Windows 10 won't save Windows Phone?
According to the IDC at least. And you know what? I actually agree... within the context of today.
Let's start with these predictions. They are just that. And they aren't particularly reliable. You'd shit yourself laughing if you compared their tablet predictions from a few years ago with reality today. Everything from the predictions on the segment as a whole, to shares by operating and device sizes. All monstrously wrong.
I'm not trying to insult the IDC here. Based on the available evidence at the time, they weren't actually bad guesses. In fact, for all they were wrong, they were actually surprisingly accurate when you consider that the tablet market was still very young and many people are only just now getting on to their second and third such devices.
Also, after the iPad Mini, the popular tablet size switched direction. The Surface Pro 3 did well, Apple and Google are following suit now with larger tablets that attempt to double as laptops. A few years ago the convertible market was DOA. It didn't get off the ground at all in the beginning. There was no reason to suspect it ever would.
But I've gone off course a bit. Windows 10 (Mobile) won't save Windows Phone. In my opinion at least. And for a myriad of reasons. But the most important part is what is in parentheses. Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile are still different enough in enough respects to challenge the claim that they are running the same OS. And the limitations inherent in the mobile side of things have created some awkward situations.
Not to mention that with the massive slashes in their Nokia acquisition the platform has lost the bulk of its new hardware. They also continued to deliver the exact opposite of what the market needed for years by ignoring flagship phones. As it stands today, Continuum is the best that Windows 10 Mobile has going for it, but without Win32 apps, Continuum is cool rather than a killer feature.
And that is where things get interesting. The new Lumia's are sold out for an undetermined amount of time online and are rumoured to be difficult to acquire in person as well. Despite that meaning that sales are good based on what they were confident in manufacturing I don't think it will change a thing. The limited supply hurts a lot of important metrics for critics, investors and consumers (the "being sold out" metric stops me from being able to buy it). As a result, I think the new Lumia's will be reported as failing both by the world at large and by Microsoft.
The next logical move... kill Windows 10 Mobile. Pull an Xbox-esque move and use a more restrictive UI when in phone mode. Then Continuum enables a true Windows 10 experience from the phone.
All that is really missing from the equation is the UI layer, an x86/64 SoC for a phone and a battery good enough to power that beast. At that point, you can almost consider Microsoft to have exited mobile. But, that move would likely, paradoxically, make their phones more popular. At that point, Continuum becomes a killer feature. Especially with the right accessories.
Let's start with these predictions. They are just that. And they aren't particularly reliable. You'd shit yourself laughing if you compared their tablet predictions from a few years ago with reality today. Everything from the predictions on the segment as a whole, to shares by operating and device sizes. All monstrously wrong.
I'm not trying to insult the IDC here. Based on the available evidence at the time, they weren't actually bad guesses. In fact, for all they were wrong, they were actually surprisingly accurate when you consider that the tablet market was still very young and many people are only just now getting on to their second and third such devices.
Also, after the iPad Mini, the popular tablet size switched direction. The Surface Pro 3 did well, Apple and Google are following suit now with larger tablets that attempt to double as laptops. A few years ago the convertible market was DOA. It didn't get off the ground at all in the beginning. There was no reason to suspect it ever would.
But I've gone off course a bit. Windows 10 (Mobile) won't save Windows Phone. In my opinion at least. And for a myriad of reasons. But the most important part is what is in parentheses. Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile are still different enough in enough respects to challenge the claim that they are running the same OS. And the limitations inherent in the mobile side of things have created some awkward situations.
Not to mention that with the massive slashes in their Nokia acquisition the platform has lost the bulk of its new hardware. They also continued to deliver the exact opposite of what the market needed for years by ignoring flagship phones. As it stands today, Continuum is the best that Windows 10 Mobile has going for it, but without Win32 apps, Continuum is cool rather than a killer feature.
And that is where things get interesting. The new Lumia's are sold out for an undetermined amount of time online and are rumoured to be difficult to acquire in person as well. Despite that meaning that sales are good based on what they were confident in manufacturing I don't think it will change a thing. The limited supply hurts a lot of important metrics for critics, investors and consumers (the "being sold out" metric stops me from being able to buy it). As a result, I think the new Lumia's will be reported as failing both by the world at large and by Microsoft.
The next logical move... kill Windows 10 Mobile. Pull an Xbox-esque move and use a more restrictive UI when in phone mode. Then Continuum enables a true Windows 10 experience from the phone.
All that is really missing from the equation is the UI layer, an x86/64 SoC for a phone and a battery good enough to power that beast. At that point, you can almost consider Microsoft to have exited mobile. But, that move would likely, paradoxically, make their phones more popular. At that point, Continuum becomes a killer feature. Especially with the right accessories.
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