Windows Phone 7 quietly entered the market after it had become almost completely saturated by Android and iPhone. This OS has struggled over the past few years and has had some serious feature overhauls, including WP 7.5, 7.8, 8, and 8.1. Worldwide Windows Phone has "grown" and settled around 3% market share, overtaking BlackBerry, which continues to dwindle. Windows 10 proves a serious upgrade over Windows Phone 8.1, but some still doubt the ability of Windows Phone to become relevant in our Google- and Apple- saturated world, such as this journalist from ExtremeTech. However, I think there is hope. The short answer to Microsoft being able to make Windows Phone relevant is, "yes." Yes, if they play their cards right.
So let's talk about exactly what cards Microsoft has right now, cards that other competing companies in the smartphone market don't have. For one, Windows. Here's a statistic for all you folks that still hate Windows: there are more Windows 8.x users than total OS X users in the world. That's right, more people use the "most-hated OS of all-time" (besides Vista, of course) than the "most-loved." And Microsoft can use that. OS X, Chromebook, they will never be able to fully compete with Windows in the business market, and even in most people's homes. Now that Windows 10 has been announced to be free for all Windows 7/8.x users, that means potentially 75% of ALL PC users in the WORLD will be on the same operating system. Those implications alone are huge, for enterprise, developers, everyone! Developers are probably through the roof about these implications, and with more developers interested, it means more apps. (Read more about the full abilities of Universal Apps here). And not only that, Universal apps mean those same apps developers make for the huge amount of potential Windows users will be available for Windows Phone users, too! This solves the endless loophole of apps Microsoft has been struggling with for the past 3 years, where there aren't any users, so developers don't make apps, so people don't buy and use the platform due to the lack of apps, and so on. Not only could Universal apps woo WP users, but a stronger connection between phone and PC would boost Windows Phone sales, too. Here's a theoretical situation Microsoft could take advantage of in order to boost WP sales. I am not saying "Continuity" features will be available for Windows devices, but it is a very likely possibility. Say I have an iPhone 5 and a Windows 7 laptop that I bought when 7 first came out in 2010. It's probably time for an upgrade. I personally like the idea of the Continuity and Handoff features available for Apple products, and that MacBook Pro is looking pretty sweet. But then, wait! Windows 10 is going to be free for my Windows 7 laptop! Now I don't really need to get a Mac. And top of that, Windows Phones will have very similar features to Apple's Continuity. My iPhone 5 suddenly becomes the device that needs an upgrade, considering it will be outdated in a couple of years, and now that I look at them, Windows Phones look like a pretty good value. I'm sure there are a ton of Windows 7 users out there that have either an iPhone or Android and are in a similar situation. Microsoft could use this to their advantage and stress the similarities between Windows and WP. However, it wouldn't be easy, as the early years of Windows Phone have shown. WP is in a different position than Android was. When Android burst into the market, it didn't take away iPhone users who switched to Android. It mostly expanded the market by putting phones in the hands of those who either couldn't afford iPhones or who hadn't before seen the potential in smartphones. But now nearly everyone has a smartphone. Windows Phone must now convince CURRENT smartphone users to switch to their platform, which is a much harder task than making a bigger market. Share with your friends and post your thoughts on the Windows Phone UserVoice site if you think features like this should be implemented in Windows 10.
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Windows 10The author of the Windows 10 Page Blog. Not much else to say about me. CategoriesArchives© 2015 Windows 10 Page. Office, Windows, and Windows Phone are registered trademarks of Microsoft. Lumia is a trademark of Microsoft.
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