a Windows Phone developer takes a look back at the past year, and looks at some of the numbers, to try to measure how the new mobile platform is coming along. Example: “1,200 – While the 36,000 registered developers are nice to talk about, the 1,200 newly registered developers we are adding every week is incredibly encouraging. Developers are pragmatists and they are going where there is ample opportunity.”
A measly 1200 new developers a week? Really???
Then again, I guess that’s a lot for a platform that doomed to fail.
I don’t know if it’s doomed to fail. Win Mobile 6.x was terrible, but I took a look at a WinMo 7 device recently, and it was really slick. I was shocked.
It also shows how much Android shadows iOS for the most part, Android is very similar (Android used to shadow RIM until the iPhone came out). WinMo 7 took a substantially different UI than Apple. (Honeycomb may be moving in a different direction, but I haven’t seen it in use.)
True, Android and iOS are on very similar paths. But they also seem to have nailed on the head what users want and provide the experience that users want.
Microsoft has spent $1.5 Billion promoting WP7 – with $1 Billion going to a hardware manufacturer (e.g. Nokia) just to get someone making devices that use it. Don’t forget that the greatest influx of WP7 going into use was when Microsoft gave it to all their own staff.
When you have to drop that kind of cash and you get as little market/developer/OEM penetration as they have it speaks to a greater deficiency with either (a) the platform, (b) the vendor, or (c) both. It’s not a matter of how long WP7 has been on the market (as some would like you to believe); it’s just not what people really want. Microsoft’s assertion about accessing Google’s services (e.g. YouTube) per their Antitrust filings in Europe are not the issue either.
WP7 is at best an also-ran; it won’t likely be around in another year or two – likely replaced by WP8 whatever that may be since MS will not likely give up on trying to get into the embedded world but their presence will likely be similar to the Mac in the PC realm – doomed to a niche corner of the market.
I don’t think WP7 needs to be replaced, it gets really good user reviews and the interface is pretty impressive.
I think a bigger problem is the hardware. The Samsung Focus is nice but a lot of the other WP7 phones are pretty bulky when compared to the iphone 4.
The same could be said of Android. Many of the Android phones are bulky and not very sleek, etc. Yes, it’s got the majority of sales and is the market leader.
As to the reviews, you do know Microsoft pays to stack reviews for their products, right? Just try to find some bad press (for nearly any Microsoft product or even Microsoft behavior) – outside of Linux/FOSS specific sites – on Microsoft, especially at sites like eWeek, ZDnet, etc.
In other words, when it comes to Microsoft don’t trust the reviews.
Please note WP7 is far from complete. E.g. its I18N support is lagging or nonexistent for 95% of the countries in the world where it is simply not yet available.
I think MS rushed it to the market to avoid embarrasement with aging WM6 in the US but the actual worldwide premiere is still far off (autnum I guess).
I18N support in Windows as a whole is far from complete. WP7 will not likely differ from the rest of Windows in that respect.
Yes, it was rushed to market. No, that won’t make a difference.
I was pretty shocked too, I would have guessed it to be a new RIM OS in a blind test.
I’d consider getting one but I’m waiting to try out the xperia play.
I just picked up a Windows Phone 7 device when Apple dropped support for my iPhone 3G. I actually really like the device and software. MS even gave me a free Marketplace developer account for being a student, which was also nice…
So that’s how they get the “developers” to “register”… by giving away “free accounts” to the people who buy the phone (I bet they also give you a free account for wearing shorts, for having long hair, etc. don’t all developers have long hair and/or wear shorts?).
What that actually tells us is that they are selling 1200 phone a week!
There is some researched predictions that Win7 phone will be the second biggest phone platform in four years.
Ease of code portability between windows platforms and xbox, mixed with stellar developer tools and a very large distribution network and the fact that a lot of people actually love win 7 phone make this not nearly unrealistic.
http://www.bgr.com/2011/03/29/idc-windows-phone-will-be-no-2-in-201…
Did they factor in the HW price? It may have some ground in the US but elsewhere where $200-$300 is the highest bund people are willing to spend for a phone (contract or not), then I don’t know.
So far the downward scallability story for WP7 is at best unclear. (Android at least hast started to prove itself in that area)
Edited 2011-04-01 10:45 UTC
So says the firm partially owned by Microsoft (IDC), and likely by a study funded by Microsoft.
Yes, Microsoft has ownership stakes in most of the large firms that put out the various studies. And any study they pay for or request almost always comes out in their favor.
…towards iOS. I develop for the platform (and Android too a little – though I personally find iOS much easier to write decent code for – and I’m a great lover of Java) so have a personal investment in iOS too…
Having said that, we need Android and WP7 (and WebOS and others)! I was glad when WP7 was quite a departure from what iOS is doing, which is a rare thing in the MS world – well, form my “Apple only” eyes – LOL.
I’m not sure why “some” iOS guys despise Android and vice versa. I’m not sure why the same goes for WP7 too.
iOS doesn’t have to win, neither does Android or WP7. They just have to have decent market share.
If Apple do something amazing with iOS, the Android and MS fanbois should be happy, it means you’ll most likely get it too. As pointed out earlier, Android was going the way of Nokia / RIM until the iPhone was released in 2007, check out Android even as late as Nov 2007. Actually, some Android guys might have preferred that model.
If Android creates a market where costs come down, then the Apple and MS fanbois should be cheering, it most likely means costs for their beloved platform will come down too. I personally hope Honeycomb pushes what a tablet can do too.
Competition is a great thing. I would hate Apple, Google or MS to dominate this market. I honestly hope HP get WebOS a lot of followers too, not to mention MeeGo and others…
Oh, one last thing, even though I prefer iOS (really), I do like Android 2.3.1 (latest I’ve installed on my dev phone) and was surprised to find I liked WP7 (the small amount I played with it). I think we will find iOS 5 will pick up on some of the stuff that WP7 is doing, esp. in the social networking area.