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Windows Phone doubles share in Europe, trails iPhone by only 1% in Germany

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Re: Windows Phone doubles share in Europe, trails iPhone by only 1% in Germany

#91

Post by hexley »

infinite_snoop wrote: post #56
acchow wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does have fewer apps. No instagram, vine, youtube, dropbox, G+ hangouts (really important for a lot of software engineers), tripadvisor offline city guides, starbucks app, airline check-in from many carriers (United surprisingly does have)... That was just going through the main homescreens on my Android. > I actually only use three "apps" that aren't built in on my WP8 device. I'm not sure what you're trying to s…

I have a Win 8 tablet and the app store is a complete joke. I don't think the "use the browser" argument really holds any water. Lots of UX features are only really available when you go the native route, i.e the new "picture in picture" feature in the Android Youtube app.

>Lots of UX features are only really available when you go the native route, i.e the new "picture in picture" feature in the Android Youtube app.

Could you think of a less worthless feature to demonstrate with though? The YouTube app is getting so bad (certainly on iOS, I assume with Android too) that it's getting where the website will have a better UX than the native app shortly.

Re: Windows Phone doubles share in Europe, trails iPhone by only 1% in Germany

#92

Post by tsotha »

jacalata wrote: post #48
tsotha wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't those apps?

Not by most common sense definitions, no. Here's a simple one for you: if you don't need to use the app store to get it, it's not an app.

That's not really a good definition. The really popular apps come preinstalled, at least they did on my current mobile.

Re: Windows Phone doubles share in Europe, trails iPhone by only 1% in Germany

#93

Post by damon_c »

spongle wrote: post #82
damon_c wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really ironic that Microsoft's OS is being bailed out on its lack of apps by the web. Embrace, extend, extingu..... Embraaaaaaaaaace!!!

Oh please. > It isn't Microsoft's job to write the damn apps, even though they did write a lot to start with themselves to get a good value proposition to start with. And let's apply your flawed logic to other things: "It's really ironic that Windows is being bailed out on its lack of apps by the web". Doesn't work then does it?

I didn't make it up... It was Microsoft's internally used phrase.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish

The irony I was pointing out is that while at one time, Microsoft's Windows ecosystem had a huge advantage in number and quality of apps, now they are the ones relying on the web to fill in gaps where 3rd party software exists on other platforms but has not been written for their minority OS.

Sorry to have offended you.

Re: Windows Phone doubles share in Europe, trails iPhone by only 1% in Germany

#94

Post by preemrust »

spongle wrote: post #52
preemrust wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes it means something when phone is the only device you use and you don't have the app for your banks or airlines or insurance company. A lot of whats there on the windows app store is also shoddy.

You have heard of a web browser haven't you? Everything that there isn't an app for you can do on the damn browser which is good as its the same as full desktop IE10. This is a poor excuse and justification. As for shoddy apps, Google Play has its fair share as well don't forget.

It is not an poor excuse. When I use my bank site via a browser or try to book an airline ticket, there are lots of distractions or offers etc. The app is more usable with minimal distraction and often can retain information offline. I travel extensively and use booking.com app to book all the time. The app stores my hotel booking offline so if I show up in a country where I have not had time to buy a local data SIM, I can still access my booking. As someone who is always converting money, I could use something like xe.com but try using that site on a mobile browser, it is not a good experience and certainly not something you can do with one hand (you are in a cross border town and your other hand is holding your bags or maps etc). Compare that to this new app I am using called Converted. The developers must have really spend time understanding the situations where someone is changing money and the importance of doing your calculation with one hand. And yes Google Play has shoddy apps but Windows is more terrible. Try finding a half decent podcast player on Windows.

Re: Windows Phone doubles share in Europe, trails iPhone by only 1% in Germany

#95

Post by spongle »

preemrust wrote: post #94
spongle wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have heard of a web browser haven't you? Everything that there isn't an app for you can do on the damn browser which is good as its the same as full desktop IE10. This is a poor excuse and justification. As for shoddy apps, Google Play has its fair share as well don't forget.

It is not an poor excuse. When I use my bank site via a browser or try to book an airline ticket, there are lots of distractions or offers etc. The app is more usable with minimal distraction and often can retain information offline. I travel extensively and use booking.com app to book all the time. The app stores my hotel booking offline so if I show up in a country where I have not had time to buy a local data SIM,…

Bank site? Mine doesn't have apps as far as I'm aware for any platform (HSBC). They require two factor auth which makes the app idea pretty pointless as you have to carry two things around with you.

I travel without a smartphone. It's not hard and at least if you lose it (which has happened to me), you're not totally fucked. I really couldn't possibly depend on something like that for anything critical. So many horror stories from colleagues on that front as well. I carry a USB stick with truecrypt encrypted documents on it only.

As for conversion, it's not hard. Any old calculator app (even the s40 calculator) is usable for this. Even a pencil and paper is good enough. The base rate+commission is easy to calculate and is always available on hand. You don't need an app for that. Plus if you want to argue with them and barter which you can do in some places, it works better without a smartphone. In fact its fucking rude to whip one out on half of the planet.

It just sounds like you're justifying the use of a smartphone for these functions rather than specifying a platform advantage when the greatest advantage is gained from not using one.

Re: Windows Phone doubles share in Europe, trails iPhone by only 1% in Germany

#96

Post by spongle »

damon_c wrote: post #93
spongle wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh please. > It isn't Microsoft's job to write the damn apps, even though they did write a lot to start with themselves to get a good value proposition to start with. And let's apply your flawed logic to other things: "It's really ironic that Windows is being bailed out on its lack of apps by the web". Doesn't work then does it?

I didn't make it up... It was Microsoft's internally used phrase. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish The irony I was pointing out is that while at one time, Microsoft's Windows ecosystem had a huge advantage in number and quality of apps, now they are the ones relying on the web to fill in gaps where 3rd party software exists on other platforms but has not been written for their minority OS.…

You have not offended me - don't worry :)

What I'm saying is that the web transcends all platforms so writing an app isn't necessary. Microsoft actually do get this hence the focus on IE and Windows Azure recently. They probably have the best web offering on the cloudy space as well.

Microsoft do everything literally.

as for embrace, extend, extinguish, what you say is true but they got stuffed by the EU so had to start making open specification documents which are now available on MSDN so they have been defanged there.

Re: Windows Phone doubles share in Europe, trails iPhone by only 1% in Germany

#97

Post by ZeroGravitas »

sgloutnikov wrote: post #33

Shouldn't be such a surprise to anyone. Nokia has always done well in Europe. It's a trusted, recognized brand, with lots of credibility, and they had actually just started to deliver again (Lumia 1020 & amazing lower end phones). The road-map for windows phone looks good too. I will admit--I have owned Windows Phones (now a 1020) only because of Nokia, and I am content with them. Sure the 1020 doesn't have all the b…

Almost all the stories about "Windows Phone" doing well in various markets, suggest that it's actually Nokia's brand that's doing all the work. A brand that Microsoft won't be allowed to use on future smartphones if the purchase goes through. That's got to be a worry.

Re: Windows Phone doubles share in Europe, trails iPhone by only 1% in Germany

#98

Post by ZeroGravitas »

I guess "trails Android by only 70% in Germany" wasn't considered a catchy enough headline.

A 5 point increase from last year is certainly positive, but I think Microsoft is going to spend a lot of money to sustain that, and it's only going to get harder when they stop using the Nokia brand for smartphones.

Whatever Nokia was asking for those rights, Microsoft should probably have paid.

Re: Windows Phone doubles share in Europe, trails iPhone by only 1% in Germany

#99

Post by mercer »

Tloewald wrote: post #76
mercer wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm thinking that perhaps the temporary (but lengthy) period in which the iPhone was the most popular phone was, for the most part, an aberration. Apple generally just does it's thing where it doesn't go for the largest market share, but because they were unusually innovative/lucky with the iPhone, they had a period of popularity. The fact that the iPhone 5C isn't the cheap phone we expected seems to confirm this. It…

What's amazing to me is how apple has resisted the temptation to go for market share with the iphone. That said, apple got and sustained a dominant share of the music player business against everyone's expectations and without compromising on quality (although i don't see apple doing an iphone shuffle). It might be that microsoft's success with windows was the aberration. After all DOS and then windows were inferior…

Hmm. I think much of Microsoft's success has more to do with the fact that Apple's emphasis on simplicity in design, ease of use, and computer-as-a-lifestyle-product has only recently started paying off, as computers have become more mainstream and provide 'lifestyle value'.

I remember growing up a really shoddy looking computer in the house, but nobody cared or wanted better because it was in my dad's office and mostly used for work (and only occasionally for a game or two).

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