I know: you are stunned.
Do not be.
I have been a Windows Phone user since the days of the old Windows Mobile.
Actually, correction: I have been a loyal Windows Phone user since Day One.
Through nascent days to the heydays of 2009 where Windows Mobile was shipping 20 million licenses a year, to the current malaise where the horde of Windows Phone fanbois horde – snicker, snicker. A joke; for 20 fans, a horde does not make – rejoice at the shipping of 10 million Windows Phones. This, during the same calendar financial reporting quarter in which Apple shipped 74 million+ phones.
I jumped ship last December, quitting Windows Phone on Christmas Day 2014.
The reasons for my deciding to do so is simple: I got tired of users, actual Windows Phone users, being relegated to nonentities as Microsoft treats telcos and OEMs as its actual customers*.
That said, my other reasons for this choice are simple, of which the next most obvious is the stagnation of the platform.
- Stagnation with regards to software. See below.
- Stagnation with regards to hardware. All you hear about are the low-end Lumia devices being created. That’s a way to win….
- Stagnation with regards to the [end]user experience.
- Stagnation with regards to app coverage. Much has been said about this. Personally, I don’t give a damn about the top line inventory numbers. What I care about is whether the top 100 apps have comparable Windows Phone applications. No.
- Add stagnation with regards to the buying experience to this list. See my comparative iPhone buying experience below.
When I made a determination to go with an iPhone, I charged my staff with making sure we had the right MDM solution to accommodate my decision as it affected our all-Windows operation infrastructure.
Selecting the right iPhone
This was easy.
As blogged here, Wifey and #2 Son went with iPhone from Windows Phone in August 2013.
She ended up getting a 5S, while the kid got a 4S.
This past summer, #2 Son found out that he couldn’t update to the latest iOS since his device had reached EOL, and asked for “the next iPhone” for Christmas.
Annoyingly at the time, #1 Son also made the decision to exit Windows Phone, ostensibly for the apps, but generally because apart from a few apps, Xbox Live integration, and and the Windows Phone developer suite, he did not have device or platform compatibility with his friends.
I also decided to get Wifey the latest device as well. Since Wifey.
When iPhone 6 and 6+ were announced, I waited to see, demo, and trial them.
Wifey and the boys went with iPhone 6.
Since I was paying, and this is America, I decided to supersize it, and I chose the iPhone 6+.
Like I said, easy.
Buying the iPhone 6+
This was easy.
Unlike my previous smartphone buying experiences, I didn’t have to select a mobile telco from which to but the iPhone.
iPhone 6 is created to operate with ANY United States mobile telco’s network.
Think about it for a minute: an iPhone 6x works on any mobile telco’s network.
Any one of them.
I like that: since I was purchasing the devices outright, I could take them along with me to any telco of my choice, whenever I liked.
How cool is that?
So I went to the nearest Apple Store and bought a total of four iPhones, three initially for my wife and kids, and mine a week later, when I had made the decision to go with the 6+.
On Christmas Eve, I drove by the local Verizon Wireless store, activated the iPhone 6+ in about 5 minutes, and went along my way.
Easy.
Using the iPhone 6+
Not so easy.
I’m still learning.
So many gaps, holes, and outright oversights with regards to how Windows Phone works.
Upgrades to iOS
Since I have had the iPhone, there have been a couple of universal upgrades to iOS.
Guess what?
All iOS devices.
I was still stuck 2 updates behind on Windows Phone.
That’s the Windows Phone way!
Conclusions
It took a lot for me to discard Windows Phone.
However, it wasn’t an abandonment by me.
I, and all Windows Phone users were abandoned by Microsoft, relegated to the back bench behind the folks Microsoft regards as their real customers: the mobile telcos and hardware device OEMs. The same OEMs who have fled the Windows Phone platform in droves.
Remember that phrase, “Vote with your money”?
I did.
To the tune of $3,132.32 to get four new, contract-free iPhone 6x devices.
I’m actually enjoying learning about iPhone and iOS, the quirks, feature gaps, enterprise fails and all.
At least, Apple is responsive to their true, heavily-fleeced customers, the end users.
I can feel Windows Phone and Microsoft fanboi no-nothings gearing up to argue this with me.
To them I say in advance: “Get lost. I have spoken, with my money!”
*That is a phrase I actually heard a Microsoft drone actually utter. Back in 2009. I will never forget it. I will NEVER forgive it either. Too bad I don’t remember the name of the imbecile who said it!
© 2002 – 2015, John Obeto for Blackground Media Unlimited
