Submitted by “Ballmer’s visit takes place shortly after LG Electronics’ executive said during an earnings conference session last week that the company is planning to focus on smartphones running on Google’s Android mobile operating system. The executive also said LG is taking a step back from Windows phones powered by Microsoft’s platform, adding that it will ‘continue research and development efforts’ on Windows Phones.” Anyone surprised by this should have their peepers checked.
Windows Phone is going nowhere fast. The only chance they have is if the next major version can run Windows 8 metro apps. Even still, if current WP7 owners can’t upgrade to it, that’s likely to piss off a lot of current customers.
Edited 2012-05-01 01:24 UTC
You assume that the reason Windows Phone performed so bad are the applications. Then why did Android succeed even when it was born from scratch completely out of nowhere whereas the ancestor of Windows Phone 7, that is Windows Mobile/CE, was a pure success-story and long time the only alternate to Symbian and from a technical pov even miles ahead?
Windows Phone has a bad stand cause it is Windows without the freedom to run everything and the backward-compatibility till MSDos. Bringing the huge Windows Vista/Seven code onto phones and removing all those advantages while adding all the problems rather then understanding the reason for success of CE, Android and iPhone isn’t going to improve the situation.
Edited 2012-05-01 07:00 UTC
It’s partly the (lack of) apps…
Windows Mobile was quite widely derided, and only tolerated because the alternatives were worse or nonexistent… The interface was extremely clunky to use (trying to put a start bar on a phone..), and the os would crash and need rebooting regularly..
Also although it had apps, actually finding them was a pain in the ass.. There was no central repository, no centralised updating etc. Trying to hunt around websites looking for an installer is bad enough, but doing so on a small screen with the crude browser provided on windows mobile was just terrible.
Windows phone shouldn’t be called windows, the association with windows gives people false impressions….
Some people assume that because its “windows”, it will have the same problems associated with the desktop version, namely crashing and malware.
Others remember windows mobile, didn’t like it so have no reason to think this new version will be any better. Others who remember windows mobile don’t like the fact that their existing apps won’t run.
The association with windows also makes people think they are the same product, and thus able to run the same apps, cue disappointment when they realise this isn’t the case.
“Ballmer’s visit takes place shortly after LG Electronics’ executive said during an earnings conference session last week that the company is planning to focus on smartphones running on Google’s Android mobile operating system.”
In other words, the “android tax” will be increased unless…
I keep reading stories about companies concerned with Google buying Motorola mobile.
My Samsung phone runs a full year behind native Android release dates due in part to having to bolt TouchWiz into the code but sadly they are faster at plugging holes people are using to root the phone and install custom/native roms.
Right now ICS has only 2.5% of the Android market share even though it was released 6 and a half months ago. (source: http://www.businessinsider.com/android-is-suddenly-in-a-lot-of-trou… and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_3.0#Market_share )
My phone which is only 2 years old won’t be getting it ever and even if it were it tends to be more than a year behind the official version.
This problem is ugly and it isn’t good for Google which is why they bought Motorola mobile not just for patents but to help push for a more native Android experience.
Everyone wants to make their own customizations to “differentiate” but with ICS available on just 1 phone (Nexus) that I know of 6 1/2 months after release it seems like just not being a year or more behind Android releases would be pretty different.
Until companies do a better job of keeping up with Android releases they can’t complain about Google buying Motorola.
Edited 2012-05-01 07:33 UTC
Hi,
I bought a micro-wave oven 10 years ago. The controls and features for this micro-wave have remained the same since I got it; even though more modern micro-waves have better features.
I think the manufacturer of my micro-wave should be forced to upgrade it for free, even though the manufacturer was never under any obligation to provide upgrades, and even though it still works the same as it did when I chose to purchase it.
– Brendan
I’m sure your micro-wave supports the latest apps ever created for it.
Smartphone is not an one-shot device anymore. It is a part of platform with new software, bug fixes, etc.
pre android and iphone how many software upgrades did your phone manufacturer give you ? How many times did phone manufacturers give you their latest version of Symbian ??
This is what I don’t get, pre current generation smart phones, phone manufacturers never upgraded phones to give the latest version of Symbian you got what you got and done.
http://www.gottabemobile.com/2011/10/21/ultimate-android-4-0-update… These are all of the phones getting or have android 4, all of Sony’s 2010-2011 phones have or will be getting upgraded to android 4.
The max contract length I have seen is 2 years, upgrade or root your phone, your choice and most importantly you have that choice, because android is open source.
Also LG is obviously so worried about android and the Google / Motorola deal that they are focusing more on Android ? makes me think no phone manufacturer gives a damn about the deal, thats old news.
>How many times did phone manufacturers give you their latest version of Symbian ??
Phones have changed. We are past the days of Symbian and those phones didn’t cost $500 each (or $200 with a $100/month plan).
>The max contract length I have seen is 2 years, upgrade or root your phone, your choice and most importantly you have that choice, because android is open source.
rooting my phone isn’t a supported option any more than jailbreaking an iPhone. I own the device sure but they patch holes people use to get root access to them. Several companies have been shipping locked bootloaders etc.
This invalidates much of your argument because as long as manufacturers are taking steps to lock people out of their phones it is on them to provide updates.
Throw aside the religious GNU free vs closed arguments and what is the difference to the consumer between being a locked Android device with a dated code base and locked iOS. ICS being at 2.5% market share is a problem because at the current rate of deployment iPhone 5 is going to pass it in market share on launch day.
I think the mobile market moves too fast to make mistakes and this Java thing won’t be good for Google. Verizon (largest carrier in the US) has only had iPhone available for a little over a year so iPhone might be positioned to steal back some market share in the next round of upgrades at least temporarily.
Something I have always wondered about everytime I hear someone complain about not getting ICS is exactly what features are there in ICS that you absolutely need?
I mean if your phone already works fine for you and you are happy then why do you need ICS?
The only app I can think of that even requires ICS in order to run is chrome.
broken_symlink asked…
Well definitely Chrome if you’re coming from the Google perspective and want to keep even more tabs on your users. ;-P
Seriously though the answer is bug fixes and optimizations. The way things work now the only real way to get bugfixes or access some of the optimizations made between versions of Android is to upgrade. Since most of the various ports are hampered by lack of drivers for such basic items as cameras, bluetooth, and in one case headphone jacks people really prefer to get an official release from the carrier to build on so everything works.
If drivers were completely GPL and available to build by the community I predict much of the clamoring for carrier released updates would fade away and people would just use what was available in the CM9 and ASOP ports for their devices. Until that happens expect the bitching to continue…
–bornagainpenguin
New APIs, not that have accumulated in both Android 3 and 4. One of the most important is RenderScript, something that can bypass crappy JNI briges when using Android UI from C++, a key to 60fps on Android IMO.
But, without larger availability app developers will set their codesbases on older Java apis and the framework will be ignored.
You missed the HTC One S – Gradient Blue on T-Mobile – 4.3-inch 960×540 Super AMOLED screen, 8 MP / VGA cameras, 16 GB flash (no µSD), Snapdragon S4 dual-core 1.5 GHz processor with 1 GB RAM. Not a bad phone.
Also two cousins, the HTC One X on AT&T and Evo 4G LTE on Sprint – larger 4.7-inch, 1280 x720 resolution Super-LCD screen, 8 and 1.3 MP cameras, Snapdragon S4 dual-core 1.5 GHz processor. The One X has 32 GB flash (no µSD), while Evo 4G has 16GB of flash plus a 32 GB µSD.
Not as many options as I would like, but two from each major carrier except Verizon is still a decent presence – the same number of options you have with iPhone, I believe?
Full disclosure: I bought my wife a Nexus for Mother’s Day (May 13 in the USA). Shhhh…
Companies like LG, Samsung, Sony want to control their destiny and the key to it is producing own software.
They used to be MS bit*es and replacing one sugardaddy with another is not an option.
Pure Android experience is only an option for ZTE and HonHai who can win in deadly cost slashing game in the long term.
LG should have known better:
http://www.asymco.com/2011/02/11/in-memoriam-microsofts-previous-st…
http://wmpoweruser.com/lg-denies-stepping-out-of-windows-phone-game…
LG says they’ll still make WP phones, but will concentrate on Android since that’s where the demand is (which is the stance LG has always taken (they only make two WP phones anyway, it’s not like they were focused on WP at all)).
“None of it is true. Korea Herald is showing its speculative side again. We are still on board with Windows Phone, but right now, we’re focusing on Android because that’s where the demand is.
…
Regardless of which OS, LG is committed to offering consumers as wide a choice as possible.”