Could the Best Mobile Phone Ever Save Windows Phone from Dying?

21 July 2013
Melbourne, Oz

If you were to give away to an existing moderately heavy mobile phone user the best phone of every phone platform Apple, Android, Windows, and Blackberry, on the condition you actually had to use the phone as your only phone, many would pass on the opportunity. Not so surprising, this is due to the ecosystem we are bought into already. This might be apps, music, or some other phone feature we cannot do without.

As many of us use our phones more as computers than ever, this matters more than ever. Here I am for instance writing this on my nexus7, then sending to my PC for spell checking adding art formatting, and then uploaded here.

I thought about this now because Nokia is about to launch what many think (myself included) is one the best if not the best mobile ever made. Having owned then ditched one of the first Windows8 phones due to the lack of ecosystem mainly apps, appreciate how gorgeous a Windows phone is. When I had it, I had a Now what feeling about it. This was during a time when Apple app store was becoming mature, and Androids own App store was developing well as also. Like the iPhone and unlike Android Windows phone is quite locked down in terms of tweaking. This means you need to be happy with what it does do. It is all about timing, marketing, perception,   and delivery in the IT game. Computers, tablets, and mobiles are no different. Microsoft showed us the way from mobiles, (now called dumb phones) & PDAs, to smart phones, phablets (big mobiles), and tablets. Yet it took Apple with the iPhone, and iPad to start it off and make it happen. It took Samsung to kick start the phablets craze (one I like). However with the launch this week of the innovative new Nokia 1020, we will likely see what I think is very sad. A great new phone from the barely third place provider in Microsoft. Since the launch of Windows Phone, updates have been slow, when they needed to be better, a problem Apple and Android had but not as late in the marketplace as Microsoft was. Then there is the ongoing naming mess and confusion between, Windows Phone 8, Windows 8, Windows8 RT 8 and Windows 8 Pro. All look the same with Windows 8 Pro being  the same as Windows 8 but the name was adopted for certain tablets so they could be differentiated from those running the hopefully soon to die Windows8  RT. On top of that mess, all of them look the same, but different apps must be used for tablets, PC and phone. This debacle means Windows phones have sold very badly. There are pockets of hope outside the USA with main provider Nokia always being less successful in the USA than out of it. Just to make bad matters worse, to lessen the financial risk of poor sales of the new Nokia 1020,  stock is in short supply before it is even released because a minimal amount of units are being produced by Nokia This sell out is viewed as favorably versus over production. The risk to Microsoft and Nokia is that is viewed as a stunt or just turns people off.

The bottom line is Windows Phone 8 (should be called windows 8 phone) by perception if nothing else seems to lack enough features as an operating system to draw customers over from the same customers with iPhones or Android that have phones like the S4 by Samsung or the One X by HTC and Nexus, as and Sony Also in retrospect had Microsoft like Android offered a tablet with Windows Phone 8, and not 2 different OS, it might be a different story again (still not too late.) I think this is the only thing can save windows phone and if done soon only. (Not likely) Even Apple has one OS for Macs and only one OS for mobile devices. The new Nokia 1020 phone itself is very attractive has decent battery life, an inspiring and market leading 41 mega pixel camera, but no SD card memory, a real challenge I think. Unfortunately it is doubtful the  Nokia 1020 hail Mary Jesus phone , can win the day without Microsoft throwing some smart hail Mary marketing and awareness money at it not likely.

About The Author
Loren W.

After running an ISP or two, then as a product manager for one of the largest telcos in the world,  I went on to introduce something called business broadband in the UK and then several other cloud services  in the UK and here in Australia (man this dude is old).