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New York City Cops Will Replace Their 36,000 Windows Phones With iPhones (theverge.com)
The New York City Police Department says it will give up its 36,000 Windows phones and transition to iPhones by the end of the year. The Verge reports: The switch is prompted in part by news in July that Microsoft was ending support for Windows Phone 8.1, which a large percentage of all Windows-powered phones are still using. It's a predictable end to the Windows phone, considering that its market share had already slipped below 1 percent at the time the police department adopted its phones last year. The ill-fated decision to go with the Windows phone was made solely by its NYPD deputy commissioner for IT, according to The New York Post, and apparently did not receive further judgment before implementing the program. The Windows models were Nokia Lumia 830 and Lumia 640 XL, equipped with special 911 apps, case management apps, and the ability to receive assignments. They were purchased as part of a $160 million initiative to modernize the NYPD, which has been around since 1845. The new business for Microsoft's phones was clearly not enough to keep Windows Phone alive.
I never have the opportunity to use Windows Phone, couldn't even say if it had a blue screen of death. I carried a .. what was it called, Windows Mobile 6? ...phone for awhile. (Work phone. No choice.) What I liked most about it is the popup "(blank) has caused an error and will now close". Something that could be easily ignored, right? Punch OK and move on. But the thing that was not named happened to be the audio driver. The phone would not ring or make any alert sound until it was rebooted. And would only ring or beep up until the next "(blank) has caused an error and will now close".
After fighting with that for awhile, it was: never again. No Microsoft personal electronics. So I completely missed out on the Windows Phone 7, Windows Phone 8 debacle. That sounded like fun.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
In what way was it an "ill-fated" decision? There article didn't say that the phones didn't work, or didn't do what they were supposed to do. I fail to see the problem with using un-popular technology.
I don't respond to AC's.
This is a perfect example of wasteful government spending. Would any company in the world spend that much money on a short-lived program? A real company, accountable for its financial decisions would either slowly roll out another version as phones died and could not be supported, or figure out how to pay for extra support while developing an alternative.
Also, any IT guy worth 2 cents would never have chosen Microsoft phones for a fleet.
When they were in Nokia's hands, the Lumia did have a fair bit of marketshare, only that both Apple and Samsung increased the gap against them. Given that the phones had a shared ecosystem w/ Microsoft's mainstream Windows, and that Microsoft had overhauled Windows w/ the metro UI to look like the phone, it made perfect sense for a company to build a fleet around them.
Let's look at the apps that a company could use that Microsoft provided. There was Office - including OneNote and Outlook: OneNote alone made this phone worthwhile, and at the time, Microsoft wasn't aggressively promoting Office on Android or iOS. Then there was maps - both Bing and HERE maps. There were other apps like unit converters (now integrated in the calculator), currency converters and so on. Also, at the time, typing was a lot smoother on Windows Phone 8.1 than on the contemporary versions of either iOS or Android (both have caught up since). If the reason one wanted a phone was something to have their office data on, as opposed to playing Pokemon Go, this was a good phone. It did have some major shortcomings though - Uber was barely supported, Lyft wasn't, nor were there any VOIP apps, and this last, IMO, was a killer. Yeah, one could use Skype, but I've never found it smooth to use.
Also, at the time, Ballmer was at the helm and he was fanatical about this platform, so Microsoft was solidly behind it while he was around. Things changed once he was gone and Nadella took over.
http://nypdnews.com/2017/08/de...
Interesting part:
"The contract entered provided for the smartphones at no cost. It also allowed for the NYPD to replace the smartphones with devices of our choosing two years later, also at no cost."
She also claims that they're already neck deep in Windows, so the Windows phones were easier to roll out. Plus, iOS and Android didn't allow "us to cost-effectively utilize prior investment in custom Windows applications."
As others have noted, she's a political appointee. It would be interesting to find out why or how the contract provided for the smartphones at no cost.
Do you have ESP?