While it does make a little sense if you pay attention, I guess, Microsoft's business in the mobile space has been… sporadic. Initiatives seem to come and go with little notice, and they may or may not oppose one another. To me, they do seem to point to Microsoft wanting to keep Windows Mobile relevant as a third-place contender, but they realize that, outside of leaning it against the development of Windows 10 for PCs, it's a money pit. Its problems cannot be solved by simply throwing money at it, so don't throw any more than is necessary.
Through this lens, the recent announcement of the Alcatel IDOL 4S makes a bit of sense. Google has not secured their place in mobile VR, and Apple isn't even trying to enter this segment (as best as we can tell). Microsoft is also into VR and AR on the PC and console side of things, so I'm guessing that even that cost can be dulled slightly. As such, why not release a phone that has roughly the same specs as a ZTE Axon 7, which is itself positioned as a first wave of mobile Google Daydream VR devices, and hopefully plant your foot somewhere in this space? They even have an OEM partner covering the hardware side of things.
So, basically, it seems like last year, when we heard that Windows 10 Mobile would be quiet, it wasn't so much an admission of defeat. They really seem to be moving forward, slow and steady.
Most people I know outside
Most people I know outside the tech industry now spend more time outside work on their phone than on a desktop or laptop.
So I think Microsoft’s biggest strategic error of the past decade is not going all-in on mobile. The company will outlive me, but Windows Phone was their only shot at being bigger than Apple or Google in ten years and they blew it.
This device is decent, but I doubt 99.999% of the population will notice.
NO! Microsoft’s biggest
NO! Microsoft’s biggest strategic error of the past decade is actually going all-in on mobile with our PC’s/Laptop’s once productive OSs instead of keeping that crap for phones only! And it’s all because M$ has no phone market presence to speak of. Oh Ballmer’s total envy of that mobile market’s app/subscription services revenue model! And oh the M$ PC/Laptop OSs that are such total crap that came after windows 7! M$ is still renaming and pushing out the TIFKAM(renamed to modern and Now renamed UWP) crap! M$ has taken a rusty Butcher Knife to the once productive windows 7 and raided the cemetery to get some hacked off parts that where DOA from that Windows 8 abomination and added in some in the OS spying and ad pushing to create the monster that is windows 10 and it’s EULA pact from the pits of hell!
Windows 7 is the last of the Desktop OSs from those fools in Redmond! Satya(The Cloud) Nadella is just continuing the same nefarious plans!
I never said that Windows 8,
I never said that Windows 8, Windows 8.1, or Windows 10 were good products. They were not. But almost all of my friends and family members spend more of their free time on Android or iOS than they do on Windows. Chrome on Android is now the most used web browser in the world.
Microsoft should have kept selling Windows 7 as-is for another ten years, and spent all of their time and money making Windows Phone better and offering more incentives for consumers to use it. And if they had done that, today Android would be in a serious fight for the smartphone market instead of growing like an unstoppable monster.
I’m not upset that Microsoft screwed up. I’m just surprised.
That’s water under the
That’s water under the bridge, yesterday! Now everyone uses iOS or Android based devices and M$ is out of the Phone loop for good! M$ has doomed themselves in the phone market, and in the PC/Laptop productive OS market as well with that terrible windows 10, and 8 before that. The other good thing about the phone market is that Intel is on the outside as well.
I’ll be looking and hoping for some Linux OS laptop OEMs to begin offering Zen/Polaris APU based laptop SKUs so I can say goodby to M$ and Intel forever and I can avoid Nvidia’s high cost Graphics! M$ will never have the phone market, ditto for Intel.
Windows 7 is beyond the new XP, it’s the last M$ OS that people actually wanted to purchase, 8 had to be discounted and went nowhere and 10 had to be made free and M$ had to foist it by nefarious means just to get the market share that 10 has today! Let’s see the raw numbers of people that went back from 10 to their previous OS versions!
Vulkan/Linux will be better for most that will not want that draconian EULA windows 10’s baked-in spying, ad pushing, update forcing, and system borking.
This will be the life of that
This will be the life of that plastic VR headset
Day 1: VR headset used for 2 hours
Week 2: Where the hell are new VR apps? oh wait I remember this is a windows phone with 0.01% market share.
Week 3 to week 80: Headset sits on a shelf collecting dust
Week 81 spring cleaning: oh that thing? headset goes to the landfill (phone was replaced long before)
If Microsoft executives are
If Microsoft executives are smart, they will realize that one of the only ways to ever make Windows Phone important to consumers is to make the VR experience sensational.
So if they spend like gangbusters to make VR on this thing fun, they have a future.
But I’ll bet they make a few half-hearted attempts and give up.
I’m more interested in this
I’m more interested in this as a phone then a vr device android is a snake pit when it comes to updates and apple is locked down and expensive. If microsoft can offer os and security updates that aren’t at the whim of the handset maker I will seriously consider them for my next phone. Assuming the hardware and price is right. Who cares about apps all I need is a decent web browser and something to manage my audio books and podcasts. Everything else can or should be done though the browser.
I would prefer open source
I would prefer open source from top to bottom, but the only project focused on that is Replicant. They only support a few phones and not even all features on them -some have no open source camera driver, some have no open source wifi driver or GPS, etc..
So I stick with Android due to it being more open than iOS or Windows, even though it’s still pretty locked down.
Otherwise I agree with your points. Smart phone = calls, texts, navigation, camera, music player, and mobile browser.
Despite all the bad press; I
Despite all the bad press; I think you might really like Windows Mobile. I love my 950XL and wouldn’t trade it for an iPhone or android phone. It does everything I want it to do perfectly. I don’t have to wait on my carrier to push updates and the UI is (in my opinion) the best there is.
Ba ha ha ha! No one wants a
Ba ha ha ha! No one wants a M$ phone, it’s data slurping right now! Slurp herp derp! WinTel is outside now and forever! It’s too late for M$ and Intel in the phone market, no one wants or needs the borking and bad power uasge metrics!
Does it have the Continuum
Does it have the Continuum switch-to-desktop feature? If so, have you tried it?