Here’s a daily dose of WP7x analysis culled from the feed reader and smashed together with more force then what’s provided by Chuck Norris’ pocket LHC.
Marketing!
One of the issues WP7x suffered from was a lack of visibility. I dunno if Microsoft is in charge of that, or if that’s up to the handset manufacturers, but after the initial burst of…a commercial…there was very little public visibility. Supposedly, hot on the heels of the ongoing Mango release, we’ll see more marketing, partly because 7.5 brings a lot of features to the table, and partly because Samsung and HTC have been said to have ramped up their marketing dollars made available to their WP handsets, and because Nokia is coming on board with their own WP handset.
Knowing is (only) half the battle…
I know about the existence of meth, but I’m not going to run out and buy some. However, if the meth came with a whole universe of apps, then I might reconsider.
Several outlets have taken the new HTC handsets (Titan and Radar) out for a spin, and have had some pretty favorable reviews, but there’s two common cons that everyone seems to be picking on. The first is that Mango is the new kid on the block, which leads into the second, more important knock: the lack of apps compared to iOS and Android.
This is a chicken and egg scenario, to a degree, because apps aren’t going to flow unless the biggest names in apps feel that the platform is worthwhile, but the platform won’t be worthwhile until people feel that it compares to iOS or Android, and all else being equal, the app selection is where the platform is falling down (and that’s basically the only place it’s falling down, IMO).
Is This How It Should Be?
There’s a lack of “premium” developer support for the WP platform. We have Angry Birds, but that’s pretty much required as part of Rovio’s manifest destiny. We have Microsoft Game Studios Xbox Live Arcade games, and we have other top shelf apps like Evernote and Foursquare. But some are conspicuous in their absence. Like Pandora. Or Spotify, which had actually been demo’d live on stage a while back. So it seems that rather then waiting for these laggards to get their acts together, indie developers are picking up their slack and are working on their own implementation of some popular apps.
Should this be the norm? iOS and Android people have no idea what this means, since they get app drops lockstep these days, but the WP platform is virtually ignored by pretty much every single mobile device outlet out there (Gamasutra tracks iOS and Android game data, but not WP, for example). But when a company releases it’s “official” app, it often times looks like it does on the other platforms (Foursquare notwithstanding…which looks totally kick ass on WP!). Putting the development in the hands of the users who crave the app can be a real plus: they aren’t fettered by the corporate mandates of standardization, and can also add in other features that users may want, but which corporate gag-orders prevent from appearing in the official offering. The downside is that they risk being slapped down for their efforts. But if companies get all in a bunch over these forward thinking community heroes, then they might consider releasing official apps on all three platforms so people aren’t driven to do their work for them, yes?
I Give Up…Or Do I?
Several tech luminaries have taken the “30 Day WP Challenge”. Scott Adams did it. Tom Bradley of PC World did it. Molly Wood of CNet did it. Hell, even Leo Laporte is on deck to do it. All agreed that WP is awesome, but none chose to stick with it. Why?
Adams blamed the “un-hip” shadow of Microsoft. Bradley cited his investment in iOS. Wood had some issues on the nascence of the platform. It’s the perennial problem of the “last to the party”, but there seems to be a real undercurrent in each (overcurrent in Bradley’s case) that they simply didn’t ever and honestly consider switching. The investment in previous platforms – especially the apps that have been purchased, the money spent – is too hard for people to walk away from.
The one rebel? Gabe of Penny Arcade who took his WP7 with him on a trip, and has apparently never looked back.
Prognostication
Sadly, the lackluster response to iPhone 4s really hasn’t been that lackluster. Preorders topped over a million already, which shows that some people will suckle at whatever teat Apple flashes at them. Those people will never leave for another platform (well, most of them won’t).
Then there’s those who have a whole heap of cash invested in their current platform. I checked my iPad the other day for “apps I have purchased, but which were not installed”, and there were over 180 of them. JUST for the iPad, not including any iPhone apps which didn’t have a dual binary. If each were only $0.99, that’s almost $200 spent in little, micro programs tied to that ecosystem. I’m certain there are millions of people who are in for far more scratch then I ever will be. Those people will never leave for another platform.
Finally, I think there’s simply a bias. A bias for iOS’ hipster cred, for Android’s rebel image, and against anything Microsoft. Your mother wants an iPhone because she heard about it on The View. Every single online service exhorts you to download their app “for iOS and Android”. Tech sites only have two arms: one to put around the shoulders of iOS, and the other around the shoulders of Android. All WP receives is the “sorry, maybe next time” eyes and a shrug.
Honestly, WP does pretty much everything right, but that’s apparently not enough for the iPhone generation. Since Apple rightfully discontinued the use of the “Think Different” motto, maybe MIcrosoft should pick it up for Windows Phone. It’s obvious that it doesn’t apply to Apple anymore.
0 comments:
Post a Comment