Why universal apps won't save Windows Phone | Hacker News Reader

Why universal apps won't save Windows Phone

kneeland.me

3 pointssimonturvey5 comments

Hello, author here. I should clarify that I don't think Windows itself is doomed--it isn't, not by a long shot.

I think Windows 10 will do well in mature markets where it's an established leader (desktop) and nascent markets where leaders have yet to be defined (hybrids, IoT, holograms).

Where Windows 10 will not do well is in mature markets where they're not an established leader (phones).

Except one of those mature markets is represented by incumbent installations such as governmental departments and big companies. They're pretty reluctant to hand over hosting responsibility of their email and productivity tools to organizations whose business models are based on harvesting the enclosed data for advertising. Given that these institutions buy in considerable bulk there's the potential for the lure of a convenient, secure and harmonized platform to result in a phone market share above that magic 10% figure at which point it starts advertising itself and reaching sustainability/growth.

For desktops, sure. But Apple has clearly done a bang-up job at stitching up the institutional buyers with iPhone deals.

The term "institutional buyer" covers a broad spectrum. It's not just the deep-pocketed tech firms that buy smartphones. It's also your hospitals, animal shelters, fast food franchises, etc. Lots of these buyers are going to be looking for value other than app availability such as ease of integration with existing tools, security, and the right price. I don't see my local humane society heading out to the Apple store for a bunch of iPhone 6 Pluses.

I completely agree that app availability is not likely to save Windows Phone. I do believe though that MSFT's ability to push a wide range of capable, corporate-compatible handsets at reasonable price points give the platform as much of a chance at success as it's ever going to get.

I like that MSFT appear to be attempting to reinvent responsive design for the native world ;)

It will be interesting to see how, if at all, this dovetails with their SmartGlass efforts as I can see some merit in a framework that makes it easier to split views with a shared model and controller across multiples screens/devices.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com