Windows Phone vs. the Rest of the
World
…and you, in-between.
War!
The time of rapid growth of these three
platforms came to an end. Currently, these systems have reached the average age
of the product life cycle. This marks the end of jokes, the end of all rumors
and speculation. IOS and Windows Phone (starting from version 7) have been on
the market for five years while the Android one has been already for 7. This
means we all have strong arguments to be for or against each platform.
Source:
Market share
The following diagram shows the share of all
mobile platforms on the market. Statistics for January 2015.
It clearly shows that there are only 2 leading
platforms, which are iOS and Android. But what about other platforms? As we all
know, Blackberry went bankrupt in recent years. The Symbian platform is
outdated and in its product life cycle it’s at the end of its natural death.
What about Windows Phone with only 2,25%?
Source:
What’s with Microsoft?
Source:
Having conducted an
interview with several people from Microsoft Poland, I can say the key values
of MS differ from other companies like Apple or
Google. Microsoft has a very stable economic situation and does not need to
follow the rules of the current war between mobile platforms, which is
controlled by Apple and Google Samsung follows suit . Microsoft has a new motto
"cloud first, mobile first world", but they already are in a leading
position. Why?
Source:
Microsoft over the past years has built a
powerful empire in three categories:
1) developer platform - a unified core of all of
MS products, which allows scaling of solutions to any device
2) The Office - transferred services in the
cloud and created Office365
3) Windows Desktop - log on to all the services
with one account @ live.com
Microsoft's execution of the strategic plan is about
to finish. All systems and services from Microsoft have moved into the cloud
and the last piece of the puzzle is to be finalized. Windows Phone in fact is
not a separate product and it must be treated as part of Windows desktop. So
where is the truth hidden? Just look at the market share of desktop-class
operating systems.
Source:
The answer is Microsoft is a winner by default.
They don’t have to be pro-active in the fields where Apple and Google are
trying their best. While we all use Windows for a desktop, by default we are
ready for the Windows’ Phone platform and I am really waiting for its new
version. This will be one huge release of many new products from Microsoft. All-in-one.
By then I will use iOS as a platform for my
private needs and Windows Phone for business solutions.
PS Please comment in relation to the market.
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I had several iPhones for almost 6 years. Few months back, I bought Lumia 930 and I must say that I'm very dissapointed. Windows Phone's customisation capabilities are very poor when compared to jailbroken iPhone. It's lacking many of popular apps and those who are provided usually don't live up to their iOS or Android counterparts. Lumia 930 was mean to be a powerful phone, because of it's internal components but instead it's heating up to the point you can barely hold it during messaging or lagging when playing any game. Is it good for business? Maybe. Office is neat. But it's a looong way from being comfortable to use.
ReplyDeleteOh hell no... I also had that Lumia 930... It started as a dream and ended up as a nightmare. Tt's the worst hardware design ever with its sharp corners, you can play a poing-pong with it lolz... I also have to admit it heats up very fast... I don't know why but I would never jailbreak my Iphone... dunno why
DeleteI’ll divide my comment into two parts: about your presentation and about this topic.
ReplyDeleteI found your presentation interesting and well prepared, with nice style (I can tell you’re a Microsoft fan), but after finishing I had a feeling that the presentation began and already ended. I can’t tell what exactly is missing, but I feel unquenchable. It’s good that I want to read more, it tells that presentation was interesting, but I feel that more could have been told.
As for the topic itself – I hate Microsoft on mobile devices. It’s hard to customize, looks horrible (I do not like Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 on desktops) and I find Android way better in terms of performance. Also Google’s system has more apps, it’s easier to transfer data, because of its popularity and I prefer google drive rather than Window’s cloud.
If Microsoft would surprise me with better design and inventive features – they’ll buy me, but right now I’m an Android guy (I used to own Nokia Lumia).
Thanks Dude! :-) I appreciate that, I hope you will vote for my presentation ... haha, just kiddin' :D It is true, that at some point of this presentation, when I was creating it, I had many many thoughts that I'd like to write about but I came to conclusion that If I write about something I should also write about something else to prove it... etc etc... And I don't wanted this to be a hardcore, long article to read, just wanted this to be a light-weight article with some facts in numbers :-) Did you buy your smartphone by your choice or did it come with the contract from provider?
DeleteIn high school I used only Nokia Phones (3310 <3), but it was way before smartphone era. The first smartphone I bought was HTC Magic, but to be honest I didn't like it at all, so I moved back to nokia 92 mini (bought myself, not from provider). The greatest thing in this phone was slider-keyboard (I used to text a lot, and by "a lot" I mean it). After 2 years I switched to Sony Ericson Arc S for one and a half year. Then I got Nokia Lumia from my mobile provider, but after two weeks I changed it to LG G2 and I have this phone for more than a year now and I really, really love it! As you can see I had an oppurtunity to thest most of the system, and untill MS makes something amazing - I'll stick with Android.
DeleteThat's cool ... I was a Nokia fan since I can remember ... :-) and yup 3310 was and I guess it still is undisputed king of all phones ! But I can also remember 3650, 7650, 6230i and 6310i... 3510i was the first one with the color screen and polyphonic sounds. Man I was a total geek! And that Android thing you say - I am never going to convince anyone to switch to other platform... just wanted to hear your opinion :-) Let's even say I am not a fan of Microsoft, that's why I wrote that sentence that you should refer to market not to myself.. because maybeeeee I wanted to prove something. What I wrote actually was more like Microsoft about Microsoft than me about Microsoft. Maybe this article can help somebody in Microsoft understand where they are wrong and how people see what they do :-) keep it up bro! and have a great experience with your Android phone! :D
DeleteThank you for your article. I have used Smartphones for 6 years and all my phones were working on Android since version 1.6. During this 6 years I have had a lot of opportunities to use Windows Mobile or iOS and other kinds of software and personally I prefer Android. Of course Android isn’t the perfect system but for example iOS is rather closed/limited. On the other hand the first version of Windows Mobile was pretty bad and unfortunately I haven’t had an opportunity to check new version of that system. However, I have also heard it is much better now. It is true?
ReplyDeleteLast but not least - desktop operating systems. I have watched and read a lot of stuff about Microsoft politics at the beginning of 90’s and probably this big share on the market is strictly related with monopolistic practice of that company. Microsoft very often uses its money to change balance of power on different markets. For example I can recommend you watching discovery documents ‘the true history of internet’. In one of episodes it tells us how Microsoft defeated Netscape Navigator.
Oh thanks for the great story with Netscape, I will check it :-) That's cool, I like diversity in people. This shows that android is a platform for people who likes no limits in customization of your system and its settings. I personally don't like it, I have tried with open platforms like Meego also tried Android but I don't really like when I have to try 20 apps to find the best fit for me when in Iphone there is 2 or 3 top apps that will definitely work for me. I definitely suggest you trying out the new Windows Phone (it's no longer windows mobile) which 8.1 version or even wait till July when win10 will be released. If you worked with Windows Mobile you will feel a huuuuuuuuuge difference between WM and Windows Phone.
DeleteA subject is very actual I think. Personally, I prefer Android on my mobile device.
ReplyDeleteWhy? Android seems easier to use for me (I had only smartfones with Android since 2008 year). Nevertheless I have also macbook Air as a second computer, so I can compare Windows and OS X system. I noticed that the second one is much more stabile. So maybe one day I'll hange my mind and I'll buy iphone :)? I have no expiriences with another systems.
Ewelina, you have that comfort to actually compare! :-) so you can tell from your experience. And that kind of opinions I am looking for. Please share your thoughts if you can, 10 best and 10 worst things about each platform! Unfortunately lots of people tend to comment on things that they never experienced.
Deletegreat idea! So, let's start from...an OS X system.
DeleteADVANTAGES:
- using comfort
- friendly system design
- good resolution
- nice and vivid colors
- OS X is much more stabile when (I mean working in adobe programs)
- pleasant system animations ( for example maximalize windows animations)
- strong battery
- I've never had any viruses on MAC :)
- well designed iTune player
- OS X is much more polished up than windows!
DISADVANTAGES:
- a windows button like minimalize and maximalize are placed inversly than
Window's one - it could be annoying when you get used to Microsoft.
- sometimes OSX cannot see my pendrives
- not every application is prepared for MAC (I mean dmg files)
- i can't lent my computer family, cos people simply are not keen
on macbooks :)
- I'm not a big fan of DOCK- sometimes it hangs during work
- I not convinced to polish translation of system
I think that's all what I can tell about MacBook system :)
That is a really interesting point of view, some of these points I really experience and I am aware of but some of these I wasn't aware of and they are true :-) It was thinking out of the box. OS X is pretty stable, clear and very user friendly, but still prices of macbooks are too high for most people to get that laptop :-) ...
DeleteI've tried variety of phones in my life, with good and bad OS's. Windows Phone has capability to be a good system, sadly Windows Store is really poor compared to Android or IOS. Quality of applications is poor and usability is even worse most of the time. Microsoft has spent a lot money to promote Windows Phone, but developers are not eager to build their apps for it. I must say, I tried few times, but still market share is too small for me. It's better to make app for Android smartphones or iPhones, you can at least earn some money. Maybe in the future with Win 10 release something going to change, I don't mind. I prefer to write apps in .NET, fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteHow about that. After upcoming release, your application will be working on every Microsoft platform. So there will be one application in the store and you will be able to run the same app on windows desktop, windows RT (tablets) , Xbox, Windows Phone etc... Think how many users could buy your app. Also the marketplace after the big release will be open for everyone. Also developer's platform will change to one environment like Swift for Iphone. Will you try again? :D
DeleteI'm that kind of guy who don't get the idea of iPhone.... I'm using Android but in my work I have some contact with Microsoft technologies, so maybe in the future I will chose the Windows Phone.
ReplyDeleteI must say that Microsoft do a great job with this whole ecosystem where everything can run on everything.
I think the Idea of Iphone is actually a good quality of hardware, excellence in software development, good eco-system and collaboration with other companies. Because you need apps... :D But Windows Phone still gives you what other platform, that's why I use it for work. It's much better for me than any other platform.
DeleteAAAAAAA, I cant even tell how much I do nooot want to analyze this topic, I just can tell you how much I love Iphone :)
ReplyDeleteSo, I was using every another mobile phones before Iphone and well... they are just the phones, and Iphone is a computer, small, beautiful design and works better than any other product of Apple. houk!
Then don't analyze it ! :-) What can I say... I just admit :-) I also use iPhone, it is fun. But when I try to use it for business purpose, the battery is dead at noon... So it's impossible to use it for business...
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNice presentation with clearly content at all. I have never used cell phone with windows phone system on board but I have heard about mixed feelings from Lumia`s users. I think everything depends on customs. If someone use android or iOs for a long time it could be difficult to make a change. I`m personally user of android and after years of using finally I pretty happy with that. Of course every operating system has weakness but the point is to have more advantages than disadvantages. I don’t have enough experience with other OS than Android but I don’t have to look for something other because this software give me everything what I really need. One of the bad thnigs that I`ve noticed with iOS is a problem with communication with other non-Apple devices. When you want to share something by Bluetooth is could be awkward action. We cannot forget also about Chrome OS and Chromebook devices. I hope this solution will roll out quickly and in time will be strong opponent for other OS.
ReplyDeleteJohn, you better behave... last time you sent me a message, my iPhone was blocked.... :-( You bastard :D I can tell even more! I know you and I know hate Apple and you really love google and android. Please take off the mask from your face and say the truth. How much do you hate Apple and Microsoft... :D I hope chrome OS will fail... I don't want my laptop to be a web browser... :D
DeleteI don’t hate iOS because I don’t have enough experience with this stuff but I could block your message application one more time with this
DeletePower
لُلُصّبُلُلصّبُررً ॣ ॣh ॣ ॣ
冗
Great research!
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I don't agree with your opinion that MS is winner by default!
There is a lot of area in IT, where Microsoft can't compete with open source solutions. As an example I'd like to mention about prefessional server infrastruktures.
Take a look on the best infrastruktures on the world like Google's or Facebook's.
Microsoft Server doesn't has that flexibility on scalability that Linux or Unix has. If you want to place an Active Directory server in a company - sure use MS, but if you want to deliver innovations and be sure that you know why it is working anf if it will be up tomorrow you are entering to the Unix domain.
Maybe it is a bit offtopic but I had to say that. I worked for 5 years in MS Windows Server deployment and had huge projects and I just don't believe in MS solutions (in server area, I can't speak about different area of MS activity).
Wow that's a great point of view, something different :-) What do you thing about the Azure solutions? And I am not really an expert of infra tech and stuff but I know that for ERP/CRM solutions AIX operating system was the most powerful and stable platform ever :-) so I guess you know it and you know it is unix.
DeleteSorry for late response :)
DeleteAbou two weeks ago I was in Łódź on CYBERCOMdev and there was a guy from Microsoft that presents new features of Azure technology that will come up soon. I have to say that it was really impressive and if you are a cloud computing developer go for it! It is really interesting what solutions Microsoft bought and implemented into Azure. It is all about virtualisation, scalability and much more! If you are a geek you have to take a look!
About AIX I have seen a few implementation of CRM on that platform. If a company wants SAP for more than 10k users it is abligatory to take a look into IBM's AIX. But for last 2 years I'm network admin so I'm not a specialist in this field.
Take care!
It seems to me that only first paragraph is really about mobile operating systems. The rest is about Microsoft strategry in general. Something is missing to expand the topic, that for sure. Another sure thing is that you're a Microsoft fan ;)
ReplyDeleteUnlike me. I'm not a fan of Windows Mobile - very pale number of applications copared to iOS or Android and unintuitive system. But there's a progress. I still remember first Windows Phone versions with start menu :)
Going to the point of my statement. If Apple didn't introduce iPhone and its iOS we would still be taping on phone's start menu with this awful scribers :P PS. I use Android and I used to like Symbian ;)
That's truth tho bro. But I am not a MS fan :-(
ReplyDeleteSorry about that :)
DeleteI honestly don't care about what Microsoft is gonna do with their mobile platform anymore. I've been through Android, Windows Phone and recently iOS and Windows doesn't come close to their rivals with their product. I've had a Lumia 920, which had an excellent camera but was as heavy as a brick and it tore the pockets in one of my jeans :) But it's just the hardware - the main problem was the OS that simply could not compete with Android or iOS owing to the lack of apps. The only main advantage at the time was free HERE Maps navigation, but it's also gone when HERE separated itself from Nokia (and subsequently - Microsoft) and the app is also available on iOS and Android.
ReplyDeleteNow I have an iPhone and Nexus tablet and sadly I almost forgot that I had a Windows Phone device. Without a strategy of luring the mobile developers, Microsoft can simply watch their mobile platform slowly drift away.
That's interesting point of view, but let's wait for the new release, there will be the same amount of apps available for WP as it is for iOS and Android and even more, because all desktop apps for your laptop will be available for Windows Phone. Let's wait :D
DeleteInteresting take on the subject.
ReplyDeleteLet me start with a correction - Blackberry didn't go bankrupt. It's still around, releasing phones - most recently a truly dreadful Passport which I cannot find one good thing to say about:) So yeah, hemorrhaging money, hanging names(I liked RIM), making terrible products, but still around.
Another thing that looked slightly fishy to me was the OS distribution graph. I mean everywhere else Android is in the high 70s or even 80s. Case in point http://www.idc.com/prodserv/smartphone-os-market-share.jsp (Android - 78%) or Gartner with Android arount the 80% mark as well.Those numbers are based on the amount of devices shipped/sold. (inb4 Apple counts shipments as sales as well)
It appears the data you quoted analyzes the browsing data (“This report lists the market share of the top operating systems in use for browsing (not servers). This data is derived by aggregating the traffic across our network of websites that use our service.” - from the source study) which is not a fair way of measuring the market for a variety or reasons (technical differences in how Safari behaves compared to the Android counterpart, iOS users being more active overall, ability to change browser agent in Android etc)
I own and use a gaming PC, a Macbook Pro, a very recent iPhone, a high end Android phone and used a Lumia extensively so I’m not biased in any way.
Okay with that out of the way - I absolutely disagree with you:)
Firstly you mention the stable situation of Microsoft as if Apple and Google were some scrappy underdogs. By most financial metrics Apple is crushing Microsoft. Google is very comparable.
True, they are very conservative and have piles of money to burn but look at their online strategy (http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-google-2012-1?IR=T and fresh data here http://www.tannerhelland.com/4993/microsoft-money-updated-2013/) they are losing money left and right! Why bring it up? It’s a very similar situation to mobile - Microsoft is trying to break into a market that is dominated by a large player. They’ve been trying for years with limited success. They can try for another ten years but at some point you’ve got to pull an IBM and face the fact that you need to change.
Secondly, you talk about other Microsoft holdings.
Developer platform - it is amazing, no argument here. Thing is, the way it applies to their mobile platform is murky at best. I mean the tools and the language are pretty great but how does it help you if there is no people to use your apps? Microsoft recently admitted defeat when they announced that Android and iOS apps will be easily portable to their platform. It’s great for the users, no question about it but which developer is going to invest time into creating a new app when they can easily port their existing code? What about the UI paradigm differences? What about the fact that it’s based around reverse engineering the API hooks which means MS will have to do a ridiculous amount of work to keep up to date with what Google and Apple are doing? Also, lol - swift isn’t supported so they are already shooting a moving taget.
Office - it works great on my ipad as well - there is no way anyone will buy into WP platform because of that
Unified live.com account is a pile of dong when compared to Google offering (Apple suckery is somewhere in the middle between the two)
Summing up - I love a lot of what Microsoft is doing but it they don’t step up their mobile game they will lose(I would argue it’s already too late for them). They are great for enterprise but terrible for “normal” users - if you think that’s enough have a look at how Blackberry is doing.
And that's the essence of this article my friend. Thanks for the long comment with valuable information. We can go on fire and discuss forever. I just can assure you that the big change you are talking about is happening right now in Microsoft and you should watch them try in July:D I also use blackberry and it is the best for calling a lot.
DeleteThe essence of the article as I understood it was that Microsoft could rest on their lours and win by default. I on the other hand think that Microsoft could do a huge revamp in July and it wouldn't make an appreciable dent in their competitors' market shares. The cloud infrastructure you've written about just isn't very valuable to a vast majority of consumers.
DeleteI'm ready to be proven wrong though:)
Great article. Very well prepared. I use only Android phones, beacause in my opinion Andorid is very flexible and modifiable. I like to use some custom OSes with many tweaks and mods. If you don't like a system, you can flash any other version.
ReplyDeleteAbout Windows Phone - it's lacking many apps and about hardware - there is only Nokia(MS now).
But there is also a nice think about Windows Phone. Some years ago, I made a game for WP 7.5. Check this out:
http://www.windowsphone.com/pl-pl/store/app/ultimate-tanks/80298996-97de-4bf1-b1f6-fd708b6e7855
I know that it's a crap, but I made it when my dev skill were poor. Developer tools and platform for Windows Phone is similar to "big" Windows frameworks. So if you create software for Windows using .NET Framework, you will easy catch WP SDK.
Oh yeah, the games market for Windows Phone is big with its xbox games and that's totally a topic for separate discussion. What is your experience with Visual Studio?
DeleteI think that IOS system is much more intuitive and friendly in using. In my opinion Windows takes a big inspiration from Apple and its system. Microsoft Phone is a new idea but the truth that Apple did it first. I mean the compatibility of the phones and the system. I'm curious about the Microsoft's next version because the last one is terrible.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest I don't care weather I use Window Phone or other ones. For me mobile phone is just phone. I use it to call and text to my friends, I don't need anything more. :)
ReplyDeleteTopic specialy for me :) I've recently changed Android for WIndows Phone and I'm very very happy. In my opinion in terms of statistics WIndows Phone will be always behind android and iOS. The diffrence will be smaller and smaller but it will be.
ReplyDeleteiOS has its own religion. You won't change that. Android is veryc ommon, cheep etc.
Also big diffrence is that windows phone is often a bit more business kind of OS, more business less for people :)
I am little bit startled. Windows phone has only 2,25% of the market? I thought they have more. You are right that Microsoft is powerful empire. But I have some doubts. All systems and services have moved into the cloud.I think that Microsoft controls everything. I don't have any guarantee that my data are safe. Anyway I am using windows on my desktop and the android on my phone. We have to stay aware what we accept and that is all. Every platform has advantages and disadvantages. What should we use depends on what is a target.
ReplyDeleteThere are many articles about that subject. I think as many people as many opinions. I've been using iOS, Android and Windows phone and I have to say that the first one is the best for me. Windows maybe have everything in cloud but you can find the same solutions in Apple products (I don't know how it looks like in Android). Ofcourse if you are thinking about OP first what you think of is Windows but iOS and Android are compatibility with that system so you aren't forced to buy smartphone with Windows Phone. I think that Windows Phone will extend its market share in the near future but Windows Phone developers have still many to do.
ReplyDelete