Well, Windows Phone has failed to gain traction in the marketplace and therefore lacks a proper app ecosystem.
Second, I think the WP8 UI very divisive. You either love it or you don't. Personally, I think it's a Pepsi. Sweet on first impression, but cumbersome to use every day. Too much scrolling (can't use muscle memory) and giant typography which distract from the content.
I was referring to the Windows Phone app ecosystem. There is no app ecosystem for WP8 yet, and I assume that it will allow you to run WP7 apps.
And I did use WP7 for a week. My impressions of the Metro-style are that it is love-or-hate and I fall into the latter. WP8 is a continuation the Metro design language.
> Well, Windows Phone has failed to gain traction in the marketplace and therefore lacks a proper app ecosystem.
Could you expand on what you see as a proper app ecosystem?
- It can't be the tooling, Visual Studio and .NET have a pretty huge install bases.
- Is it the distribution channel?
- Is it that there aren't 60,000,000 apps like for Android? If so that number should be reduced down to about the ~5000 apps that are actually worth a crap in Android in which case Windows phone would probably stack up pretty well.
- It can't be moentization, just yesterday most of read of the heartbreaking case of Retickr (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4475918), after a year of nearing the top of the app store for iPhone (which is assumed to be a more profitable demographic) they still shut down after burning through (some/all?) founder savings, plus a seed round plus a funding round. It seems if you make a profit in ANY app ecosystem you are an outlier.
What is Microsoft missing that would make it "proper"?
> What is Microsoft missing that would make it "proper"?
Apps on par with Android and iOS. Sure WP has a Twitter app, but it's ancient. Several other popular "must-have" apps are there, but are not at feature parity with competing platforms.
I think that's the one big thing Windows Phone is missing: versions of apps that don't suck, and don't lag features behind competing platforms.
Outside the Microsoft crowd, developer/buyer interest is virtually non-existent, which is sad because I think it's a rather great platform. It's fast, pretty, elegant and useful.
In my experience of having used a WP7 phone for the last two months, I'd say a twitter app is almost useless on the windows phone. Twitter is already baked into the the people hub, as is facebook. I would appreciate a proper Google+ app though.
I can't speak to all the competing apps. I do wish there were a version of DragonBox algebra for WP. That's the only one I've pined for that wasn't available, although I am looking forward to the new Evernote mobile features making their way over to me eventually.
Comments
> Windows 8 on a Nokia is like taking a camel to a horse race.
What are you basing this statement on?
Well, Windows Phone has failed to gain traction in the marketplace and therefore lacks a proper app ecosystem.
Second, I think the WP8 UI very divisive. You either love it or you don't. Personally, I think it's a Pepsi. Sweet on first impression, but cumbersome to use every day. Too much scrolling (can't use muscle memory) and giant typography which distract from the content.
> Well, Windows Phone has failed to gain traction in the marketplace and therefore lacks a proper app ecosystem.
Can you even buy a WP8 phone yet? Give it a year after it's released before passing judgment on its app ecosystem.
You're confusing the old with the new.
Their whole deal here is that they are re-inventing the product line. It's not the old WP flop anymore.
> Personally, I think it's a Pepsi. Sweet on first impression, but cumbersome to use every day.
That's coming from someone that's never even used it once!
Personally, I think they have an awesome product. Once MS and manufacturers gear up their marketing, we'll see what happens.
I was referring to the Windows Phone app ecosystem. There is no app ecosystem for WP8 yet, and I assume that it will allow you to run WP7 apps.
And I did use WP7 for a week. My impressions of the Metro-style are that it is love-or-hate and I fall into the latter. WP8 is a continuation the Metro design language.
> Well, Windows Phone has failed to gain traction in the marketplace and therefore lacks a proper app ecosystem.
Could you expand on what you see as a proper app ecosystem?
- It can't be the tooling, Visual Studio and .NET have a pretty huge install bases.
- Is it the distribution channel?
- Is it that there aren't 60,000,000 apps like for Android? If so that number should be reduced down to about the ~5000 apps that are actually worth a crap in Android in which case Windows phone would probably stack up pretty well.
- It can't be moentization, just yesterday most of read of the heartbreaking case of Retickr (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4475918), after a year of nearing the top of the app store for iPhone (which is assumed to be a more profitable demographic) they still shut down after burning through (some/all?) founder savings, plus a seed round plus a funding round. It seems if you make a profit in ANY app ecosystem you are an outlier.
What is Microsoft missing that would make it "proper"?
> What is Microsoft missing that would make it "proper"?
Apps on par with Android and iOS. Sure WP has a Twitter app, but it's ancient. Several other popular "must-have" apps are there, but are not at feature parity with competing platforms.
I think that's the one big thing Windows Phone is missing: versions of apps that don't suck, and don't lag features behind competing platforms.
Outside the Microsoft crowd, developer/buyer interest is virtually non-existent, which is sad because I think it's a rather great platform. It's fast, pretty, elegant and useful.
In my experience of having used a WP7 phone for the last two months, I'd say a twitter app is almost useless on the windows phone. Twitter is already baked into the the people hub, as is facebook. I would appreciate a proper Google+ app though.
I can't speak to all the competing apps. I do wish there were a version of DragonBox algebra for WP. That's the only one I've pined for that wasn't available, although I am looking forward to the new Evernote mobile features making their way over to me eventually.
> Second, I think the WP8 UI very divisive
On the desktop this is the case. But on phones and tablets it has been universally praised, except by Android fanboys.