Why Continuum failed?

[Matt Marshall1]

It was an impressive start, and while MS could have continued to build on the concept, they let it stall.

I use Continuum only on occasion, such as when away from home or the office and need to remote into the office or the datacenter for my job. And, in that particular context, I use my wireless display adapter and a small Bluetooth keyboard that I take on the road with me, and use the RDP client on Windows Mobile 10 to connect to a real Windows machine where I can get work done. While this is almost exclusively the only way I use Continuum, in a pinch I'll use the mail, skype, messaging, Word, Excel, and/or Edge apps in Continuum mode, but that's rare.

Continuum has so much more potential than this. Maybe C-SHELL or Windows on Arm will make it what it should have become way before now (i.e. a traditional Windows desktop experience). If such a Windows Mobile phone or 3 in 1 type of device comes along, I'll probably give it a shot.

 

[Simon Jonny]

The largest market of Mobile phone users are not tech people.

They're average Joe and Jane just trying to get by in life, they probably don't even use a computer in their job. They use their mobile as a means of contacting loved ones, taxi etc and will use it for light entertainment be it a youtube video, app gaming, or quick lookup of information.
I'd argue that most mobile users don't even use email on their phone for anything more than that annoying after thought of registration and confirming they've registered for sites or apps.

Most certainly don't have anything more than an old outdate or a very under powered laptop/PC that already leaves a sour taste in their mouth thanks to all the malware they've got installed, constant crashing and just overall slow working machine (as seen by them as slow windows), then they have the whole bothersome problem of lugging it around and trying to type and use a touchpad/mouse.
Yes for us tech users it's super easy to think of a PC as a pleasure to use and the touch screen keyboards on mobile devices as terrible for doing any worth while work, but guess what? The majority of mobile users out there, they're still not using their mobile to do any work, or even anything even remotely productive.
For those that are trying to be productive, they're using the same methods as everyone else before mobiles and the smart aspect just delays their need for a real PC at the office or pulling out their laptop. You can argue that the continuum experience would help mitigate that, and that they could just do everything there and then, but that's not the world of productivity we work in. You are going to have to work with other people, you are going to have to work in a flow with other people and that doesn't (unfortunately) consist of you pulling out your laptop or mobile phone with continuum to work on things while they're busy trying to move on with their flow of work.

There would have to be a huge change in the way everyone works for that to happen, and it's not happened with laptops, even the ultra mobile ones. It's not going to happen with a mobile phone platform that the majority of people don't even care about, let alone use.

And that leads me on to the usage of it. To get people engaged into a mobile platform, and what is effectively just an 'app' for continuum as seed by anyone who's not into a tech, it's an app that runs a some basic forms of Windows like software, and that's all it does. They don't have Windows 10 machines on the whole, a lot don't even have a PC in any form anymore so they can't even relate to it... and these same people are the ones that flash off new features and tacky apps/games to their friends and work mates for a bit of fun and giggles.

Microsoft is now a decade behind the mobile movement, and there are teenagers growing up now without a care in the world for what Microsoft means. They're going though school with chromebooks, or even buying into the high flying life style of mac books or even ipad pros. None of their friends, or even teachers will be using Microsoft mobile. They get a cheap Windows based laptop to produce some word-processing, but you can almost guarantee apart from visiting some porn sites, out side of study hours it'll be left for dust.

So what options does Microsoft have for the people that produce the movement in tech, our younger generations who're buying into the new tech devices that Microsoft is seemingly not part of anymore?

Xbox.

That's what Microsoft can connect younger people with, and they do. Parents are more likely to buy a game console for a kid as a gift for say Christmas. At this point Microsoft could double up with continuum on the xbox as an app leveraging the power of the app store on Windows 10, for the next generation of children/teens growing up, keeping them into the eco system, and maybe when they see what continuum has to offer they can move on to something Microsoft Windows based, if nothing else it's going to keep Microsoft at the for front of their experience and for parents, they get a productive machine for school work as well.

Other than that, I don't see Microsoft progressing anywhere other than business usage and hard-core gamers /and/with VR moving forward.

 

[Matt Marshall1]

Not sure what car you drive, but my Lumia 950XL works perfectly in our GMC and Chrysler vehicles. I stream, and control (i.e. skip, play, pause, rewind, browse) from a variety of apps (really every media app I've tried) off my Lumia 950XL, including from Groove.

While neither of my vehicles incorporate display support yet for either my wife's iPhone or my Lumia 950XL, both cars fully support the controller functionality for both of our phones equally, as described in the CarPlay standard.

 

[Dusteater]

Not sure what car you drive, but my Lumia 950XL works perfectly in our GMC and Chrysler vehicles. I stream, and control (i.e. skip, play, pause, rewind, browse) from a variety of apps (really every media app I've tried) off my Lumia 950XL, including from Groove.

While neither of my vehicles incorporate display support yet for either my wife's iPhone or my Lumia 950XL, both cars fully support the controller functionality for both of our phones equally, as described in the CarPlay standard.

All the cars I drive have CarPlay for display. And once you use it, you can never go back to Bluetooth audio. Having maps is the biggest thing. Anyways, even Bluetooth audio hardly worked in Windows Mobile. Texts would be read maybe 25% of the time, music would never resume, etc. Tons of issues that were never resolved.

 

[Mr Hyde]

I think that it have helped sell some phones if, like the OP suggested, it was marketed as a tablet replacement. If MS had a tablet sized screen with battery and touch screen that just linked to my 950xl while it was home on the charger, I'd have bought it. I seem to use my SP3 more as a tablet these days while sitting on the couch while the phone charges. I also hate using the phone at home since the screen is so tiny. Of course it would have only worked if it was marketed properly so it probably would have failed anyway... But it would have been very cool.

 

[fdruid]

When Microsoft introduced Continuum with Windows 10 Mobile in 2015, they would have expected it to disrupt the mobile hardware business in the same way as iPhones did in 2007. But it happened to be nothing more than a ripple that faded away in few months. So, was it really a useless feature or was it a case of poor execution? This is what I will try to explain here.

Microsoft marketed continuum as feature that transformed the phone into a PC. But, a PC is not just characterised by a bigger display with a mouse and a keyboard. PC is popular because it has numerous applications developed over a period of more than 20 years. Without those applications, Windows 10 Mobile with Continuum was just a BODY WITHOUT SOUL. Personally, I think it was a foolish move by Microsoft to market Windows 10 Mobile as “a phone that works like a PC”.

Having said that, Windows 10 mobile was exceptional and way ahead of its time (if we ignore the initial crashes). To understand why it failed, we need to go back 30 years. It was 1980’s and Apple made it’s first computer. The only problem was, it was not a “computer” but a board. Steve Jobs realised his mistake and made a full fledged computer in the form of Apple II. W10M had a similar story. Continuum was a cool feature to have on a phone but where were the displays? No one wanted to carry a 14 inch monitor and a keyboard with them wherever they went. This was the main problem with Continuum and Microsoft should have addressed this issue.

So what was the solution? The solution was pretty obvious. Microsoft should have made TABLET LIKE STANDALONE DISPLAYS OF SMALLER FORM FACTOR LIKE 8", 10", & 12" with a built in battery. This could be attached to the smartphone when needed. Instead of marketing W10M as a “phone that works like a PC”, Microsoft should have marketed it as a “PHONE THAT CAN REPLACE YOUR TABLET”. We will all agree that getting a slightly bigger screen can be really advantageous in some scenarios like playing games, reading e-books and watching movies. But I am pretty sure that it would have proved much more useful than that once it had caught people’s attention.

I think that it was a golden opportunity for Microsoft and they just let it pass by. This is where great leaders can make a difference. Perhaps, in the world of big data, AI and quantum computing, the most important thing that is missing is “COMMON SENSE”.

Is it a failure? Well:

Glass Half Full:
1) It works as advertised, and it's useful. If you have the setup (including those "hollow laptops"), it's great. I use it to watch media in a non-smart TV, it's pretty flawless.
2) It's a new technology, when it was released just wasn't there, Google and Samsung and whatnot imitated it later.
3) It's a step towards the future, what MS wants to do with their devices. That is, the "Surface Phone" will work this way too, plugged into a monitor and a keyboard and mouse. People got familiar with this kind of application of a device.

Glass Half Empty:
1) It's not a success as long as Microsoft sells millions and millions of it and millions of people use it.
2) In that respect, nothing that MS has done in the mobile space was ever a success, and probably for some time won't be.
3) Probably other companies got inspired by it and will get it working, it will gain traction, and they will get credit for something MS invented.

 

[mbrdev]

I don't know if it should be described as a failure or not because really continuum was/is a stepping stone to CShell, and as such I'm not sure even Microsoft ever thought it would set the world on fire. However, Continuum did fail to resonate with consumers but I feel like that was more to do with the overall state of windows on mobile rather than a fundamental problem with Continuum. One thing they should have done from the very start though is include the dock in the same box as the phones, swallowed the loss by not increasing the price of the handset and defiantly not have it as a $100+ accessory sold separately.

 

[spaceOpia1]

It's not Continuum that failed

The feature in itself is pretty cool. Not perfect, not mature, but really nice and innovative. It is Microsoft that is the failure. Their marketing efforts are the worst I can think of as a tech company. And worse than that, their inability to be conscious of this gigantic flaw.
The MS beast is so big it can't see, let alone wipe, its *ss.

 

[Biff Henderson]

Microsoft comes up with brilliant ideas. Presents them and then throws them over the wall and expects us to pick them up and run with them. Without marketing, there is no demand. With no demand, we can not run with their brilliant idea. They need to educate the public about the value of their brilliant idea. They do not. They finish/abandon projects and move on to the next project. Typical of developers. Terrible for the sales team. Marketing is the missing piece. Sad to watch.

 

[Biff Henderson]

Poor marketing. Microsoft comes up with brilliant ideas. Presents them and then throws them over the wall and expects us to pick them up and run with them. Without marketing, there is no demand. With no demand, we can not run with their brilliant idea. They need to educate the public about the value of their brilliant idea. They do not. They finish/abandon projects and move on to the next project. Typical of developers. Terrible for the sales team. Marketing is the missing piece. Sad to watch.

 

[Geez63]

It is an impressive feature and works. I can connect to my office dock and it works really well, but I agree I couldn't think of a time when I would use it instead of my Lenovo Surface style tablet.

 

[juan almanzar]

I agree with you.

 

[Wevenhuis]

No, I think continuum hasn't failed. I think it is here to stay. For me with continuum there are three things that need to change fast to make it work. The only issue is that continuum is half baked, and it should be obvious at a glance at microsoft.
1. Multitasking: The reality is that many people multitask. Over the years use windows 8 and 10 on my surface pro devices, I have found it necessary to use two apps side by side as an absolute minimum to be productive. It's the only lacking function missing in the current itterations of windows 10 mobile. If it was enabled now and worked without lag, I think it could have been a disruption of my workflow with apc on my phone for work and private use.
2. All apps should have been uwp ready at launch of continuum. Microsoft should have made uwo coding more developer friendly from the start.The issue now is still that many apps can not be opened in continuum on phone simply because they are not fully uwp encoded. A buzz and productivity killer error from the start. The focus may have been business and native and office apps mainly, but with windows store and an open market for third party apps.
3. Mordernizing the desktop by upgrading the old model of off ns of the desktop to live tiles. I've embraced the live tiles fully over the last 5 yeats. Full screen start with live tiles is an immersive, user definable dashboard, with all the basic glanceable live information and basic files and folders I need, at my finger tips, to get in, get going and get out. Ideal for tablet and 2-in-1 devices. With a dab of tiles becoming tile toast interactive notification widgets it would be a highly productive dashboard on the new desktop.

For me, these relatively small, but minimum relevant, changes, could make a difference for me of considering switching my surface or laptop daily driver for work to a mobile pc device with windows 10 mobile. So not as refined and windows 10 clone desktop UI or Samsung DeX like, but an absolute minimum for making a mobile pc viable on an larger surrogate screen. I think that should be possible with the shell project.

Put it on a Note 8, call it the ATIV 10, wonderful!

 

[mobilejk]

Fact is, Microsoft has always treated mobile like a red headed step child. Until that attitude changes don't expect them to ever succeed in mobile especially with a CEO that shows thru his ACTIONS he doesn't get mobile. Period.

 

[Sin Ogaris]

Continuum is Kinect all over again, they have an amazing product and they run it into the ground because of lacklustre support.

 

[stnm]

The idea is great. An adaptive UI should be available for every screen/input method in any device.
It just doesn't make sense in a phone right now. To connect wirelessly isn't an option because it consumes too much energy. At home, wired to a dock it's inconvenient to use the phone. Like back in 1980.
On the road it's even worse in my opinion. In most cases you would need to carry a laptop dock and/or cables, keyboard and mouse for some screen in a hotel or whatever, probably a powerbank, bluetooth headset for phone calls while docked...
If you loose the phone, it breaks, gets stolen...nada.
Maybe in 10 years.

 

[fatclue_98]

Continuum is Kinect all over again, they have an amazing product and they run it into the ground because of lacklustre support.

No, lackluster sales doomed Continuum. Out of 5 models that support the feature only 2 (AT&T 950 & T-Mobile Idol 4S) made it to carriers in the US. And of those 2, one of them had an atrocious camera. Not exactly a winning combination for the US market that rises and falls on carrier financing.

Microsoft has plenty of poop on its hands the way they marketed Windows phones, but neither the carriers or the non-Lumia OEMs lifted a finger to advertise. Couple that with the tech bloggers who looked like they stepped on a hot steamy pile at the mere mention of a Windows phone and you have what is called The Perfect Storm of

 

[sporosarcina]

right idea, wrong time

I think continuum didn't fail so much as hasn't seen it's glory day yet. The fact that Samsung copied the idea with Dex and Huwei is rumored to have a similar idea in play means it is still an idea with traction but hasn't hit on that Golden addition moment.

I agree that the big issue for me, and I use it on my 950 regularly at my desk, was there was no inking solution to go with it. Inking had become more and more a piece of W10, yet if I want to ink there is no way to do it with a W10M device (not entirely true, you can connect to a tablet and use the touchscreen, but really, come on). If they had created a dummy S3 she'll that it could dock to and the pen worked i would have dropped my S3 and just carried my 950.

I am hoping that a WoA Cshell device with an active pen can reach this golden moment.

 

[matt john2]

TLDR: I don't find Continuum as a necessity in the real world.

Continuum while an awesome concept and in theory it's an innovation but in real life its plain stupid. There are no actual scenario I could think where I need to dock my phone on a readily available mouse, keyboard, and monitor setup so I could glaze upon the Word documents I fully prepared moments before, in a full desktop UI. Aren't Laptops, Tablets or Desktops good enough already to be just their own thing. I'm not gonna spend my hard earned cash on a phone with mouse, monitor, keyboard and docking station and lug those around with me all the time. Who does that? Not to mention with lack of apps Windows 10 isn't the best ecosystem for Continuum. It's feasible in Android hence they're doing it but I doubt many people will embrace it even I won't and I'm a tech nerd.

 

[sporosarcina]

Also remember, everything old is new again at Microsoft. The course of Windows RT is being reborn and improved as W10S and WoA. I think continuum will be reborn as cshell and WoA.