I am always amused when people start talking about things like SnapChat as some sort of important must-have app that their lives depend upon or they'll die unfulfilled. It's just today's pet rock.
Seriously.
But to each their own. Everyone has their particular requirements.
I look for a phone in a smartphone. And access to the internet. All things internet. News and information, especially. And it's good for productivity... getting at emails, being able to view and update things like documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and other such office-related activities.
I don't buy a phone to play games. But sometimes I might play a game.
What was nice about Windows Phone is that the ecosystem wasn't wrapped in rubber bumpers with twenty nannies to watch over every aspect of using the phone (Apple), and it wasn't a hash of every random way possible to do anything, where every manufacturer gets to "improve" upon the interface, such that "Android compatible" was almost meaningless, requiring tracking version numbers of device specs to figure out what may or may not almost work.
And it offered a far more interesting integration; things weren't separated by Apps. The services provided by Apps were integrated together in ways that really were useful. Of course, so much of that is diminished. But I can't blame Microsoft so much there as it's the App owners that had their services integrated better that really were at fault for not wanting their content used in such a manner -- pretty much like cable companies want to control the UI of their PPV/streaming.viewing platforms and not let third-parties be able to do something innovative with the content.
If something drastically changes in the smartphone landscape I can buy another phone. The world isn't ending. I pay far more for the cellular service each year than I do for any one phone. And even if I don't switch to other ecosystems, I still keep buying different phones regularly. I can switch anytime I think it's valuable to me to do so.
Yeah, I believe some companies make incredibly stupid decisions and statements. That's hardly anything new, either. If some CEO wants to declare he'll never support platform X, then fine. He's an ***** for blindly limiting his user base. But he can be an *****, there's no law preventing that. The free market works its way through such things. Like the guy trying to sell $750 pills who now can't even sell the pill at the original $13 price since another company is selling the same thing for $1. Not to mention the incredibly bad press he is getting over the whole matter.
But the ecosystem landscape is about to change a lot; while it won't be completely effort-free, with the tools to readily port iOS and Android apps, developers with a brain who just want more potential customers will do so readily. Especially when doing so could also expand their potential user base to the Windows desktop, and eventually into Xbox game consoles and future devices like HoloLens.
There was a time when cell phones were installed in vehicles not carried around. Then it became commonplace to have cell phones one could carry in a pocket. Then they turned into smarter devices with the ability to run programs that did more than make phone calls. Just like portable cassette players became portable CD players and then portable MP3 players which then got combined into our smarter phones. And cameras became digital cameras which got merged into smarter phones. Equipment changes. People adapt. Everything changes. Yesterday's must-have is tomorrow's who-cares. Who knows what's next. But there will be a next.
I'm satisfied with Windows Phone. I'd like some things to be different. But anyone will come up with things that they believe would be improvements, no matter what ecosystem they use. The device we're about to get is top-of-the-line, no matter what naysayers think about it not being glass and metal (which itself is a silly belief). It stands spec-to-spec against the best phones from every manufacturer, if not exceeding them in just about every way. There's very little that could be added to them from available tech. I do feel for Microsoft, though. They have been forced to reinvent so many things over and over. I'd really like to see the platform get this sort of attention to improve rather than to be gutted and replaced. I think we're at least finally to that point. The Universal app and common kernel have some significant advantages over what has come before.
Almost anybody can build a phone nowadays. Reference designs, common chipsets, and a whole horde of me-too designs proves that. It's no longer rocket science. Innovation is the key, now. What comes next. And how that can fit into the bigger picture. Computing devices tied with different interfaces -- cellular, displays, holographic, visual, tactile, projected, images, maybe even neutrally connected one day. You want ways to leverage together all the work done for any of those devices and interfaces as new ones become available and desirable.