If MS cancelled all future phone development, what would you do?

[yihong kang]

Windows for phone will live as long as windows 10. If MS gives up windows for phone, that means they give up windows 10.

They produced surface to bridge tablet and laptop/desktop. They will produce a surface phone at some point to bridge phone and tablet/laptop. This is their vision regarding the future.

If windows really dies as a platform. I may go android. IOS is so restricted and only play nice with apple devices, I don't want to be locked into just one company, and beg them for the good features (e.g. wireless charging, smart cover, curved screen...). Android just need better background management, better update support and less bloatware (at least like wp, let us uninstall those crap very easily).

 

[Carlos002]

Switch to iPhone! Not my preferred! :'(

 

[Michael Dontigney]

Looking through this thread it's apparent MS has been pulling a lot of customers from Apple.. More than from Android.. I came from Android (would never own an apple... anything) and I'd just go back to the latest flagship phablet on Android... I'd miss my 1520 though...when it eventually died...

 

[Indistinguishable]

I'd be pretty sad...

I'd probably hold onto my Icon as long as possible before making a decision. So that's my answer. I'd hold onto my Icon. Just like I did with my Zune :winktongue:

 

[Darthbobcat]

Hm. Probably go for an iPhone, if there wasn't a viable forked Android option available (like, if Microsoft stopped Windows Phone development in favor of something like Nokia X).

 

[paulxxwall]

WP won't be going away.

Tommorow is guaranteed for no one. But you maybe right about maybe not going away. In contrast look at bb....there still around. So yeah at that rate sure they'll gang around.

 

[NBrookus]

... and for all the pissing and moaning going on about the WP "app gap," I haven't found a single thing I did on my Android that I didn't find an alternative for on Windows Phone. GPS navigation, NFC payment, health/exercise, controlling my TV, banking, bill payments, news, social media, real time translation... all of it's there.

Credit card processing is missing and that's a really big one. I have to borrow my husband's Android phone when I do a show.

There was one for a while (Cube), but they rolled up the doors after shafting enough users on the hardware we had to purchase.

 

[TLRtheory]

Credit card processing is missing and that's a really big one. I have to borrow my husband's Android phone when I do a show.

There was one for a while (Cube), but they rolled up the doors after shafting enough users on the hardware we had to purchase.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsuvmMP9wZE
Skip to 0:41. We'll have credit card processing on our phones.


EDIT: Actually, I just remembered something... credit card processing isn't even missing from WP right now!

Credit Card Terminal for Windows Phone http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=58b2239f-30de-df11-a844-00237de2db9e

 

[Mike Majeski]

What we also forget is while Windows Phone might be a rarity in the US, in the international market it is popular. Maybe that means fewer flagships in the future and less exciting phones in the US, but I highly doubt they kill off an entire product because of one customer base.

 

[CapoFantasma97]

What we also forget is while Windows Phone might be a rarity in the US, in the international market it is popular. Maybe that means fewer flagships in the future and less exciting phones in the US, but I highly doubt they kill off an entire product because of one customer base.

In Europe is strong, but it's slowly losing quotes.
They have to make some flagships if they don't want to lose the market here.

 

[MikeSo]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsuvmMP9wZE
Skip to 0:41. We'll have credit card processing on our phones.


EDIT: Actually, I just remembered something... credit card processing isn't even missing from WP right now!

Credit Card Terminal for Windows Phone http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=58b2239f-30de-df11-a844-00237de2db9e

This has been around for a while, i remember one of my IT contract clients having our guys set this up in 40 of their workstations across different sites since it worked with their Windows 8 machines and their company phones (which i was a bit shocked to find were all Windows Phones).

ONE app with 39 reviews, most highly negative because of the cost which would be almost $500/year even without counting any transactions.

That's a perfect indicator of where WP is app-wise...

 

[TLRtheory]

ONE app with 39 reviews, most highly negative because of the cost which would be almost $500/year even without counting any transactions.

That's a perfect indicator of where WP is app-wise...

A couple things wrong with that train of thought. I actually do agree that - looking from the view of an individual - $39/mo sounds unreasonable, but all the same - even a struggling company can manage $500/yr. If they can't, they've likely got much larger problems than trying to integrate a credit card terminal. That's a relatively mild business expense. Also, if you delve beyond just checking the scores, you'll find there's users that have knocked 75% off their monthly fee just from contacting the company. Always worth checking the content of the reviews and not just the scores.


This is a perfect indicator of where WP is in the app game, but only because we had someone say a feature was missing when we actually do have it. Having a crowd of oblivious judges is arguably one of WP's biggest problems. Hearing that people simply think things aren't there when they are speaks volumes to the horrid PR job Microsoft's done for their mobile products. Microsoft can't expect Windows Phone to get ahold of more market share if they do nothing to cure their userbase's oblivion.

What we also forget is while Windows Phone might be a rarity in the US, in the international market it is popular. Maybe that means fewer flagships in the future and less exciting phones in the US, but I highly doubt they kill off an entire product because of one customer base.

On a related note, I believe they need to simplify their hardware model before they can reach more markets. Release a cheap, low-end phone to imp the success of the Lumia 520, a higher-end phone, a phablet and maybe one specialty phone akin to the Lumia 1020. No more than four, because that's just more confusion, more firmware that'll be trickled out in a molasses-like fashion, and more they'll have to support... ubiquity is a necessary evil, but let the third-parties create it. All that should come out of Microsoft are 2-4 world phones that have no ridiculously convoluted variants so that they can be supported and kept up to date.

 

[Grimlock]

Why? They still sell twice as many phones in a quarter than they sell X-Boxes in a year so if it makes sense to keep selling X-Box, it makes 8 times more sense to keep selling phones, doesn't it? Market share won't matter, as long as they are making money on it and the smartphone market is big enough that they can make good money with a 5% share.

You can't compare phones to xboxes. MS makes way more from selling xbox games than it does the hardware. It's a very different business model. Also they make an xbox one and sell what is fundamentally the same system for 5+ years reducing the costs of the systems over time and making more off of hardware sales. Phones are essentially updated every year and MS isn't exactly killing it when it comes to app sale cuts on WP. They probably get more from one game (i.e. GTA or Madden) than any WP app over its entire lifespan.

 

[DJCBS]

No microSD support on the Z, not even sure if the ZX1 has this!

Yes, both the ZX1 and ZX2 support microSD cards up to 128GB (and most likely the upcoming ones with double that storage). Then again, they cost 550€ and 1200€. It would be scandalous if they didn't lol

 

[big dooze]

made the switch today to iPhone 6+....I do this, with the intent on getting a WP10 device when they come out next year. I REALLY want Windows Phone to work, but with the app store "shrinking", no youtube app, no local banking apps, etc, its an uphill battle.

 

[Praxius]

made the switch today to iPhone 6+....I do this, with the intent on getting a WP10 device when they come out next year. I REALLY want Windows Phone to work, but with the app store "shrinking", no youtube app, no local banking apps, etc, its an uphill battle.

No YouTube app?

There's oodles in the app store. Maybe not an official one (can't say I ever checked for an official one) but there are plenty.

Besides, why would anybody want an official YouTube app? They certainly wouldn't let you download any videos from the app, yet almost all the third party apps do in the Windows store.

Last I checked, Android / Google doesn't allow any apps in their store that allows downloading YouTube videos.

What's more, Windows Phone's Internet Explorer plays the YouTube videos just fine right on the web page.

Windows Phone is probably the best mobile environment to watch YouTube.

Lack of bank apps?

If that's your concern and it's really that much of a problem for you, so be it.

App Store is shrinking?

Hardly. I've been following the news as of late and while a few big name apps have been pulled, I can honestly say that I personally never even used any of them.

Meanwhile, others have been pulled temporarily as they're being updated, be that for a big overhaul or because they're getting it ready for Windows 10.

Either way, more apps are being added than being removed.

Oh well, enjoy your iPhone.

 

[gwinegarden]

I'd, most likely, go back to Blackberry.

 

[DavidinCT]

App Store is shrinking?

Hardly. I've been following the news as of late and while a few big name apps have been pulled, I can honestly say that I personally never even used any of them.

Good for you. As others almost every app that was killed off, or not updated has effected me.

It's getting old...

 

[MikeSo]

A couple things wrong with that train of thought. I actually do agree that - looking from the view of an individual - $39/mo sounds unreasonable, but all the same - even a struggling company can manage $500/yr. If they can't, they've likely got much larger problems than trying to integrate a credit card terminal. That's a relatively mild business expense. Also, if you delve beyond just checking the scores, you'll find there's users that have knocked 75% off their monthly fee just from contacting the company. Always worth checking the content of the reviews and not just the scores.

I did read the reviews, hence my comment about them being negative mostly because of the high cost. You cannot seriously believe that it's ok that users have to haggle about the cost, I hope.

As I said, it's an indicator of where WP is app-wise. There is ONE credit card processing app (apparently?), it's hideously expensive for someone that just wants to use it every once in a while, and it has 39 reviews. Yes $39/month isn't that much for a business, but for the girl that just wants to sell her Girl Scout cookies, it's a barrier.

I see these types of credit card apps ALL THE TIME at events like craft fairs, kids' sports events, etc. If WP only manages to scrunch together 39 reviews for something like this that is the only app available, it's an indicator of how the app market is doing.

 

[big dooze]

Chase bank pulled app, American Airlines pulled app. If you travel, like I do, those are kind of important