If I'd had a money, I would...
Well I recommend you get an android. Seriously. An iPhone? You must be joking. I was at a cafe earlier today and (I see **** like this all the time) almost everyone in the cafe (even those sitting at tables next to friends) is on their iPhone. I don't even say smartphone because more often than not when I see someone whip their phone out, it's an iPhone. The term 'sheep' exists for a reason.
And that list of apps you made? Well I see no reason why they 'must' be re-written for 8.1. Not unless they require to take specific advantage of features 8.1 provides. Take calculator for instance. It's a calculator. Does it matter if it's native to 8.0? It's a basic thing that does a basic job; rewriting it 'for the sake of it being as up to date as possible' achieves nothing in this regard. And this same principle applies to many of the apps you listed.
I think too many people are concerned about something being up-to-date and less concerned whether or not it actually NEEDS the update. Whilst some apps like Xbox Music are an example (still waiting on gapless playback) I can safely say the app performs just fine and I've never had it crash, duplicate tracks, freeze or lag. (not for months, back when it was in a far, far worse state!)
MS is starting to slowly kill WP.
They dont care anymore about their own OS and Apps, thats just a fact...live with it.
If there's one thing I cannot stand, it's needless 'doom and gloom'. I see no evidence that MS is trying to kill the platform. That's just not how business works.
I've used a lot of the MS apps; in fact I prefer to use MS apps over third party ones in many cases as they load faster and generally feel more fluid to use. I especially find the bing repertoire of apps to be very fresh and efficient. We have a few 'bad egg' apps out there, but generally? Things are generally very positive.
I mean, if you hate the platform so damn much, why are you still around?
Putting out half-assed hardware? Are you mad? The 930 and 1520 are not 'half-assed'. They're not cutting-edge, but there's a MASSIVE difference between cutting edge and half-assed. We already established they're currently focusing on the budget market, and I was well impressed when I saw the price they'd gotten the 530 down to. At 40 quid, that phone is going to interest a LOT of people.
I think you've somehow gotten the idea that they have abandoned the platform simply because you're not getting what YOU want.