bribing developers, not only would it just be a "me too" product, it would be doing so in a manner than could easily be outclassed by its competition who have vastly more cashflow.

Windows on mobile devices needs to be more than a third copycat. It needs to be noteably better at something that people want. There is no room for a third look-a-like.

And this is 100% out of apples book. When apple was nearly beat in desktop, and nearly when under, steve jobs came back, cut costs, leaned up the company and focused on development and innovation. They also "betrayed their users" by switching to intel over risc, and reduced the total number of macs, to just one.

Years later they came out with the ipod. Then the iPhone. And that's how we arrive at today. He is on record as saying his strategy was "to wait for the next big thing". MS is cutting costs, slimming down, and focusing on innovation. It's a basic steve jobs play, straight out of apples playbook.

And that's why they are not pouring money into phones, but trying to fight battles they have better odds of winning, while focusing on future technologies.

Also, premium markets are literally just about to start shrinking. They already are in mature markets. The make money from iphones model is a well that's going to run dry. Which is why google, apple, Samsung, are all also looking for 'the next big thing".

It just seems like not a day goes by that you don't hear about a developer closing up shop on the Windows Store. Yes, there are a lot of apps on the store, but how many of those are quality apps? How many of those are knock-off alternatives that don't work as well? You could ask the same for the rest, but I would say the ratio of good to bad apps are much better on Google, Amazon, and Apple than they are on Windows. And even if they are the same apps as the other platforms, they tend to run better because they are spending development funding on them. That money is coming from app purchases.

It may not be the best solution, but they have to do something to shore up the store and give people more reason to pick up a Windows phone when comparing it to an Android or iOS device. Paying them off up front may not be the best or the right answer, but a deal has to be made somewhere to get them to even consider coming to the Windows Store. You're absolutely right, one or two apps is not going to do it. They need to improve the overall health of the store with high quality apps across the board. If you don't even have the user base to guarantee sales of apps, you have to get creative to sell the developers on Windows. It's the chicken and the egg problem. Which comes first, the users or the apps? No one's going to buy your devices if you can't do anything with them other than basic functions, and no developer is going to design an app for your device if no one is there to buy it.

In my opinion, Windows is a better platform. As I've said elsewhere, I love my Nokia Lumia. I've had it for over three years now and it's the most stable phone I've ever owned. I have had essentially zero issues with it. It's been supported up to this point and I see no reason why that support should stop given the specs of my phone until something like Windows on ARM is on a telephony device and becomes the norm. But with the limited list of devices for the Creator's Update, I've come to the realization that I'm going to have to make a decision very soon.

 

[anon(50597)]

It just seems like not a day goes by that you don't hear about a developer closing up shop on the Windows Store. Yes, there are a lot of apps on the store, but how many of those are quality apps? How many of those are knock-off alternatives that don't work as well? You could ask the same for the rest, but I would say the ratio of good to bad apps are much better on Google, Amazon, and Apple than they are on Windows. And even if they are the same apps as the other platforms, they tend to run better because they are spending development funding on them. That money is coming from app purchases.

It may not be the best solution, but they have to do something to shore up the store and give people more reason to pick up a Windows phone when comparing it to an Android or iOS device. Paying them off up front may not be the best or the right answer, but a deal has to be made somewhere to get them to even consider coming to the Windows Store. You're absolutely right, one or two apps is not going to do it. They need to improve the overall health of the store with high quality apps across the board. If you don't even have the user base to guarantee sales of apps, you have to get creative to sell the developers on Windows. It's the chicken and the egg problem. Which comes first, the users or the apps? No one's going to buy your devices if you can't do anything with them other than basic functions, and no developer is going to design an app for your device if no one is there to buy it.

In my opinion, Windows is a better platform. As I've said elsewhere, I love my Nokia Lumia. I've had it for over three years now and it's the most stable phone I've ever owned. I have had essentially zero issues with it. It's been supported up to this point and I see no reason why that support should stop given the specs of my phone until something like Windows on ARM is on a telephony device and becomes the norm. But with the limited list of devices for the Creator's Update, I've come to the realization that I'm going to have to make a decision very soon.

They're not going to do anything to convince people who think they need a bunch of apps to come to WP. That ship has sailed. Those of us who are left are more basis, business focused people who aren't on a million social apps, etc. Everything works perfectly for me and I thoroughly enjoy the OS and how I interact with it. MS is developing for the future and people need to accept that or spend their time on her complaining about something they have no control over which seems silly to me. If we have patience, I believe things will look quite nice soon.

Sent from mTalk on my SP4

 

[Iain_S]

for me now to return to windows mobile anything, they would have to have killer devices but more importantly they would have to have a very strong developer following and commitment out of the gate with major devs. anything less would be just a waste of time.

 

[Player Piano]

This might do it for me:

https://thewincentral.com/rumor-samsung-ativ-s8-galaxy-s8-with-windows-10-mobile-in-works/

 

[Scienceguy Labs]

That rumored device above, if heavily advertised by both MS and Samsung, might turn a corner for us W10M hopefuls. They'd have to drop the price, though. It surely couldn't sell many at the same price point as the Android version. I'd be really interested in it, though.

 

[Guytronic]

Samsung exploring all avenues after the Note 7 thing.
Still just a rumor though.

 

[buzzard75]

It would certainly be a nice device to run Windows on. Samsung device quality is top notch, with a couple exceptions of course. But again, if you want to sell a shload of devices and increase your market share, you have to have something other than a device that's already available with another popular OS on it that already has huge dev support in order to entice people to buy it. Yeah, everyone who's a Windows fan is probably going to buy it so they'll sell a lot of them that way, but that's not going to increase their market share. What about everyone else that has an Android or an iPhone? Why would they bother to switch? Microsoft has to catch up with dev support or the device and OS has to be able to do something critical that no other phone/OS in the world can do.

 

[anon(50597)]

It would certainly be a nice device to run Windows on. Samsung device quality is top notch, with a couple exceptions of course. But again, if you want to sell a shload of devices and increase your market share, you have to have something other than a device that's already available with another popular OS on it that already has huge dev support in order to entice people to buy it. Yeah, everyone who's a Windows fan is probably going to buy it so they'll sell a lot of them that way, but that's not going to increase their market share. What about everyone else that has an Android or an iPhone? Why would they bother to switch? Microsoft has to catch up with dev support or the device and OS has to be able to do something critical that no other phone/OS in the world can do.

But if it makes current WM users happy and gives them something to purchase they feel is equal to their counterparts, isn't that a good thing? How can it hurt?

Sent from mTalk on my SP4

 

[fatclue_98]

Samsung exploring all avenues after the Note 7 thing.
Still just a rumor though.

Two new tablets coming out now as well. Maybe Samsung has struck some kind of deal with Microsoft to get away from that whole "Note 7 thing". Tizen wasn't the ticket they were looking for to lessen the reliance on Google so we never know. W10M is certainly a more mature OS than Tizen and Microsoft is a known commodity.

 

[Iain_S]

even if this rumour were true that Samsung release this device it will suffer the same problems that all other windows phones suffer at the moment, absolutely no apps compared to other platforms. If MS have any chance of getting into the game again they need a solid commitment from devs and apps available at launch. If they don't have the apps that ios or android have it will just be another failure.

 

[anon(50597)]

even if this rumour were true that Samsung release this device it will suffer the same problems that all other windows phones suffer at the moment, absolutely no apps compared to other platforms. If MS have any chance of getting into the game again they need a solid commitment from devs and apps available at launch. If they don't have the apps that ios or android have it will just be another failure.

Yah, I'm sure they can just call up a few thousand devs and get them to whip up some apps in a couple months.
If true, this is more than about just one phone. I'm more interested in a possible partnership moving into the future.

Sent from mTalk on my SP4

 

[tgp]

Samsung exploring all avenues after the Note 7 thing.
Still just a rumor though.

Reports are that the GS8/+ pre-orders have been higher than pre-orders of previous models. While manufacturers are always looking for ways to increase sales, I don't think Samsung is hurting in that respect.

 

[Guytronic]

Reports are that the GS8/+ pre-orders have been higher than pre-orders of previous models. While manufacturers are always looking for ways to increase sales, I don't think Samsung is hurting in that respect.

Well yes it does make sense that sales for a new phone from Samsung would be higher after a downturn.
I'll say a 5 billion dollar loss to the company had to sting a little bit.

 

[slivy58]

But if it makes current WM users happy and gives them something to purchase they feel is equal to their counterparts, isn't that a good thing? How can it hurt?

Sent from mTalk on my SP4

It'd be awesome for the present users but IMO, that's about it. Can't say it'll hurt either but on the other hand, highly doubtful it'll make a dent in the platforms already tainted image. For me personally, it's going to be years before I put my trust back in MS and the WM field.

 

[buzzard75]

But if it makes current WM users happy and gives them something to purchase they feel is equal to their counterparts, isn't that a good thing? How can it hurt?

Not saying it wouldn't make current WM users happy or that it could hurt. I just don't know how much it's really going to help or be enough to keep current users. My point is, if you're not attracting new users or even able to keep the ones you have, you're not going to grow your market share. There's a saying. If you're not growing, you're dying. Granted, you can still be profitable and not grow, but the tech business is too competitive. If you're not growing your market share, you're probably losing it because everyone else is growing and their increase has to come from somewhere.

 

[slivy58]

If true, this is more than about just one phone. I'm more interested in a possible partnership moving into the future.

Samsung was in the game before (Ativ S/SE, Omnia M, etc etc), who's to say that won't fizzle again in short order? Besides, anything introduced now will be dealt the same cards as those already in existence. And the future, that's only a millisecond away, and after seeing MSFT's idea of the future we came to the realization that we may never see it where WM is concerned.