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Microsoft Fails Windows Phone Fans Again By Delaying Windows 10 Mobile (venturebeat.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the coming-soon dept.

An anonymous reader writes that Microsoft says the Windows 10 Mobile upgrade will begin early next year. The company had previously promised a roll out this month. Venturebeat reports: "Windows Phone fans and fanboys have a tough job. They have to stand by an operating system with a new name every few years, significantly fewer apps than the competition, and a distant third place spot in the market. The latest news out of Microsoft isn't making their lives any easier. This week, Microsoft failed to deliver on its promise of rolling out Windows 10 Mobile devices to existing Windows Phone devices in December. The new target? 2016."

14 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. Is there such a thing? by menkhaura · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Microsoft Fails Windows Phone Fans (...)"

    Is there such a thing as "windows phone fans"? I'd have thought that fans as in coolers would be more likely than fans as in enthusiasts regarding Windows Mobile...

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    1. Re:Is there such a thing? by 91degrees · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's a nice UI - aesthetically interesting and a much better design for a touch interface than for a mouse and keyboard. Lumia owners seem to be quite happy with their phones. I can imagine some people really liking them.

    2. Re:Is there such a thing? by nukenerd · · Score: 2

      There you go Menkhaura, a Windows phone fan.

    3. Re:Is there such a thing? by Bert64 · · Score: 2

      But what's to prevent someone skinning Android with a new UI?
      MS could create an Android variant with their own UI and their own apps set as the defaults instead of Google's, while also providing compatibility with the huge array of existing Android apps...
      This would be a lot less development effort, a lot less risky for the users etc..

      Windows phone has a lot of negatives going against it...
      The "Windows" brand is not generally associated with phones, and carries negative connotations both from its desktop reputation (crashing, insecurity) and its previous mobile incarnations.
      The brand also implies compatibility which isn't there, i knew several people who bought windows ce based netbooks a few years ago only to be disappointed they couldn't run regular windows apps on them. Their sole reason for buying the "windows" netbook instead of the linux ones also offered, was this mistaken notion of compatibility.

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    4. Re:Is there such a thing? by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 3, Informative

      Having owned one myself, I don't particularly care for its UI for a few reasons:

      - You have to wait through animations when you do just about everything (these animations are what a lot of people refer to when they use the word "smooth" to describe the platform; which I'll admit that they have flashy appeal, but it gets old quick.)

      - Android widgets are INFINITELY better than the live tiles. For example, my calendar widget can do a vertical layout and display multiple events in advance and can even scroll through extras, which sits in parallel with my voicemail transcripts where I also see multiple at once. On WP, your options are horizontal rectangle or giant square that nothing else (besides tiny tiles) can fit next to, and you'll see two upcoming events at best. Worst is that WP tiles will just periodically flip so you don't necessarily see what's pertinent, and they're about 15 minutes behind (as per the OS's restrictions.)

      - The app drawer in WP sucks. It's long, has a really big font, and since the icons are mostly monocolor, you may not easily "spot" your app as you're scrolling by if you can't remember exactly what it was called but you remember what graphic it used. This basically means that you have to fill up your home screen and then essentially memorize your layout; otherwise launching apps feels impractical. I think the grid style in Android works much better.

      - The flat UI concept sucks. Yes, I know it's better than the heavy bitmapped crap used in the past, but you can do at least light skeumorph without using bitmaps. Flat specifically means that you have no hints of depth (i.e. no shadows, no overlapping objects, no gradients, etc) which lends to the current fisher-price look as you have to do sharp contrasting colors in order to differentiate objects, which gets old really fast.

    5. Re:Is there such a thing? by Grishnakh · · Score: 2

      All those "issues" you find are considered features by some people I know. To describe them as a group, would be ... old and near retirement.

      Huh? I thought it was all the stupid 20-something hipsters who loved this flat-UI crap.

    6. Re:Is there such a thing? by Grishnakh · · Score: 2

      The "Windows" brand is not generally associated with phones, and carries negative connotations both from its desktop reputation (crashing, insecurity) and its previous mobile incarnations.
      The brand also implies compatibility which isn't there, i knew several people who bought windows ce based netbooks a few years ago only to be disappointed they couldn't run regular windows apps on them. Their sole reason for buying the "windows" netbook instead of the linux ones also offered, was this mistaken notion of compatibility.

      You're missing the obvious point here, which you spelled out yourself:

      MS's "Windows" brand has value because of morons who don't do research and are easily tricked into thinking that Windows devices are far more compatible than they really are. Did the suckers you know who bought WinCE netbooks return them after figuring out they were useless for the purpose for which they bought them?

  2. Re:But think of how good it will be! by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm surprised Microsoft hasn't just killed it off already. This is their third reboot, with nothing to indicate that this time will be any better than the last ones. Between R&D costs, marketing costs, the Nokia bribe, the Nokia buyout, and the fact that every phone sold costs them money, they've likely lost upwards of $20 billion on it already. I wonder how much longer the shareholders will tolerate this.

  3. Re:Both of them will be pissed by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    However, I don't profess it to the world, like owners of other phone systems.

    Umm...you sure about that? I've both read and seen how Windows Phone fans react when they walk into a carrier store, ask where their Windows Phones are, and then when the staff say something to the effect of "we don't carry those because our customers don't want them" the WP fans suddenly behave like PETA activists at a fur store as if not carrying their brand is a crime against nature.

    I know, it's rare because there are so few of their fans, but if you don't believe me go peruse some of the fan forums.

  4. Re:What Microsoft should have done... by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 2

    I don't know about that, it would probably be really slow, not to mention the need to always have some sort of a dock with you. Besides, if that were the case, then Surface tablets would always be used in place of iPads. (Which by the way, I own a Surface Pro 4; wonderful little device, but at least at the moment it doesn't have the business mindshare that iPad has.)

  5. Hey now by Fear+the+Clam · · Score: 2

    The staff of Microsoft lost a lot of time doing that elaborate funeral for the iPhone years back.

  6. Link related by JBMcB · · Score: 2

    http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/...

    Know how you knew Windows phone was going to fail? The banner that called it "Windows Phone 7 OS Platform"

    "What kinda phone is that?"

    "Windows Phone 7 OS Platform"

    "What?"

    --
    My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
  7. Re:Both of them will be pissed by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

    I've never seen anyone drive a Tesla, but that says more about where I live and who I hang out with than the company's success.

    But I do see Teslas, pretty much every time I go further than the local store.

    The Windows UI is way nicer to use

    Than what?

    The problem is lack of apps because Android and Apple have all the momentum, just like MS had all the momentum through the '90s.

    Then they squandered it by releasing several incompetent phone OSes.

    In the UK, at least, the main service providers are a lot more likely to sell Windows phones than in some other countries, but you do have the problem that no average person is a Windows fanboy

    And with good reason.

    Since a phone is half fashion accessory, this is depressingly relevant.

    Not mine, it's just a phone. Boring, basic black.

    --
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  8. Re:But think of how good it will be! by Penguinisto · · Score: 2

    Dude - they've likely sunk that and more on the XBox franchise... they were an estimated $7bn in the hole when they began working on the XBOne, and Heaven only knows what they sunk into the R&D/marketing on that. ...and they still lose money with each console sold.

    Long story short, it's not like Microsoft is new at this losing money thing. If it weren't for the Windows/Office/Exchange/SQL licensing revenues, they'd have been in bankruptcy almost a decade ago.

    --
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