Posted on 12/27/2011 7:38:34 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Good question.
However, if you want an honest opinion, it's usually best to go straight to the source. A former GM who used to work on Windows Phone 7 for Microsoft, Charlie Kindel, took to his personal blog today with some thoughts on why Microsoft's mobile efforts seem so stagnant.
It boils down to carriers, manufacturers, and the companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft who make the operating system are all locked in this big three-way pissing contest to see who gets the most say in marketing a device.
According to Kindel, Android is crushing iOS and Windows Phone 7 when it comes to marketshare simply because its open platform allows manufacturers and carriers to get away with whatever they want, while cranking out dozens of devices a year.
And yes, that means bloatware, nasty skins, and fragmentation on your Android phone. But it also means carriers get to promote the hell out of those phones thanks to their massive marketing budgets.
Here's Kindel:
Google has been wildly successful with Android (at least in terms of units) because Android was built to reduce friction between all sides of the market. It ‘bows down’ to the device manufactures AND the carriers. It enabled device manufactures to do what they do best (build lots of devices). It enabled carriers to do what they do best (market lots of devices). It enabled users tons of choice. My hypothesis is that it also enables too much fragmentation that will eventually drive end users nuts.
On the other hand, although Windows Phone 7 can be licensed to any device, Microsoft has a set of specs each manufacturer must follow in order to ensure the best user experience. It's not as perfect as Apple's approach of designing both the hardware and software,
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
For any Microsoft fans out there ( and here in FR, I think they are very few ), next year is going to be the make or break moment for Windows Phone. The long awaited Nokia Lumia 800, which is an excellent device, will finally arrive in the U.S. With it comes all of Nokia’s marketing might that Kindel thinks Windows Phone is missing. If Nokia delivers a dud, it could easily take Windows Phone down with it.
(And for those software developers out there, it might not be worth your precious time mastering how to program for the Windows Phone ).
What pisses me off most about my Windows 7 phone is that it won’t synch with Microsoft Outlook - I have to move all my contacts to my Hotmail account and double-enter every appointment on my Calendar. Really, Microsoft? You make BOTH PRODUCTS!!
Have a Windows phone, and it is remarkably non-intuitive.
Haven’t used the other systems, but it’s difficult to imagine them being worse.
Wishful thinking from an Apple zombie. Anyone who gives a damn about 'fragmentation' can simply flash a custom rom.
IMHO, the biggest problem Windows Phone has is that it's from the same company who released the horrendous Windows Mobile. I used that garbage on HTC phones for a couple of years. It was so traumatizing that I'd actually be afraid to rely on any device running Windows.
That is crazy. I figured Windows phone would do well with business since they could tightly integrate with ms office. Surprising that they made it that difficult!
Sounds like he doesn't like the short development cycle that open platforms offer.
I disagree with him that the open cycle will degrade the customer experience.
The strong will survive, and the weak will die out. The market and the customers will determine which survives.
Meanwhile innovation occurs about 10 times faster on the open system, than on the closed system.
Sucks to be an old, slow dinosaur when those pesky mammals can outbreed you. ;)
/johnny
OK mom, I know we’re on the phone a thousand miles away, but really, all you have to do is “flash a rom” - It’s easy.
Good luck with that. Not everyone is tech-savy. I’d imagine 98% of the folks owning smart phones could not do what you describe themselves.
Honestly, I'm not anybody's "fan". But I want Microsoft to succeed with Windows Phone (and Windows 8). They need to be in this market or they will atrophy and become irrelevant, and that's not going to be good for anyone.
> (And for those software developers out there, it might not be worth your precious time mastering how to program for the Windows Phone ).
That's a killer; if developers stay away, WP is dead.
The thing is, Apple's iOS approach, and Google's Android approach, cover the two workable possibilities already -- the gorgeous but walled garden, and the open but fragmented litterbox.
What Microsoft is doing, by NOT controlling the entire process, but by setting tight restrictions, seems to combine the worst, not the best, of each approach. They have constructed a walled litterbox.
*sigh* I truly hope they figure it out in time.
I love my windows phone. I have the samsung focus and every time I look at someones Iphone or Android I feel like I went back in time. Their displays are cluttered and it’s hard to read the icons. On my phone, the display is one of the best around and it integrates with Exchange, Lync server, Facebook so I have all of work email, contacts, IM etc in one place.
Charlie Kindel...
With a name like that, he should be working for Amazon.
RE: Honestly, I’m not anybody’s “fan”. But I want Microsoft to succeed with Windows Phone (and Windows 8).
________________
The reason why I said what I said is because everytime Windows is mentioned in these forums, it inevitably gets the whole gamut of ridicule from many posters.
Windows is at the same time, one of the most successful, yet one of the most disliked products out there.
My android tablet sucks in all the right ways. My kids love it as an Angry Birds platform. I love it because my kids love it. It operates well with my wife’s android phone (I refuse to use a cell phone). Top that, MicroSwift.
I have one, and it works perfectly fine. My wife’s iPhone is a total pain to operate compared to it.
As far as this “failing” nonsense, it comes across as the typical “clear the field of options” garbage that is the hallmark of tech enthusiast these days. Have an iPhone? Well everything else is crap and “failing”. Android? Same attitude.
As if somehow a platform has to sell 100,000,000 units in a year to be a credible platform. Microsoft has created a great OS that has received lots of developer attention and has some of the highest satisfactory rates out there. Far higher than Android, and saw in one case, better than iOS.
They are doing better in their infant years than Android. Most people dont remember the scorn heaped on the G1 and other early Android phones for bugginess, ugly hardware, and “fragmentation”.
The Win7 phone is junk from my experience.
The reason why I said what I said is because everytime Windows is mentioned in these forums, it inevitably gets the whole gamut of ridicule from many posters.I use opensuse 12.1 so I don't even need to write what I want to write because you already know my script by heart. So, blah, blah, blah, etc., &c.
Could it be, that when all things are considered - that MSFT simply cannot compete with other companies like it once could?
Back in the day (70-80’s) MSFT did very well, standing up and innovating and competing. It won the Office suite fair and square.
But, since then:
Kin1 and Kin2- released, hyped, failed and dumped.
Zune - released, hyped, failed and dumped
Courier - released, hyped, failed and dumped
Now, do you really want to sign a 2 year contract with a company that has established a pattern of not supporting their products, if they are not immediately successful in the market?
“IMHO, the biggest problem Windows Phone has is that it’s from the same company who released the horrendous Windows Mobile. I used that garbage on HTC phones for a couple of years. It was so traumatizing that I’d actually be afraid to rely on any device running Windows. “
So the point is that you never actually used a WP7 device after using 6.x?
I have. They are not the same in any way.
> Not everyone is tech-savy. I’d imagine 98% of the folks owning smart phones could not do what you describe themselves.
And of the remaining 2% who know how to do it in theory, most WON'T do it, because even though they know how, they don't feel like risking a brick. It takes a certain amount of high motivation to do it. I know, because I'm generally one, though there are some things I won't take chances with.
The actual percentage of highly-motivated tech-savvy users who screw around with their phone's flash-ROM programming is minuscule. Might be tens of thousands of users, which sounds like a lot until you remember that there are a thousand times that many users who consider their phone a black box device and don't screw around with it.
My wife has an HTC Arrive (Windows Phone) and she likes it. I think pretty highly of it as well.
It could us some fine tuning and that said I think it has the potential to be the best phone OS on the market.
I love my EVO 3D, but I think I would rather have a Windows Phone instead.
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