WP OS customisation by OEMs

[poiman]

Hey everyone!

One of the things I love about WP is that it has the same experience across all phones that use it, no matter what brand it is! All the crap OEMs put in their phones can be deleted on WP which is great! Great for us, CONSUMERS!! But let's face it! What is a great reason for us to like WP, is also a great reason for OEMs to choose Android. OEMs and carriers want to differentiate the user experience of their phones, but that won't be easy on WP!

So, this got me thinking out of the box! While I don't like OEMs OS customisation, I would like to see WP getting more market share. And that means giving OEMs some of the stuff they want.

So the question is, how do you give OEMs OS customisation without allowing them to ruin your OS?

I had a little idea and I would like to know your thoughts on it.

What if a swipe right on the Start Screen brought you to an OEMS customisable screen? That would not be intrusive because you wouldn't need to see it unless you made that swipe right from the start screen. It could be also controlled by MSFT in terms of what kind of stuff OEMs could put there. It could have a different wallpaper, have icons, widgets or live tiles, it could be something like HTC's Blink Feed or Samsung's Magazine UI on Android. The bottom line is that it would be there to please OEMs but you wouldn't need to see it unless you wanted to.

Any comments?

 

[rafal soboczynski]

Nope, don't like, don't scare us like that

 

[poiman]

Nope, don't like, don't scare us like that

What's your solution for carrier OS customisation? If your solution is "do nothing", then good luck getting their support!

 

[rafal soboczynski]

What's your solution for carrier OS customisation? If your solution is "do nothing", then good luck getting their support!

That's exactly what windows is about, you see iPhone always have the same software and everyone and no one minds, if you look around a high percentage of people who buy android phones really want unified experience such as nexus phones. I'm actually happy that Microsoft doesn't allow OEMs to modify windows phone, bit of the day comes I'll switch to iPhone. I think what windows phone 8.1 update 1 brings with ability to craft interactive cases is enough. But that's just my opinion

 

[AG VK]

That's exactly what windows is about, you see iPhone always have the same software and everyone and no one minds, if you look around a high percentage of people who buy android phones really want unified experience such as nexus phones. I'm actually happy that Microsoft doesn't allow OEMs to modify windows phone, bit of the day comes I'll switch to iPhone. I think what windows phone 8.1 update 1 brings with ability to craft interactive cases is enough. But that's just my opinion

Apple can dictate terms to carriers because people WILL switch carriers if the latest iPhone is not available. So they can force carriers to approve OTA updates and sell iPhones without carrier customisation. Another part of this is that Apple provides service and support for their hardware directly, not like other OEMs where the carrier is responsible for support.

 

[rafal soboczynski]

Apple can dictate terms to carriers because people WILL switch carriers if the latest iPhone is not available. So they can force carriers to approve OTA updates and sell iPhones without carrier customisation. Another part of this is that Apple provides service and support for their hardware directly, not like other OEMs where the carrier is responsible for support.

I would love to see that happening with every phone, where manufacturer can update it directly without need for carriers approval

 

[poiman]

The thing is Apple doesn't need and will never need to convince OEMs to use iOS! It's not part of their strategy. And yes, I know customers don't exactly want a different experience for each OEM brand. But this thread isn't about consumer needs, it's about OEMs needs. People must understand how OEM support is vital for WP! And MSFT must find a solution to make both consumers and OEMs happy. The best way to do it is developing a solution that offers OEMs what they want without letting them ruining the OS and without being too intrusive for consumers. That's what I'm trying to get here.