Why are so many Microsoft services limited feature-wise, outside the USA?

[PushMe96]

And why does it appear like Microsoft is unconcerned about it? I recently changed my Surface's region to the US, and the experience is so, so much better.

 

[Jason Rosenthal]

I recall being very frustrated by this when I had my windows phones. I even had to import my 930 as you couldn't buy a phone in Canada. Cortana is not industry leading any more and so even if you are in the USA, you are slowly being left behind.

 

[anon(10458357)]

But yes, you are absolutely correct that this could change down the road. I don't know; being an armchair quarterback is easy. Being the real quarterback is much more difficult. We armchair guys have no clue what is actually going on behind the scenes. We just yell at our screens. But there is a reason that Satya Nadella is at the helm of a $0.75 trillion company and I am not!

The above is a color coded map of recent worldwide acquisitions of an app that that I have on the store, taken from my Windows Dev Center dashboard. As you can see, yes, the US is very strong, and I am VERY grateful for my US customers. However, the rest of the world combined makes a pretty strong showing too. There's especially strong support for Microsoft products in countries like Brazil, France, and Germany.

The sales of this app, albeit to a small degree, contribute to the US GDP. I am positive they would contribute MORE to the GDP if MS expanded its efforts to invest in its ecosystem, and make some sort of a return to mobile.

Granted I am a small fish in a big pond. Nadella is a big fish in a big pond. I get what you're saying. But what I'm saying is that should MS take just a fraction of its billions in profits and invest them in its worldwide ecosystem that it would benefit everybody, and establish a foundation for itself for the future. At a fundamental level, more customers browsing the store = a more vibrant store = a more vibrant developer community = more customers browsing the store.

But beyond just sheer profits. Because yes there are other things besides just $ that matter. If Nadella really believes what he says when he says stuff like... and I quote... “Our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more,”... then he could do way more to stand behind those words. MS has the resources. What it needs is the will.

But you're right, at the end of the day, all we can do is sit here and yell at our computers, and hope maybe Nadella's kid stays us late surfing Windows Central, and asks his dad over breakfast what he's doing as one of the most powerful men on the planet to shape the world. Cathartic? Maybe. But fun too!

 

[tgp]

I get what you're saying. But Microsoft understands these things too. For some reason, they are making the decisions they are. You really believe they have not thought about this? I want to be charitable, but there is a reason why the company Bill Gates co-founded is today worth over $700 billion, and you and I aren't.

Because yes there are other things besides just $ that matter.

Not really. Any (good) business has a primary goal of turning a profit. An unprofitable company is no good to society. And if they make a go of it in an ethical and legal matter, they are good to have around. Everyone profits.

If Nadella really believes what he says when he says stuff like... and I quote... “Our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more,”

"Empower" is a euphemism for "making so you give us money". Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[techiez]

I get what you're saying. But Microsoft understands these things too. For some reason, they are making the decisions they are. You really believe they have not thought about this? I want to be charitable, but there is a reason why the company Bill Gates co-founded is today worth over $700 billion, and you and I aren't.

I agree the ppl running MS know/or atleast they think they know what they are doing, but their focus is enterprise, I can strongly say they have no idea what they are doing in consumer space, they tale 1 step forward and 3 steps backwards.
Their indecision has cost credibility in consumer space, now look at the article from Dan abt how Google Home has almost caught up with Amazon in total sales and is growing at a much faster rate, the reason is Google expanded in new lucrative markets faster than amazon, they were not indecisive nor wante to be limited to US. and thats bringing them the $

https://m.businesstoday.in/story/go...echo-india-behind-role-reversal/1/277676.html

 

[tgp]

they have no idea what they are doing in consumer space

Yes they figured that out. That's why they're dropping it.

 

[Long Xuyen]

It's because Nadella has conned his Board into believing that Microsoft will be most profitable when it has no users. It reminds me of the Yes Minister episode in which the most efficient hospital in Britain was most efficient because it had no patients.

 

[Rahsna Asurac]

Before I share my view, let me just add that some of you are really making interesting points worthy of noting

And why does it appear like Microsoft is unconcerned about it? I recently changed my Surface's region to the US, and the experience is so, so much better.

Yup, I live in EU, Denmark. And not only do we not have the same feature level, we also have no MS Stores and the support is "You got a Surface whos screen is flickering? Sorry, not part of our warranty, that will be the Price of a half new Surface to repair, thank you." (lol...nope!)

Furthermore, the people that work for MS here is only focused on business, there is little "the new Microsoft" outside of campus, of which there is only one, and it's in the Capital city.

When it comes to retailers, they don't know much about Surface. But at least I have seen a Surface Pro and Surface Book in one retailer chain. All Surface Products except HoloLens and Surface Hub is available from MicrosoftStore(web) but Windows Mixed Reality hardware is not. Not from any partner.

Xbox however is, from what I can tell just as good as in the US. We've got Xbox Live, Gold, Xbox Play Anywhere and the new game subscription model.

Bing is good enough but Cortana isn't there.
Voice recognition in Translator is impressive though, and the text translation almost perfect, when you write cor-rect grammar.

Microsoft Pay is support though, but not yet on app level, just like no apps uses Windows Hello, even though we have a very evolved digital signing service compared to others.

About MS rivals in Denmark
Google is the dominant in consumer along with Android phones. And like the US, Apple is concidered the fashion statement for "nice to have" on all levels while equal products from Windows-land is frowned upon because of the store/app availability and decades of Windows hate from narrow-minded people well into their 40s, keep the idea of "Windows is cool Again" away from pretty much anyone who is not a Windows insider.

I think I covered it all now ^^

 

[Jean_Mikael]

Just wanted to say that the situation is the same in Sweden, as far as I know.
In Sweden we have an digital bank ID system that niw has almost 100% coverage. It's an mobile app that is used for logging in, for identification during phone calls and what have you. The BankID app gas announced that they will terminate the service on WP10 by new year. So that will kill WP in Sweden for all.
Looking at Android (or iPhone) they have voice services in Swedish, which Cortana still don't support. I was thinking of purchasing an Android phone and make it as Window'ish as possible. But nit being able to talk to Cortana is a bummer. I will be very tempted to talk to Google Assistant instead. I will probably lose some of the Microsoft services, like BING and more. This is the unnecessary consequence of Microsoft not offering more markets with their full catalogue of functions. Which is, to me, a strange and short-sighted limitation.