It appears Microsoft’s in-app ad network, PubCenter, is performing very poorly, and worse and worse over time, with poor fill rates (with as low as 2% of potential ads actually provisioned), and earnings dropping from dollars to single digit cents. Definitely bad news for Microsoft - and Google is taking advantage by offering a Windows Phone 8 API to its AdMob service. (Note that it's able to do that while a native YouTube app for Windows Phone remains unfulfilled.)]]>
This is unprecedented. Microsoft didn't even give the OS free to Nokia, which agreed to exclusively make Windows Phone in 2011. It reportedly charged Nokia between $20 to $30 for each Lumia device the Finnish company sold. Making the OS free also shows signs of growing frustration within the company at the lack of traction for Windows Phone in the market. A tectonic shift.]]>
"Actual end user momentum is trailing business interest," Szafranski said. "IT likes Microsoft and likes Windows. They've made a lot of investment in things like Active Directory and Exchange and as a result they have a lot of interest in seeing Windows Phone used by employees. I don't think anyone is going to be all Windows on mobile, but enterprises do want it and I think they have a strong opportunity when it comes to the enterprise side of purchase decisions." BlackBerry didn't thrive when IT wanted people to carry two smartphones; that's why it's in trouble. Given that smartphone penetration is well over 60% in the US and UK - and you'd expect the remaining 40% aren't in jobs where they wouldn't already have a smartphone - one suspects this isn't going to go IT's way.]]>
Ram's company is one of the many makers of low-cost Android phones here at Mobile World Congress. It makes the Verykool line of phones that are sold by carriers in Latin America, and primarily unlocked in the US.
With license fees dropping, Infosonics would certainly consider building Windows Phones, Ram said. Microsoft is having to play at Google's pricing. Can Microsoft undercut Google at anything?]]>
According to the data collected by Statistic Brain, 62% of Android users never paid a dollar for an app, while the number is a little lower for Windows Phone - currently at 58%. Even when you compare the number of downloads on each platform, Android has a whopping 29bn downloads compared to 4.1 billion on Windows Phone, the difference is massive. In terms of total app store revenue, Android generated $1.2bn, while the Windows Phone Store racked up $950m. In other words, a mean of 4.1c per app on Android v 23.1c per app on Windows Phone. For iOS? 23.7c. BlackBerry? 22.9c. Here are the numbers.]]>
Talking to Pocket-lint at the pre-MWC launch event for the G Pro 2 and G2 mini smartphones, a spokesman for the company confirmed that there are no Windows Phone devices on the roadmap at the moment. Difference between being a Windows Phone "partner" and "company which actually churns them out on the production line" becomes apparent.]]>
The Web-based player experience is where Microsoft started before May, when the Redmond, Wash. company first launched its own YouTube app for Windows Phone. Shortly after Microsoft published the app on its Windows Phone Store, Google issued a cease-and-desist letter demanding Microsoft yank the app.]]>
Nokia couldn’t have multi-OS strategy since they didn’t have enough software competence. Meego phones are now "unicorns", as the Polish man using one on the flight to Geneva remarked to me the other day.]]>
• S/MIME to sign and encrypt email
• Access to corporate resources behind the firewall with app aware, auto-triggered VPN
• Enterprise Wi-Fi support with EAP-TLS
•
Enhanced MDM policies to lock down functionality on the phone for more enterprise control, in addition to richer application management such as allowing or denying installation of certain apps
• Certificate management to enroll, update, and revoke certificates for user authentication
We plan to provide the feature pack as an update in the first half of 2014. These are all really important for Windows Phone acceptance in the enterprise. The first half of 2014 is nearly four years after its introduction. ]]>
Delta Air Lines announced today that its global team of more than 19,000 flight attendants has started using Nokia Lumia 820 handsets powered by Windows Phone 8 to interact with customers. These in-flight, Wi-Fi connected devices will leverage an Avanade point of sale (POS) experience on the Microsoft Dynamics for Retail mobile point-of-sale platform. This suggests they're being used - sorry, leveraged - more as Wi-Fi terminals than actual smartphones. (Thanks #rquick for the link.)]]>
"We almost fell into the trap that had often befallen Nokia, which was... let them work on it a bit longer because we couldn't quite reach agreement," Elop said. Instead, he demanded a decision that day.
"Why wait til tomorrow or next week? We could make the decision today. And we did." Lumia was the result. Fascinating insight into how much has changed under Elop.]]>
Boom. Moments later my phone had the answer: The track was “Didn’t I,” from some semi-obscure ‘70s-era musician named Darondo. He’s now the star of my music collection.
Bing Audio is one of those Windows Phone features that, once you know it’s there, you find yourself using all the time. Sounds just like Shazam, which is already available on Windows Phone. Interesting strategy. ]]>
After posting screenshots of the software running on the device, and accidentally revealing his cellphone number in the process, Wong was contacted by Microsoft's legal team. Microsoft locked the phone remotely and requested that Wong take down his photos from his Flickr account. "Apparently the guy who owned it lost it on a bus. It was then picked up and sold," he says. Instead of pursuing Wong, Microsoft has offered to reimburse him for the cost of the device and also ship him a replacement phone. "I was incredibly surprised at the lack of intimidation and even more surprised at their accommodation," says Wong. It was running an early version of "Windows Phone Blue". The screenshots suggest it will include a notification centre, among other improvements. Nice for someone not to get bullied by lawyers over a "lost" device.]]>
You might think this is just a banking problem, but it is anything in finance. Windows Phone has apps for Zero of the Top-10 Mutual Fund companies. Seven of those companies provide apps for the iPhone. How about if you just want to do research on mutual funds? Sorry, you’ll need an iPhone, Android Phone, or Blackberry for that.
Moving on, how many of the Top-10 US Airlines have apps for Windows Phone? Three. For the iPhone it is eight.
Now the truth is I was going to do this for several more categories but it is too depressing for me to continue. Like to see the stats for banks, airlines and so on in the UK.]]>
Both behaviors violate the cardinal rules YouTube imposes on developers who use its service. To get around those restrictions, it appears that Microsoft reverse-engineered some portion of the software used to access YouTube's basic functions, which are generally known as application programming interfaces, or APIs. If so, that could mean Microsoft can do just about whatever it wants with its YouTube app. Wonder how long this will be allowed, given that Google has somehow not got around to writing a Windows Phone version of the YouTube app in the past two and a half years?]]>
Other Windows Phone defenders, however, told me that I shouldn’t mind the platform’s weaknesses so much, because Microsoft has promised improvements are coming, like an enhanced TellMe (its version of Siri), a Notification Center counterpart, and so on.
That’s weird. I mean, it’s not weird that Microsoft’s working on those things—it’s very, very smart—but it’s weird to say that one shouldn’t complain about weaknesses because the company says it’s going to address them. I can’t test vaporware, and I can’t stick with Windows Phone just because there’s a chance—no matter how good it is—that it will get better. As it's the season for such things, it also has lots of "what iOS should do is..."]]>
Microsoft is introducing "Switch to Windows Phone", an Android app that finds identical or replacement applications for Windows Phone 8 to replace their old Android apps.
The new application, which is being released today, is not available for iPhone.
"Switch to Windows Phone" inventories all the applications on the Android phone and sends that inventory to the Microsoft SkyDrive cloud. When customers log in to the same SkyDrive account from the Switch to Windows Phone app loaded on their Windows Phone 8, the app finds the same set of applications. If there are no exact replacements, the app recommends similar ones, according to Guru Gowrappan, executive vice president for products at application search firm Quixey. A very smart idea. Howcome no iPhone version?]]>
Not to see if it was still April Fools Day, but to see if it was somehow still 2011.
Because the content of the presentation was remarkably similar to the launch event we did for Windows Phone two years ago.
When we sat down with a blank sheet of paper and designed Windows Phone, we put three words on the wall to guide the team: “Put People First”.
Those three words were chosen around a pretty powerful but simple insight: People are more important than apps, so phones should be designed around you and the people you care about, not the apps you might use to reach them. Worked out well for Windows Phone, after all. Also, wasn't the launch of Windows Phone in October 2010? The irony is that Facebook is likely to do very well out of its Android launcher.]]>
Go on, try to think of one. Think of just one reason - one customer-facing reason - why Windows Phone should exist? Is it better? Cheaper? Faster? Simpler? More secure? More connected?
Microsoft has designed a smartphone operating system that might be better, maybe even much better, for those things that Microsoft is good at - such as Word, Outlook, Xbox Play. The problem is, those do not seem to be the things that smartphone users want or need.
In 2012, UK telecom carrier O2 commissioned a study of smartphone users. It showed that a typical user spends more than two hours a day (128 minutes) with their smartphone. The majority of this time, however, is spent on activities where Microsoft's Windows Phone offers no significant advantages over iPhone or the best Android devices. Excellent point. What is the USP of Windows Phone?]]>
In the UK, BlackBerry slid from 16.8% of all smartphone sales in the three-month period ending in February last year, to just 5.1% of sales for the same span in 2013. That’s a drop of 11.7 percentage points, during a period that included a full month of BB10 device sales. BlackBerry itself claimed 1 million devices shipped for its most recent fiscal quarter, which included BB10 launches in Canada and the UK, but when pressed about how much of that represented actual sales, execs hedged and noted that it was “sort of” closer to between two-thirds and three-quarters of that 1 million figure on its investor conference call. Note that this is share - of phones shipped - and not installed base. Windows Phone has now overtaken BlackBerry in both the UK and US for shipments. (Thanks @modelportfolio2003 for the link.)]]>
It’d be exaggerating to say that I’m actually thinking the opposite, that I might not be willing to go back to the iPhone 5 at the end of this experiment. But, to my surprise, I’m actually willing to consider that I could feel that way.
Despite its perhaps lackluster adoption in the marketplace, the Windows Phone OS itself is certainly no joke, and the Lumia 920 is a great device. Far from being a chore, my time with this phone is actually fun. Shock as phones found to be largely interchangeable.]]>
So next month, when I would normally do my mid-contract upgrade, I’m not sure what to do. One thing is clear, the certainty that I’ll be getting a new Windows Phone is gone. I just don’t see the compelling value proposition.]]>
And that’s what’s happening. There are small examples of this, like Apple slowly integrating Twitter and then Facebook into iOS. And then there are big examples of this. Google Now is such a thing.]]>
As the hyper-growth company of the last five years, largely propelled by the iPhone and iPad lines, less than 50% of Apple's actual profits currently come from repeat customers, but given those survey results, the inflection point [where more than 50% does] should arrive some time in 2015.
Interestingly enough, Bernstein Research also surveyed other smartphone users and found that 75% of Android users plan to repurchase another Android device, 58% of BlackBerry users plan on doing similarly, while just 37% of Windows phone owners intend on sticking with the platform. It's not clear whether that's Windows phone or Windows Phone - the difference being that some people might still be using Windows Mobile (it lives, just). And with Nokia's announcement on Thursday, it seems that it doesn't matter about repurchase just now - Windows Phone is after the new buyers. (Via @slimbowski.)]]>
Adopting Windows Phone also means Nokia is now reliant on Microsoft’s execution — and Redmond continues to lag behind the pace of development on the dominant smartphone platforms. “Microsoft has been slow to innovate with Windows Phone, which has held Nokia back,” says Fogg. “The current version, Windows Phone 8, is little different in consumer features to Windows Phone 7 of two years ago. In the meantime, Apple and Google have piled on numerous more features to iOS and Android.”
“Elop chose Windows Phone also because he could reduce costs by lowering the number of Nokia staff working on content and services. Ironically, Nokia is having to stimulate the Windows Phone ecosystem by content deals to attempt to get the platform moving,” Fogg adds. This is the question on which the whole of Nokia's present and future revolves. Should it have gone with Android? Would it have been able to compete with Samsung and be as big, or would it be struggling as HTC now is, stuck in the mid-market? Though the claim that Android and iOS have added more features than Windows Phone (especially Nokia's version) doesn't quite stack up. Nokia's Windows Phone has plenty of standout features (Kids Corner, Nokia Music, City Lens).]]>
Don’t weep too much for Microsoft. It’s design decisions give it an advantage in the tablet to notebook continuum that is ultimately more valuable. Not only that, so far Apple has eschewed the Phablet space confirming it might remain a fairly small niche. So the question becomes, does Microsoft ignore Phablets completely? If not, how are they going to address them? ]]>
The Windows software doesn’t support resolutions as high as that on Google’s Android platform, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.
Chief executive officer Peter Chou’s decision to halt the project using Windows Phone 8 software leaves HTC with only Android for phones measuring larger than 5 inches diagonally, dealing a blow to Microsoft in its efforts to win share from Google and Apple. So this was going to be a "phone" larger than 5in, to compete with the Galaxy Note. Not in the generality of the smartphone space. A key question: at what size does Microsoft stop you using Windows Phone and insist on Windows 8? (Thanks @modelportfolio2003 for the link.)]]>
In short, at this point, a hobbyist developer building an app for Windows Phone is not going to affect the market share of the platform at all. It's too late.]]>
Nope.
So I asked at that time. And—yep, you guessed it—I received the big “no comment.” (At least they responded.)
Today, almost exactly one month after the Windows Phone 8 release and over 5 months after it was announced, Microsoft has never really publicly discussed Windows Phone 7.8 again nor has it hinted at when it might be released.
Microsoft, silence is no way to treat early adopters, the people who are your most loyal customers.]]>
"We are still relatively small ... I expect the volumes on Windows Phone to really ramp quickly." He could have been speaking in 2011 or 2012. Actually, which one was it?]]>
With mobile phones, the alchemy of success is particularly complex. An operating system such as Windows Phone has four constituencies: consumers, developers, manufacturers and carriers. It’s tough for an operating-system company to come up with something compelling for any one of these groups unless it gets all of them excited, all at once. And with the iPhone and Android so deeply entrenched in their own ways, it hasn’t been entirely clear whether the market has room for a strong number three mobile platform. Not a review, more a walk through some of the new things in Windows Phone 8, and a musing on its challenges.]]>
48% of respondents said they would choose Microsoft technology as their corporate mobile standard, up from 44% in a similar survey three months before, according to a research note from ThinkEquity financial analyst Yun Kim. Google's Android OS dropped to 8% from 11%, while Apple's iOS grew from 10% to 14%. Two thoughts: (1) this leaves 30% who either aren't standardised, or use RIM - down from 35% previously; (2) if their intention was so high before, why haven't they already done it?]]>
Apparently aware that time is running out, Microsoft has at long last spoken. Next week, the company will release a beta SDK... to a few people. Calling it a limited "Preview" release, some number of developers with existing, published Windows Phone 7 applications will be able to use the new SDK. This is in addition to an existing private beta program already running, that's giving OEMs and special software partners access to the software.
A full SDK will come, but not until the company properly unveils the operating system—which is currently rumored to happen on October 29th. Presuming Windows Phone 8 devices ship this year—and Microsoft is certainly talking as if they will—that leaves developers little time to update their applications and get ready for the new platform. Not having an SDK for developers is, in these app-hungry days, a big problem if you're looking to make a difference in the smartphone market. Just ask RIM about BB10. (Thanks @avro for the link.)]]>
"It was right after Windows Phone 7," Sullivan said, speaking in an interview with CNET UK. The team that developed the 7.5 release actually was working in parallel with the core team that was already beginning [Windows Phone 8]. In fact some of that work was already initiated before Windows Phone 7 was even available - so this goes back a little bit."
Unifying the Windows Phone and full-fat Windows kernel "was always the plan", he adds.]]>
“Symbian’s market share has come down close to zero,” he said of the decision to switch to Windows.
According to Siilasmaa, Nokia has a contingency plan in place if the Windows 8 Phone fails to live up to expectations. But he said the company was confident that the product would be a success. With RIM imploding, it's starting to look like less of a challenge.]]>
More than that, it’s a fundamental shift, uprooting everything; Microsoft’s packing up the house, putting it on the back of a truck, and moving it out of the dead-end suburban cul-de-sac and onto a gorgeous country estate. WP8 will now share common code with the impending desktop and tablet versions of Windows 8. If this sounds complicated, it shouldn’t: by next year, every new Windows computer, slate, and phone will have the same modern software DNA, which will give Microsoft-friendly handsets access to the best programming magic available.]]>
For Microsoft to succeed it has to do two things: Stem, and then reverse, the tide for executives bringing their own devices into the enterprise; and secondly leverage its dominance of the PC at exactly the time that PC sales have been outstripped by mobile devices, very few of which are running any of their operating systems. Nokia—the largest manufacturer of Windows Phone devices—shipped 2 million [Windows Phone] units in the first quarter of the year. ]]>
The strong sales enjoyed by Lumia phones at present are typical short-term results for the newly launched model, and it remains to be seen whether the sales momentum will continue, commented industry sources.
Given that sales of iPhones totaled over five million units in China in the first quarter of 2012, it would be difficult for Windows Phone models to yield the same results in a quarter, the sources commented. Party poopers.]]>
It seems Microsoft was right however, with Michel van der Bel, COO Greater China Region at Microsoft saying that a mere 2 months after the launch Windows Phone 7 handsets already had a 7% market share in China, ahead of the 6% of the iPhone there. Intriguing. What's not mentioned is who the makers are of these Windows Phone phones. HTC? Samsung? ZTE? ]]>
"None of it is true. Korea Herald is showing its speculative side again," a spokesman for the company in Korea exclusively told Pocket-lint before adding, "We are still on board with Windows Phone, but right now, we're focusing on Android because that's where the demand is." Translation: LG isn't giving up making Windows Phone devices. Then again, it isn't very interested in making them either.]]>
"We're focusing our Google Voice efforts on Android & iOS and don't have a plan to extend this to the Windows Phone," Google told me via e-mail, when I asked recently about the lack of support. "This may change if we start to see greater demand from Windows Phone users for Google Voice." Given how tiny a portion of the US market (where Google Voice has the most traction) Windows Phone presently is, that would be a long wait. Danny Sullivan also makes the point that it forces people to use unofficial apps - whose security isn't certain.]]>
The point I was attempting to make was simply that existing Windows Phone applications will run on the next version of Windows Phone. This is the same guidance that Microsoft shared late last year.
I mistakenly confused app compatibility with phone updateability, which caused the rumors we saw yesterday. I did not intend to give the impression I was offering new guidance on any products under development or their upgradeability. Microsoft is being cagey about whether current phones running Windows Phone 7 or Windows Phone 7.5 will be able to run Windows Phone 8 when it comes out later this year. Either it hasn't decided or it doesn't want to break the bad news. More important question: does it matter?]]>