App gap conspiracy theory!

[Anthony112409p]

Is it possible that the app gap on Windows 10 Mobile could be explained in slightly more sinister terms? The Windows OS is used by most and Microsoft has the market share numbers to prove it... Google and Apple know this. Therefore, a thriving Windows app eco-system would be a genuine threat to both Apple and Google. Actually, they could both be utterly annihilated if Microsoft's ecosystem across platforms were to really take off at some point. It could crush them. Obviously neither company (specifically Google) want this to happen, so it stands to reason that they would take measures to prevent such a thing from ever happening. They have both taken several visible actions to that end. Google, for instance, has stubbornly refused to let its very popular services be turned into usable apps for the Windows 10 Mobile Store. But what about all of the other developers who would almost literally have nothing to lose by simply porting their Android or, more easily, iOS apps to Microsoft. It is the easiest thing to do and takes little to no time (especially for Apple... Android's porting project has apparently been put on hold) or resources at all. So why don't they? I mean, for the situation to still be this dire this far into the game seems to suggest an answer beyond the usual "market share" or "they just don't see the point, etc..." especially since it is so easy, takes very little time, effort, and resources, and they would almost literally have nothing to lose...

Is it possible that Google or Apple could be paying off certain influential developers? Possibly putting exclusivity clauses into their contracts? Or in some other way making it virtually impossible/not in the developer's best interest to port apps to the Windows Store?

I'm not saying that this is definitely the situation, and there certainly isn't much publicly available evidence to support such a hypothesis. But if any two tech firms would be skilled at hiding such evidence, it would be Apple and/or especially Google. It's probably just ****** craziness, to be honest. :winktongue: Just curious what you guys think?

 

[feereless]

Is it possible that the app gap on Windows 10 Mobile could be explained in slightly more sinister terms? The Windows OS is used by most and Microsoft has the market share numbers to prove it... Google and Apple know this. Therefore, a thriving Windows app eco-system would be a genuine threat to both Apple and Google. Actually, they could both be utterly annihilated if Microsoft's ecosystem across platforms were to really take off at some point. It could crush them. Obviously neither company (specifically Google) want this to happen, so it stands to reason that they would take measures to prevent such a thing from ever happening. They have both taken several visible actions to that end. Google, for instance, has stubbornly refused to let its very popular services be turned into usable apps for the Windows 10 Mobile Store. But what about all of the other developers who would almost literally have nothing to lose by simply porting their Android or, more easily, iOS apps to Microsoft. It is the easiest thing to do and takes little to no time (especially for Apple... Android's porting project has apparently been put on hold) or resources at all. So why don't they? I mean, for the situation to still be this dire this far into the game seems to suggest an answer beyond the usual "market share" or "they just don't see the point, etc..." especially since it is so easy, takes very little time, effort, and resources, and they would almost literally have nothing to lose...

Is it possible that Google or Apple could be paying off certain influential developers? Possibly putting exclusivity clauses into their contracts? Or in some other way making it virtually impossible/not in the developer's best interest to port apps to the Windows Store?

I'm not saying that this is definitely the situation, and there certainly isn't much publicly available evidence to support such a hypothesis. But if any two tech firms would be skilled at hiding such evidence, it would be Apple and/or especially Google. It's probably just ****** craziness, to be honest. :winktongue: Just curious what you guys think?

highly doubtful since iOS and Android are utter rivals..

 

[anon(3463402)]

Everything is possible. What could be reason to better support some apps for android and iOS than for Windows?

Viber could be one of those. Current version for android/iOS is 5.6.5, and 4.5.4 for Windows Mobile. WTF?

 

[xandros9]

A conspiracy you say?



Well if it makes you feel better, we're better off than Blackberry 10 and others.

Also, I was reading r/Android earlier today and saw some grumbling like I see here. (Google Authenticator on iOS has material design while Android is stuck on Holo, iOS getting Hangouts 4 before Android... etc.)

 

[vEEP pEEP]

I doubt there is any conspiracy. MS was never as innovative as Apple or Google when it came to phones. Just like Nokia - they were king of the hill, became complacent and lost it. Developer develop with very small prices and make it up on volume. Who would you rather write an app for - potentially a billion people or a million?

There might be a game changer is a killer app could be written for W10 that everyone would want. I keep hoping for some phenomenal idea with Xbox and Hololens (maybe in medicine or military usage) that eventually comes to the consumer. An app you will want on desktops, tablets, TVs, phones and who knows kitchen appliances and drones? Maybe all that info from IoT will need to be processed by a full OS at home to be relevant to me? Maybe that will require seamless integration across one platform? Who knows?

Strange things can happen!

 

[Anthony112409p]

Yeah, I think Microsoft's day will come, that day when they will pay someone... some highly influential developer to create an amazing app for the Windows store that will finally convince others to come on board. I just thought that the conspiracy was a fun idea. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if it turned out to be true, though.

 

[Anthony112409p]

I doubt there is any conspiracy. MS was never as innovative as Apple or Google when it came to phones. Just like Nokia - they were king of the hill, became complacent and lost it. Developer develop with very small prices and make it up on volume. Who would you rather write an app for - potentially a billion people or a million?

I don't think it was lack of innovation on the part of Microsoft. They have accomplished some truly innovative things with Windows Phones and much of their hardware. The problem is that they were too friggin' late. They arrived on the scene with WP7 when everybody was already locked into the eco-systems of either Apple or Google. It was too little, too late.

 

[R0bR]

I don't think it was lack of innovation on the part of Microsoft. They have accomplished some truly innovative things with Windows Phones and much of their hardware. The problem is that they were too friggin' late. They arrived on the scene with WP7 when everybody was already locked into the eco-systems of either Apple or Google. It was too little, too late.

Not quite. MS came in with WP7 in 2010 and in that year Nokia had the largest marketshare of over 40% followed by RIM with around 20%, Apple was around 15% and it was the year Android doubled from what they were in 2009 of 7% to be on par with Apple at 15%. MS got killed because they were late but also developed too slow and released an OS that wasn't complete and has been playing catchup since. When they released WP7 they had the most OEMs supporting with hardware who started to lose interest in waiting for MS to mature the software and moved to Android that was gaining momentum. Although they were late they had an opportunity to gain marketshare and they let it slip away with slow development.

 

[mbrdev]

While I don't usually go for conspiracy theories, I really wouldn't put it past Google to pay developers or make threats to not port their apps to Windows. Things like the great Google Ads hiccup where Windows Phone developers went from 90+% fill rates to 0% for a week or two for no apparent reason really fuel the whole conspiracy fire too.

 

[wolfee48]

I don't mind the app gap. I'm not an app enthusiast. Most apps that are "hot" are the ones we can't get, but are useless and mindless in my opinion.

I was an avid BlackBerry tinkerer… switched back and forth between my HTC One M8 and Blackberry devices. But now that W10 is out and is functional on my HTC, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

But that is just my opinion since I rely heavily on my devices for communication and scheduling.

Not so much off topic… now that BlackBerry has hardware running Android, I’ll be Windows ‘til death do us part.

I do feel that once W10 mobile is “official” the game will change once users experience the power and capabilities of running W10 PC alongside of/with W10 mobile.

Now I’m just waiting for the 950 to be Verizon official. I want Continuum damn it….