Petition seeks to revive Windows Phone

[maflynn]

I had owned the windows phone and it was "ok" Not great, not bad, just ok. I find it a bit funny that there's a change.org petition to try to sway MS to revive the product
Change.org petition seeks to revive Windows Phone, and dozens are signing up!
I love how the title of the articles proudly promotes that dozens of people have signed up - lol.

Still, it seems that 572 people have indeed signed the petition

 

[boswald]

It's a shame they never took off. But Microsoft made a couple misfires and the rest is history. However, choice between the big three would be nice these days.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

I still have a Nokia Lumia 1520 in my drawer. Loved everything about the phone, except the lack of native 3rd party apps. Client apps was just not cutting it.

Even if MS can solve the app issue, it's going to be extremely hard for them to come up with a hardware design that entices people like Nokia did.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

I still have a Nokia Lumia 1520 in my drawer. Loved everything about the phone, except the lack of native 3rd party apps. Client apps was just not cutting it.

Even if MS can solve the app issue, it's going to be extremely hard for them to come up with a hardware design that entices people like Nokia did.

MS has NO chance at this point. The smartphone market is too mature and saturated with once big names like Sony leaving. Currently it is Apple followed by Samsung then Google for Android. OnePlus who once was a premier phone is now a niche player. There's no way that MS leapfrogs OnePlus unless they basically give their phones away and they are of course always tied to Windows which has people who would not own anything Microsoft because of that.

 

[HouseLannister]

Microsoft always made some big bets on mobile. But the follow through wasn't there. Always interesting, but never good. They get tired of being last place and quit when they should be doubling down. Gates said not dominating mobile was one of his biggest mistakes.

CE was very ahead of its time, but didn't evolve enough as the market moved from PDAs to smartphones.

The Kin was kind of a neat idea -- a smart-ish phone that was for kids and easy to use, but it launched at the wrong time when phones cost $30 more for the data plans. Parents just couldn't get over the added cost back then.

Windows Phone was a really cool attempt. Microsoft buying Nokia gave them some very colorful phones with great cameras. It was probably the best shot they had. But just gave up on the whole thing when it failed to have momentum. Developers didn't want to be there and Windows desktop already had moved away from the Metro/Modern Windows 8 look.

Then they switch to Android with their own launcher and launch the Surface phone which was really cool when folding phones were so compromised, but they just stop again when they get bored. Easier to just pay Samsung and others to pre install their apps than actually build something.

 

[baconcat_8964]

I like my Windows Phones, from Omnia 7 to Lumia 950. But I am not seeing any chance of Microsoft try again, or succeeding. Universal Windows Platform, which meant to solve the application shortage issue, has been discontinued. And Progressive Web App are still far from replacing native applications—and certainly cannot supporting an entirely new operating system on their own.

 

[TSE]

With the rise of dumb phones, Windows Phone’s greatest weakness (lack of apps) would actually make for a great middle ground phone for folks that like the idea of a dumbphone, but need the basics (web browser, maps, tap-to-pay, 5g hotspotting, a good camera, etc.).

Imagine that with a full ARM Windows Continuum (desktop mode) experience.

 

[fatTribble]

If I’m being honest I’d really like to see Microsoft give it another shot. I think it would offer more choice to consumers and the competition would be good for everyone.

Maybe they could focus on the folks who pride themselves on not being technical. A more basic phone might appeal to many people. 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[AustinIllini]

Microsoft could definitely leverage their decade long move to services to create a "MSPhone" which runs Android with Google Play Services and all that jazz.

The truth is, they would probably need to do something like make a deal with corporate America.

 

[Ctrlos]

I never understood why they never got some internal developers to produce a Windows Phone launcher for Android as a hobby/garage sort of release. They’ve done it with lesser apps in the past. They could integrate all the old features like the People Hub by aggregating messaging like Beeper. I reckon more than a new people would use it.

 

[Ctrlos]

It's a shame they never took off. But Microsoft made a couple misfires and the rest is history. However, choice between the big three would be nice these days.

Windows Phone 8.1 was its name. Decoupling various apps like Music from the core OS to push out updates was a sound idea but it made them slow to a crawl. I remember there was an app to let you use the old music app which was still hidden within the OS and it was lightning quick! They also got rid of the Xbox Live requirement for the games hub. I reckon the Lumia 620 was my favourite era of mobile gaming, with titles like Halo: Spartan Assault syncing their save with your console and Hexic having achievements timing back to your Gamertag. Xbox 360 integration is what got me into Windows Phone in the first place.

 

[HouseLannister]

Microsoft could definitely leverage their decade long move to services to create a "MSPhone" which runs Android with Google Play Services and all that jazz.

I never understood why they never got some internal developers to produce a Windows Phone launcher for Android as a hobby/garage sort of release.

Ummm... both of these things happened. Microsoft released two Android phones and, while people liked the concept, they did not sell well. Microsoft also continues to have their own launcher. It's not a Metro-style launcher, but it is very popular.

Surface Duo

news.microsoft.com

Microsoft Launcher - Apps on Google Play

Personalize your phone and stay organized on the go.

play.google.com

But if you want that old Metro look, there is Square Home as a third-party option:

Square Home - Apps on Google Play

A Windows-style launcher: Simple, fast, and intuitive.

play.google.com