Windows Phone has arrived

[ljkelley]

Title says it all. I really believe the OS is hitting critical mass. And 100% believe that it is selling 4x what it sold last year. WP8 has mind share. Let me share my anecdotal reasons.
I am an earlier adopter. I got the HTC HD7, then the Lumia 710 and now I have a Lumia 920 Dev. I saw an HD7 out at the club once, but beyond that haven't seen much penetration. I gave my HD7 to my mother in law when I switched to the Lumia and my husband still has his HD7 that I got for him.

But in the last few weeks, things have become different. First my Mac friend, who owned the original iphone, moved from his Verizon iPhone 4 to Lumia 920 on AT&T. Of note he is still totally mac, with an iPad 3, Retina MacBook, iMac, AppleTV. His main reasoning was prior Nokia ownership, design of phone and OS, and lack of interest in new iPhone. He knew I was a Microsoft fan, but I didn't overly pressure him beyond our usual jokes back and forth about our 'superior' platforms.

But then another friend got his first smartphone. Again a Lumia 920 on AT&T. I asked why, he said he did his research and that was apparently best for first time buyers. I had no prior knowledge.

Then a third friend surprised me last night, got an Lumia 822 on Verizon. He had told me he was upgrading to a smartphone and I explained the 3 current main offerings was Apple, Google, and Microsoft. It still amazes me that people don't associate Samsung with Google but I explained. I did tell him what I was using and why. I also told him the iPhone had the best Apps and Android the best customization.

So he is showing off his phone at a holiday party I went to last night. And people are commenting about it and then my phone. First thing is people actually know what Windows Phone is and what tiles are... I think in part due to Windows 8. Second a vocal minority of iPhone users are tired of the iPhone, the iPhone 5 was enough for them. In that party of the people that continued to talk tech, probably the biggest negative for Windows Phone was apps. In that group of people I would say Instagram and Grindr. But for some that's not a problem, most are on a contract and would honestly consider Windows Phone especially if that last few apps come in. Obviously every social group will be different, but I really think its just a few more apps now needed.

But unlike last year or the year I bought my HD7, people know Windows Phone. The Verizon store my friend bough the 822 at has a Windows Phone expert. People are actually considering it. First time smartphone buyers are choosing it, because apps are not a problem. And you even have people switching with iPhone users imho being the most receptive.

 

[david90531]

I am also an earlier adopter and I love WP, so I hope you're right!! I think it's definitely much bigger in the U.S. at the moment than in Canada, Canadians are SLOW with tech, and there's no surprise, because of horrible companies like Rogers exist and took over

 

[Keith Wallace]

I wasn't an early adopter, but I had planned to be. I had actually convinced my cousin and a friend of my sister to both get the Samsung Focus (cousin now has a Lumia 900, I think my sister's friend has a Galaxy S III). However, right when WP7 came out, Verizon had a buy one, get one free sale on a few of their Android devices. I was on AT&T, but my sister was going to Verizon to get an Android device, and I figured "free smartphone, what the heck." Two years later, I was ecstatic to get away from Android and onto Windows Phone 8. I've had my Lumia 920 (yeah, went back to AT&T, which has better service in my area) for about 5 weeks now, and I love it. I convinced my sister to get a Lumia 822 on Verizon over the 8X (basically explained to her Nokia's exclusives with apps).

I can proudly say that I like the apps on Windows Phone more than I ever did on Android. For one, I always felt like that Droid Incredible (the piece of garbage that it was/is) was a pit stop to Windows Phone because it was free. I never really loved anything about the device, and that the audio quality was poor (and the music app started crashing pretty early on) drove me nuts, as I was HOPING to be able to leave my Zune at home and use the phone (which is the case now; I leave my Zune HD at home because my Lumia 920 is a great device for music). On Android, I only found one app ever that lasted more than a month or two on my phone, and that was Trillian. Granted, I kind of miss that app because it was a great IM client (so good I still use it over IM+ on my Windows 8 desktop), but the games never enticed me too much.

Coming over to Windows Phone, I was excited to get to Xbox LIVE, for starters (been on the service for about 9.5 years). I've found several games I like, and a few I love (especially Wordament). I've played games more on my Lumia 920 in a month than I probably did in a year on my Droid Incredible. I've just been so pleased with the interface, games, and music options (Nokia Music is the best streaming service around, IMO). I honestly can't see why people are so in-love with Android or iOS, to be honest.

 

[Optimus82]

Yea. People I know are impressed with the smoothness of WP7/8.

I only wish MS will let devs mess with more api's. This is what I liked about android. There are apps and then there are apps that actually bring new features to the platform without having to wait for it to be a new feature in future official updates.