The Verge: Windows Phone is dead

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I'll probably look at getting a Windows Phone again when my contract is up in a few months. After a while the lack of apps didn't bother me and everything i need is there. I don't have any Apple stuff so an iPhone doesn't appeal to me and i have a Galaxy Note 10.1 for my Android apps such as Art Rage.

A Windows Phone will be first on my list to check and i'd never have thought i'd say that a few years ago. Hopefully any rumours of a Surface Phone will have been confirmed/debunked by then too.
 
Good guy Microsoft, trying to make up for the anti-trust years by throwing tons of money at briefly introducing competition into markets they have no business in. I eagerly await Microsoft's self-driving car, home delivery/taxi service, and fiber-optic network.
 
It was never really alive. It just limped on like a zombie ever since it launched. Full x86 Windows on a phone might be Microsoft's Hail Mary before they throw in the towel.
 
I enjoyed the out of the box experience but Windows Phone was never a good platform if you did anything other than use the basic services and apps builtin. I think Microsoft was too aggressive in trying to change it for the sake of changing it instead of fixing the fundamental problems that were mostly based around simply not having apps or getting developers onboard. When the banks decided to stop supporting it about a year ago I just gave up.
 

In 2 months it will be a year since that statement haha

But you did get me excited for a second man :)

How do you people survive with no bank apps? Do you have to log into websites like a caveman?

huh? While I love to have an awesome banking app but come on. Do you check your stuff every min? I have a PC that I use once in a day.

Now if MS cant get something like Apple Pay or Android pay then thats a deal breaker issue for me. Not now but most likely from next year when more and more place accept that payment method.
 
I find Windows Phone from just a basic OS level to be far superior than Android or iOS. I left for the iPhone 6s+ and doubt I'll be back. The level of jank I experienced with WM10 on my other devices showed me the door. The 950 XL wasn't enough to bring me back. The longer I'm on iOS the harder it will be to come back. Yes I had most of the apps I wanted on WP but being on iOS again shows the massive quality difference. It's apparent Microsoft hasn't figured out the formula it wants for a mobile OS. You cannot reboot 4 times and expect dev's to stay on the journey with you. I fully expect to buy the Surface Phone but I feel like that device will be one and done.
 
Supposedly some of the banking apps will be coming back on UWP



Yes, on my desktop or laptop. I don't use the banking app on my iPad as well. I don't have the need to check my balance constantly because there's plenty of money in the account and I also get a daily balance summary email.

How do you deposit checks? Every now and then I get a check and being able to deposit it immediately from my phone is a lifesaver. I couldn't go back.
 
Have loved my lumia 920 since I bought it so sad to see. As a OS Windows Phone is damn great. Shame just that the app support never arrived so it couldn't become mainstream OS. Personally I don't care about most of the apps so not a loss for me but I still understand market realities.
Same for me, love my 920 but the app limitations are ridiculous .
 
huh? While I love to have an awesome banking app but come on. Do you check your stuff every min?

Keep in mind that there are a lot of millennials that live from paycheck to paycheck and their sole device is a cell phone. I can see how having a banking app would be important to them.
 
Called it, but people were arguing with me about it lol:



Windows Phone users: go get yourself an Android to immediately increase your happiness x100.

Stop clinging to a dying platform that couldn't be more dead if it tried. Ditch it.

I did, and I was like the fucking limes guy with this whole new world of apps everywhere. It's seriously like night and day...I don't even consider Windows Phones a smartphone with the zero amount of apps it has.

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I only use the browser, WhatsApp and email. I'll stick with WP until I can find an Android phone that:

- Costs under $150
- Lasts over an entire day on a single charge
- Has actual technical support (and it that doesn't involve shipping the phone to China)
- Receives the latest OS updates without resorting to hacking the device
- Has an usable camera
- Micro SD slot
- Ships with Marshmallow (so the micro SD can actually be used to install apps on without resorting to yet more hacks)
 
How do you deposit checks? Every now and then I get a check and being able to deposit it immediately from my phone is a lifesaver. I couldn't go back.

Fortunately there's an ATM near my workplace. I still don't get why people still write checks instead of using PayPal or some other service. I don't get too many checks and I grit my teeth when I get one instead of an electronic payment. If I was desperate to deposit one, I guess I would pull out the iPad. sometimes the app sucks because I take a couple of pictures, enter the amount and it says that there is a problem and I have to do it all over again. CapitalOne360 app sucks. Bank of America's is better in this aspect.
 
I only use the browser, WhatsApp and email. I'll stick with WP until I can find an Android phone that:

- Costs under $150
- Lasts over an entire day on a single charge
- Has actual technical support (and it that doesn't involve shipping the phone to China)
- Receives the latest OS updates without resorting to hacking the device
- Has an usable camera
- Micro SD slot
- Ships with Marshmallow (so the micro SD can actually be used to install apps on without resorting to yet more hacks)

you don't need marshmallow to install apps on the SD card. my android 4.0 phone was able to do that.
Anyways.. this is probably the closest you will get
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0189RMNNC/?tag=neogaf0e-20
 
I only use the browser, WhatsApp and email. I'll stick with WP until I can find an Android phone that:

- Costs under $150
- Lasts over an entire day on a single charge
- Has actual technical support (and it that doesn't involve shipping the phone to China)
- Receives the latest OS updates without resorting to hacking the device
- Has an usable camera
- Micro SD slot
- Ships with Marshmallow (so the micro SD can actually be used to install apps on without resorting to yet more hacks)


Why do you care about marshmallow when you already admitted to not caring about apps? Really I'd never buy a $150 smart phone, but you basically described the Moto G if you're willing to spend a little more.

Also OS support is 2 years Max on Android outside of Nexus.
 
MS seemed to have a good concept for Windows phone 10, both with universal apps and easy porting of iOS and Android apps, but it seems that nobody has been wanting to push it forwards. Their new phones have been available for several months now and you wouldn't know it if you didn't follow their brand.
Like always, MS has great ideas and the best potential due to their software, but they ruin it with half assed efforts. :/
 
Why do you care about marshmallow when you already admitted to not caring about apps? Really I'd never buy a $150 smart phone, but you basically described the Moto G if you're willing to spend a little more.

Also OS support is 2 years Max on Android outside of Nexus.

Well, if I'm supposed to go to Android for the apps, I'd like to be able to install them without breaking bank.

Until Marshmallow the SD card support for installing apps is a partial lie: apps still need to store their binaries in the private storage, which in many cheap devices is not the same as the internal storage and is often ridiculously small (like 500MBs). This causes "not enough space" errors in phones which supposedly have enough free space and makes 8GB phones nearly unusable regardless of how large a SD card you have attached.

So, if I'll have to pay more to have a phone that's supposed to shower me in apps but can only have 8 or so installed before having to perform fridge management, why bother?


BTW that BLU phone looks good, but I don't think they have tech support in Brazil (so if the phone breaks in SOL).
 
Well, if I'm supposed to go to Android for the apps, I'd like to be able to install them without breaking bank.

Until Marshmallow the SD card support for installing apps is a partial lie: apps still need to store their binaries in the private storage, which in many cheap devices is not the same as the internal storage and is often ridiculously small (like 500MBs). This causes "not enough space" errors in phones which supposedly have enough free space and makes 8GB phones nearly unusable regardless of how large a SD card you have attached.

So, if I'll have to pay more to have a phone that's supposed to shower me in apps but can only have 8 or so installed before having to perform fridge management, why bother?


BTW that BLU phone looks good, but I don't think they have tech support in Brazil (so if the phone breaks in SOL).

Honestly I wouldn't skimp on a phone, it's a companion that goes everywhere with you and your primary connection to the outside world. I'd say cheaping out on a smartphone is worse than cheaping out on a computer.
 
This sounds like something The verge has been wanting to say for a long time, but just now has any data to back it up.

The situation is obviously not good, but seeing the little bits and pieces of where Ms is going you can see they haven't give up on the market. Just as much, since they are not there yet, they have no reason to flood the market with phones that sell a bit but cost them money, just to maintain a ridiculous market share.
 
I really like the core OS in WP, but right now I'm about to jump into IOS with an Iphone 5S that I got from a friend that just needs the screen to be changed.

I got for my wife and Iphone 4 for peanuts too after she grow tired of android and a crappy galaxy mini and I see the differences in the OS with WP but the experience is miles ahead of android.

I'm gonna miss bing images in the lock screen and the tiles in the home menu but even thought I don't use many apps is nice to actually be able to download whatever new thing is created and not to cross fingers to see in they port, or even worse download a version that is unusable that is the majority of cases, Linkedin for example.
 
I really like the core OS in WP, but right now I'm about to jump into IOS with an Iphone 5S that I got from a friend that just needs the screen to be changed.

I got for my wife and Iphone 4 for peanuts too after she grow tired of android and a crappy galaxy mini and I see the differences in the OS with WP but the experience is miles ahead of android.

I'm gonna miss bing images in the lock screen and the tiles in the home menu but even thought I don't use many apps is nice to actually be able to download whatever new thing is created and not to cross fingers to see in they port, or even worse download a version that is unusable that is the majority of cases, Linkedin for example.

The transition from WP to ios is a good one. All MS apps work great. I'm on Android now and I miss WP and IOS. I like the expirenece much better than on Android.
 
left for iOS for Robinhood and find that I barely make use of any of the apps.

Might repair my 920 and just start rocking that again. That lambo yellow.

only other hardware that's come close to as appealing as the 920/1020 line are some of the xperia z's that get rolled out but I don't know if I"m ready to try out android.
 
Honestly I wouldn't skimp on a phone, it's a companion that goes everywhere with you and your primary connection to the outside world. I'd say cheaping out on a smartphone is worse than cheaping out on a computer.

I cannot in good consciousness spend top money on something I carry with me all the time and can be damaged, lost or stolen at any moment.
 
I loved my 920, it was such a great, sturdy phone with an AMAZING camera. Windows Phone OS was also incredible, I loved the live tiles and how intuitive it was to use. The lack of apps is what made me switch to Android... for now.
 
Man I loved my windows phone and would have stayed in that ecosystem even with the terrible app support had Microsoft given me the choice.

When they decided that their new phones were AT&T only I switched back to android. Would love a flagship Windows Phone, but agree that that ship has probably sailed, shame really.
 
If Apple can rise from the Mac grave in the 90s, I think WP has a chance.

Know how Apple rose from death's doorstep with the Mac?

  • They went into extreme focus mode, cutting any product line that didn't have a future, and going from something like 20 computer models to 4.
  • They differentiated themselves by releasing easy-to-use hardware that looked like nothing else on the market, making everything else look stone age in comparison.
  • They released an OS that looked like nothing else and wowed people.
  • They released the carefully-crafted iPod, which got chuckles from "tech experts", but boosted their overall reputation with consumers by an insane degree.
  • They had a CEO that intrinsically knew how to sell to people, and hired the right ad agency, launching a string of memorable ad campaigns.
  • They intentionally targeted growing consumer dissatisfaction with (at the time) crash-happy Windows and a lazy and complacent Microsoft.

Microsoft did one of those with Window Phone. The unique OS. But they never fully stood behind the platform.
 
Know how Apple rose from death's doorstep with the Mac?

  • They went into extreme focus mode, cutting any product line that didn't have a future, and going from something like 20 computer models to 4.
  • They differentiated themselves by releasing easy-to-use hardware that looked like nothing else on the market, making everything else look stone age in comparison.
  • They released an OS that looked like nothing else and wowed people.
  • They released the carefully-crafted iPod, which got chuckles from "tech experts", but boosted their overall reputation with consumers by an insane degree.
  • They had a CEO that intrinsically knew how to sell to people, and hired the right ad agency, launching a string of memorable ad campaigns.
  • They intentionally targeted growing consumer dissatisfaction with (at the time) crash-happy Windows and a lazy and complacent Microsoft.

Microsoft did one of those with Window Phone. The unique OS. But they never fully stood behind the platform.

to put it much easier.
Apple's rise was them on the front line of emerging markets.
(and don't anyone derail this with 'but but but apple didn't invent any of these devices, thanks)

* big storage portable music players (iPod)
* legal digital distribution of music (iTunes)
* consumer focused smart phones (iPhone)
* tablet computers not using a cursor based OS (iPad)

Microsoft had that role with Windows. (personal computers).
They're very 'me-too' kinds of entrants to already established markets. Phones first and foremost, music players of course, a search engine.
And even in those cases where you do it really well (Windows phone 8 / 10 is a good OS, just like Google+ was a good 'platform') - If you're late, you're late.

Had Bing (i.e. a non-cluttered "here's your search bar, here's the OK button, here are good results", none of that MSN crap) existed when we had Lycos, Google, Search.com, Altavista and Yahoo battling for being your browser's homepage.
Had the Zune not been released 5 years after the first iPod.
Had Windows phone been not so late to the party, with prior attempts (Kin Phones!) burning early adopters.

They did reasonably well with the Xbox. Luckily, they nudged themselves into the console landscape when they did.
 
Mainly because Apple has always been Hardware and MS software. BUT I have to say the Surface line has really done wonders for MS and hardware. It's probably the most innovative product to come down the hardware pipe in quite some time. Nobody has been able to successfully copy it 4 years running.
 
I had a windows phone. Honestly, the OS itself is pretty neat and easy to use but I switched to Android because the lack of app support was killing me.
 
Those are all good points, but I was talking about how Apple resuscitated an essentially "dead" platform: Macintosh.

That's the challenge Microsoft is facing.

it's not like the Mac had some meteoric rise, did it?

it was the little engine that could. With the iPhone luring additional people into the Apple ecosystem, the Mac was simply a well built, reliable personal computer, that didn't follow dumb trends like underpowered notebooks, or weird Windows 7 convertibles. i bought my first MacBook simply because i was very satisfied with my original iPhone - so i thought "those people sure make neat hardware".

Slow and steady, slow and steady.
 
Mainly because Apple has always been Hardware and MS software. BUT I have to say the Surface line has really done wonders for MS and hardware. It's probably the most innovative product to come down the hardware pipe in quite some time. Nobody has been able to successfully copy it 4 years running.

I don't think anyone has really been trying to copy the Surface line, because everyone is too busy trying to chase the iPad.

Why chase a market follower when the big money is being made by the market leader?
 
I suspect a large part of the problem with this sales data is that historically the only higher end phone that really received major market share was the 920. For the most part it was lower end phones.

The problem is since the 520 Nokia (and then MS) released a ton of lower end phones that really confused the market as to what the differences were, including some with higher numbers that were actually worse than some with lower numbers (they held onto 512MB RAM for way too long). The 640 was actually a pretty good release, but because of the above the market was pretty confused.

Point being, we haven't had a Win 10 lower end entry yet. They've only released high end models. I suspect we may see an uptick in sales if they get the 650 right (or whatever they bring out).





This of course doesn't change the writing being on the wall in general. It's too bad. It really is the superior OS from a UI and usability standpoint. Too bad they waited too long and took missteps that has meant little app support.
 
I don't think anyone has really been trying to copy the Surface line, because everyone is too busy trying to chase the iPad.

Why chase a market follower when the big money is being made by the market leader?
You haven't been paying attention to the market, have you.

Basically every PC vendor has been ... and the new Pixel from Google and iPad Pro are quite obviously borrowing heavily from it.
 
There's really only room for two operating systems.

I'd disagree, but Microsoft skated to where the puck was too late to be a viable third-party. Windows Phone 7 came out in 2010, and Windows 8 in 2012. No way they were going to take on Android and iOS five years late to the party with a decent OS—if people don't care about apps they can get any phone they want, and Android was already the default choice.

I don't agree (and hope) Windows phones are dead, because a third option is good for everyone, but I dunno how they can successfully kickstart their chances with the market share so small and (unlike the Mac in the dark days of the 90s) there's no small core of serious application makers they can rely on, or niche of pros that use them exclusively.

You haven't been paying attention to the market, have you.

Basically every PC vendor has been ... and the new Pixel from Google and iPad Pro are quite obviously borrowing heavily from it.

I'd say more accurately every PC vendor is trying to figure out the post-PC era, and that coincides with Microsoft's Surface efforts. The iPad Pro tackles some of the same use cases as the Surface but Apple and MS's ethos are widely different. Even Microsoft doesn't see the iPad as competition to the surface—they always compare them to Apple's MacBooks, because they are designed to be "real" computers/laptops that convert to tablets. The iPad Pro is supposed to be a tablet you get "real" work done on. Approaching the same issue from two opposing ends.
 
I don't get the headline, something as to be alive in the first place to die later, right?


sorry if this was mentioned before.
 
I don't think anyone has really been trying to copy the Surface line, because everyone is too busy trying to chase the iPad.

Why chase a market follower when the big money is being made by the market leader?

Have you looked at hardware the past two years? Esp this past? I mean there's a reason why Surface is mentioned in just about every IPAD Pro review. Or Pixel C. Or Vaio Z Canvas. Or...You get the point.
 
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