windows phone

The passing of an era — Microsoft’s rise, fall and reboot

Vanity Fair has a fascinating piece on the rise, fall and reboot of Microsoft. The story is really about leadership; from the days of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer; to Ballmer succeeding as CEO; and finally to Satya Nadella. It’s a great piece and definitely worth reading.

I’m a big admirer of Ballmer, but must call him out on something he said in the article:

“The worst work I did was from 2001 to 2004,” says Ballmer. “And the company paid a price for bad work. I put the A-team resources on Longhorn, not on phones or browsers. All our resources were tied up on the wrong thing.” Who shoulders the blame is a matter of debate, but the fact is neither Ballmer nor Gates stopped the failure from happening, even as almost everyone else saw it coming.

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A Windows Phone app to make the rest of us jealous

Windows Phone users often look to iOS and Android owners with envy when this or that app isn’t yet available for Microsoft’s platform. How often does the reverse happen, when iOS and Android users lust for something on Windows Phone that’s not available on their own?

Office Lens is a new app from Microsoft that I wish was on Android and iOS. Or the Windows app store at least for my Surface Pro 3.

Office Lens is a cool app where you snap a photo of something, and the app then automatically converts it into an editable Office document. How amazing is that right?

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Most Americans don’t download apps

I’ve written about the difficulty of doing a mobile apps start-up before, and this report from comScore only reinforces that argument.

According to comScore, in any given month, the majority of US smartphone users don’t download apps…at all.

Yet, mobile app usage continues to grow; apps now represent 52% of time spent with digital media.

The conundrum is that while apps are ever more important, users aren’t downloading more of them. It’s a situation where the top 1% of apps rule the roost while everyone else flounders, struggling to get discovered.

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It’s Windows Phone’s last at bat with two strikes left

The HTC One is one of Android’s best phones — it came second in our list of recommended flagship phones — and it is now available for Windows Phone. Windows Phone 8.1 is a mature platform and mostly on par with iOS and Android, and now it also has top notch hardware. The HTC One for Windows Phone is cheap too at $100 on contract in the US.

Unfortunately, it won’t be enough. This fair review from the Wall Street Journal sums it up best:

In the smartphone market, people tend to join in the biggest crowds. By the time Microsoft got its act together, the masses had chosen sides between iPhones and Android phones. For most, a switch would be like being uprooted from a comfortable home for a comfortable home across the street—it just isn’t worth it.

Microsoft probably has only two plays left before Windows Phone is dead for good. Maybe three: making Windows Phone free, utilizing apps from Windows 9 “Threshold” and waiting for web apps to become mainstream. But really it’s just two.

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Google vs Samsung is no fair fight

There is an interesting back and forth at The Verge, where Nilay Patel and David Pierce have a Google vs. Samsung argument. Of course, the reality is they need each other, and there is no practical outcome where one is better off without the other.

For the sake of discussion, let’s accept the premise that Google and Samsung ought to be pitted against each other in battle. Who wins? Pierce has the dilemma boiled down to one question:

Google needs Samsung more than Samsung needs Google. Samsung has its own platforms, its own services, its own software. It’s vertically integrated, reliant on no other company to make its products. Android could disappear tomorrow and Samsung would just switch to Tizen — and I’m not sure how many consumers would even notice the change.

I agree this is the right way to decide the debate. But I disagree with the conclusion.

We all know what would happen if Samsung switched to Tizen: Samsung would end up just like Microsoft-Nokia.

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Android apps on Windows Phone could theoretically kick off a virtuous cycle

Here’s another irresistible thought experiment: Android apps on Windows Phone.

GigaOm says the tweeter is “Eldar Murtzin, a long-time industry insider who has a few correct predictions to his name.”

The writing is on the wall for Windows Phone.  Even though Microsoft made significant inroads with the Lumia 520, that opportunity is rapidly closing with all the high quality, low price Android phones being sold at razor thin margins from Chinese manufacturers like Oppo, Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo.  The Android One program might be the killing blow.

Unless something changes, we don’t expect Microsoft’s share of smartphones to ever break double digits.  That change might be putting Android apps on Windows Phone.  Here’s how that could theoretically kick off a virtuous cycle of growth.

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Microsoft’s wearable device will be multi-platform, but that’s just table stakes

Thurrott is reporting at Winsupersite that Microsoft is readying it’s wearable device. It’s allegedly more fitness tracker like the Samsung Gear Fit than smartwatch, and the big news is that it’ll work with iOS, Android and of course Windows Phone.

This doesn’t leave me excited for Microsoft, however. The Redmond company wisely pulled its Surface mini product because the device didn’t do much beyond the competition; and of course, we don’t have the full picture yet, but based on Thurrott’s report it doesn’t look like Microsoft’s fitness tracker will be anything special either.

My sources tell me instead that Microsoft will this fall release a Samsung Gear Fit-like fitness band that will display smart phone-based notifications, just like the current and rumored watches and other wearables. So that’s the first bit of rumor busting: It’s a wristband, not a watch. . .The focus, however, is the same as with Samsung Gear and similar fitness bands: Using multiple sensors, it will track your fitness—steps, calories burned, heart rate, and the like—throughout the day and interoperate with apps on mobile phones.

So, it’ll be like the Samsung Gear Fit, which has yet to take the market by a storm after selling a paltry 250,000 units despite huge advertising. (By comparison, Microsoft’s much criticized Surface line sold about 750,000 units the last three months.)

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Sick, really sick Windows Phone 8.1 home screens

As I wrote the smartphone recommendation story, I was struck again by the beauty of the Windows Phone 8.1 home screen.  So today’s post was meant to be dedicated to the better looking Windows Phone 8.1 home screens.

That was the idea anyway.

Until I realized the sickest designs I’ve ever seen were put together by one person: Live Art Guy.

You should know that as a kid I was a huge comic book fan.  Incredible Hulk #180 and Sandman #1 are among my most prized possessions.  Well, if you’re a comic book fan, you’re going to love what this guy did.

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Need a flagship-quality phone? Here’s our recommendation

My tennis buddy asked me the other day what phone he should buy; price is no object.  A simple question, but what a chance to nerd-out for a gadget lover like myself!  So if you’re in the market for a new flagship-quality phone, here are the options in alphabetical order and a conclusion on which I would personally buy.

A lot of it comes down to preference, and since this is my blog, I’ll give you a bunch of mine intermixed with what reviews have been saying in aggregate.

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