When would you consider WP to be a success?

[snowmutt]

First off, while I like the question and enjoy the responses, let me take it a step further:

Instead of "When will Windows Phones be succesful.."

How about "When will Windows Phones be secure in the mobile marketplace?"

I agree with everyone defending that WP 7.5 IS succesful, and that WP8 is assured of some measure of greater success. It will have more features, more advanced devices, a small but growing consumer base, and be available on Tablets and PC's/laptops like no other OS before it. But, there are still huge hurtles to clear:

-WP needs manufacturers excited for it. LG is bailing on it, Samsung and HTC are only willing to commit to a couple devices for WP8 and have been very poor at supporting their current crop of devices. It doesn't matter what we may think of these companies (as I am sure someone will say who cares about LG", or whatever), for WP to be secure, it needs these OEM onboard.

-Need devices on all carriers in all markets. Sprint and Verizon in the US, the entire Europe and Asia markets, developing markets in Africa and China, and who knows how many others need to have access to WP choices. And good selections for the customer bases- both high end and low tier.

-Some support from the manufacturers. Would love to see HTC bragging on the camera in Titan 2 commercials the way they are for the HTC One. I think the Focus 2 is a wonderful phone- white/silver colors make it stand out, the Super AMOLED is gorgeous, it is perfect for the smaller screen crowd and cheaper than the Nokia 900 with LTE. But let's be honest: without advertisement from Sammy, it is not going to be a hit.

-Stronger fan base. As in the iPhone/Android/Crackberry crowd that is loyal to those OS's are still much larger and loyal than we are. Ours is growing, but not even close.

-And yes, continued sales and marketshare. Microsoft still wants to make money. If the marketshare isn't in the 10% - 20% after WP8, when will it be? There are continued reports of growth in sales, but WP worldwide is still below 5% and less than 2% in the US. That just isn't good enough.

I love my WP, and want no reason to leave. I want WP to be like Dairy Queen: Good, just ain't good enough. Successful is relative, but being secure in the marketplace isn't. I want WP secure and thinking 2 years down the road, safe in the thought that it is profitible, fun, and a true competitor in the mobile market.

 

[cckgz4]

It became a success when I learned to stop acting like I was a personal investor for companies that I liked. Getting caught up in these back and forth opinions/theories/prophecies are getting old. Fast.

 

[cckgz4]

And WOW @ that post about all his WP problems from a first gen device, but will QUICKLY strike down on people that say "Android lags" because they didn't use a "current" android device

 

[socialcarpet]

And WOW @ that post about all his WP problems from a first gen device, but will QUICKLY strike down on people that say "Android lags" because they didn't use a "current" android device

Seriously.

Android lags on every device I've ever used. Early reviews have said it even lags on the new Samsung quad core super phone. The UI lag is attributed to an inherent flaw in Android that it's way too late to change now, touch events run on the main thread in the OS so they don't get prioritized the way they do on phone OS's that were designed to prioritize touch input from the beginning like iOS and Windows Phone.

Hardware acceleration and throwing cores and ghz at it won't solve the problem. They may make it less noticeable, but the way they just keep heaping clock-cycle sucking graphical fluff on Android it will be a constant battle.

Android is a funny thing. It's a Linux variant and Linux is known for being tidy and efficient but Android is anything but. It's a non-touch OS jury-rigged into working by touch that runs all it's apps through a virtual machine instead of using native code. Just a f***ing mess from top to bottom. Google was more concerned about getting it out the door ASAP and getting lots of apps for it by using Java running through a virtual machine than they were with doing it right and keeping the code lean and mean, and it really shows.

 

[lilb1190]

To me it is a success when I dont have to worry about it being discontinued.

 

[Jeff Kibuule]

Couple of things:
1) It's referred to as a 3 legged race.
2) No one thinks Windows Phone will die.
3) Carriers actually support it.
4) People look forward to new devices on the platform.
5) Exclusive top-tier apps on the platform.

 

[N8ter]

And WOW @ that post about all his WP problems from a first gen device, but will QUICKLY strike down on people that say "Android lags" because they didn't use a "current" android device

Same issues on Mango devices. Learn to Google. I have a thread with the links on this forum, feel free to Search as well

I didn't get a Mango devices cause the benefits of getting one are close to nil.