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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella admits giving up on Windows Phone and mobile was a mistake
(www.theverge.com)
this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023
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Windows Phone failed because there were no apps for it. There was no YouTube app, no Facebook app, no Twitter app, etc until very late or never at all. They should have just paid developers to make the apps so that people would buy the phones. The OS was great and worked on a wide range of hardware. It could have been a great enterprise solution and they seemed to be heading that direction but the lack of third party made it little more than A Microsoft feature phone.
They couldn’t even be bothered developing their own apps for it. The mail app began to lag behind Outlook on Android, Minecraft was never ported to it when it could have been a killer exclusive app.
Google was often guilty of that too. I remember a number of Android apps that were pretty far behind the iOS ones. I don't think that is the case anymore though.
There were also a bunch of iOS apps behind Android ones. Remember when iOS finally got widgets? Different companies focused on different functionality first. But at this point, android and iOS have had the time to play catch-up with each other.
Difference being that Apple does not make Android apps. Google's own apps on iOS were behind their own on Android. I recall the YouTube and Maps app missing some features for quite a while on Android that were on IOS. I get that companies silo teams from each other but it's a little embarrassing when you're software on your platform is behind your software on your competitor's platform.
OS-wise, yeah it has largely been Apple playing catch up with iOS aside from messaging.
That reminded me when the Remote Desktop app turned up on Android before the Windows Phone. Ludicrous.