You are exactly right and the reason why I sold my L1520 for an iPhone 6+ (which was really disappointing - horrible Wifi and BT and a lot of app crashes) and just recently bought the Asus ZF2 (M551) for $300. I thought I could handle the app catalog shortcomings but the reality was that even the apps that were there had issues. Rudy helped with his 6-apps but it wasn't enough. I really hope MS can right the ship but they are only going to do that if they get the phones out there and in users hands and a price that is going to undercut everybody else because they don't have anything else to stand on. Maybe Continuum when it's here - the new Acer phones from IFA look promising but Acer is kinda hit or miss with a lot of miss in the handheld spectrum.
I hope Microsoft realizes that $399 or bust for the 950 and $449 for the 950XL. Anything more and it will be just another Amazon Fire phone.
I actually think these phones should sell for cheaper than 399 and 449 for a couple of reasons:
1. Windows 10 Mobile is an unreleased and unproven OS
2. There are no Apps, what's even worse is that they have been talking about closing the app gap for a few years but they have failed time and again to attract developers. The public now knows that this gap is never closing.
3. Microsoft knows that they cannot bring a flagship with similar specs to other flagships to market, there needs to be clear innovation that puts them a step ahead of the competition, it could be hardware, could be software, could be UI (like force touch), etc...
4. Anyone can walk into ATT, TMO, Verizon today and pick up an iphone 5s for next to nothing, comes with all the good microsoft apps, a much better app ecosystem than Windows Mobile, the phone is just as fast, has touch-id login, etc... accessories a gogo...
The new lumias coming out don't even have a leg up on the 5S, let along the 6S with something like 3d touch.
It is clear that these phones are just stop gaps, they look exactly like bigger Lumia 640s for a reason, it's the next step up from those, Microsoft's mid tier phones.
The majority of people that have spent money on Windows phone lately have been paying sub 100$ for them, I'm looking at the 640. It's a damn good phone. One that someone wouldn't mind the empty app store for because the unit is so cheap.
In my opinion, the 950 and 950XL have absolutely zero useful feature that would make me pick them over an iphone 5S or 6.
If Microsoft makes the mistake of pricing these anywhere over 299 and 350, I certainly will watch youtube reviews but there is no way in hell I'm spending 600~700$ like I did on the 1520.
The whole Windows mobile ecosystem is not even ready for a flagship right now if you ask me because of imcomplete OS, the lack of apps, the lost confidence, etc... Unless they bring a phone to market that will be a breakthrough like the Surface pro was, Windows mobile is going to be taking the looooooong route to get there.
I'm excited to see what will come out of these phones as a technologist, but not enough to drop over 350.
As for Apple, I find their products expensive but over the last few years where Microsoft couldn't even get the OS right, we've seen Apple piling innovations after innovations such as apple pay, touch id, 3d touch... it's like they've got a bag of tricks that doesn't dry up and they have enough lead and control on the market that they can release them one at a time without worrying about someone killing them... I'm going to accept this situation and start buying apple stocks and hope that Microsoft at some point comes with a breakthrough device.
It's not the 950 and 950XL, I think we all know that.
I won't even talk about Android, that thing is an insult of a mobile OS.
Cheers,