If you ever wondered about Windows Phone…

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Paul Thurrott’s analysis of Intel’s recent decision to give up on Atom mobile chips makes good reading: Intel isn’t just years away from fielding a vi
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What will happen with the Universal Apps and Windows Store then? Are they still valuable moving forward or will they be discontinued at some stage too? I may not have a full understanding of this subject because I am still traditional desktop/notebook oriented and I do not use any touch device with Windows.

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Doesn’t this mean pretty much the entirety of what’s been driving Windows 8+ to be a mobile device is kind of out the window then?

Who here didn’t see this coming? Raise hands…

Um, no one? I’m not surprised.

I mean, I don’t need Apps on my COMPUTER. I keep an open mind, but no one has thought up a big-font, dumbed-down program that gives me anything I don’t already have, and to be brutally honest I can’t even imagine one.

If anything I need the sophisticated tools I already use to become more sophisticated.

As an analogy, it’s a bit like a 3rd grade math teacher attending a meeting on theoretical cosmology and the advancement of the theory of everything. No one there really needs to learn how to do basic multiplication and division.

As a high-end COMPUTER user…

I don’t need to scribble on web pages; I can type up eMail and Word documents to my colleagues to express professional issues. Or (gasp) use the telephone.

I don’t need a Weather App. I have a web browser. And a window in my office through which I can look at the sky.

I don’t need a way to share things on social media. That’s not what I spend my time on.

I don’t need entertainment and diversion. I need FOCUS.

I don’t need simplicity and reduced cognitive load. I’m paid to think.

-Noel

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Yep. This spells the end, as I understand it, to “real” Windows programs running on mobile Intel devices – except for the semi-mobile Atom processors that are already out in the field. If you were hoping for a phone that runs real Windows, nope, ain’t gonna happen. Intel has thrown in the towel.

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Nobody knows. Certainly, the Universal Apps have lost some of their appeal.

I think MS is going to push to get everything in UWP format, for many reasons (that 30% commission is certainly among them). But whether customers will go for it – especially without any significant heavy-duty mobile machines – remains to be seen.

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Amen

JF

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Well put. The same theme runs through a recent book I have just finished, Deep Work by Cal Newport. A great many people, myself included, need less not more distraction. Microsoft’s bet on social media may well turn out to have been misplaced, at least for many of us.

Are we a large enough minority to support demand for technology and services that cater to our needs in the market, or will we always be trapped in a world of chatter? That question remains to be seen.

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Oh dear. To be honest, I didn’t even remember there was a Windows phone until I read this. And I live not very far from the MS Mother Ship.

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You know, this might be one of the few times I only partially agree with you Woody. Then again, a Microsoft Lumia 640 cost me $50 on closeout, and isn’t my primary phone, though it’s fun to play with.

The Tiles interface…the smartphone platform may be the *only* place I find it suited to, and it works well. Most of the apps I’d use in a smartphone on a daily basis are bundled into Windows Phone, and this is also the only place I find Cortana to not only be useful, but shine. The phone could do about 90% of the things I do with a phone on a daily basis; I had to switch from Google Hangouts to Slack for groupchat that worked across devices, but that works.

I think the biggest problem is how long it took Microsoft to get the platform semi-reasonable. Windows Phone 8.1 was quite stable, but by then, Microsoft had long lost even the toehold it might have had on the market. They failed to adapt well to an emerging market back in the early iPhone and Android days and the offerings they did provide were pathetic. And, Windows Phone 10 really provides little over 8.1 other than a unified development platform, which developers greatly need (and Microsoft needs to gain marketshare), but which doesn’t offer any new zing for users or promote the sale of devices.

I like the device, for the bargain price I paid…but the failure was from poor planning IMO, and not from what Windows Phone 8.1/10 is now.

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