5 big problems for Windows Phone

For a long time now, I have had high hopes for Windows Phone. Not because I have any loyalty to the Microsoft brand, or because I feel like Windows Phone is somehow doing it right, but because there needs to be a third player in the market. As long as Android and iOS are the only games in town, Apple and Google will continue to sit on either sides of a fence growling at each other instead of innovating. Windows Phone needs to step up as the third combatant in this fight, so that innovation continues. Unfortunately, Microsoft has some serious hurdles to cross in order to be a contender.

Developers, Developers, Developers

This is by far the most obvious of the changes that needs to be made. Windows Phone needs more apps in every genre. Right now the only thing going for the Marketplace is the heavy surge of apps that work with Xbox Live and the scoring system for those who are interested in that. Microsoft needs to give developers a reason to move things over to Windows Phone. As hardware manufacturers in partnership with Microsoft and salesman for the stores are putting devices into the hands of users, it becomes Microsoft’s job to keep the devices in the hands of users.

The answer could be as simple as when Google was struggling for developers. When the original Motorola Droid and the Nexus One were released, Google was all too happy to make sure anybody who was even remotely interested in Android development had a free phone from Google. Prominent iOS developers received devices to encourage them to port their apps to Android, starting a whole new wave of development for the platform. A similar strategy wouldn’t hurt Microsoft.

Of course the app situation isn’t all bad news. Check out our list of some of the best Windows Phone apps.

Stop ramming Bing down our throats

This isn’t just a bad decision, but evidence that Microsoft would rather shove Bing in your face than have a well-developed product. Every Windows Phone 7 device has a search button on the front of the device. No matter where you are in the operating system, if you press that button you are taken to the Bing Search app on the phone! If you are in an app and decide you want to search for something, instead of using the search button on the front of the device, you need to hunt for a software search key. While this function is usually prominently displayed, the natural assumption when searching for something is to use the button that you see all day, every day.

The thing that bothers me the most about this “feature” is that it did not pop up until the Windows Phone Mango update — the previous version of the OS supported contextual search in apps using the button. The search was defaulted to Bing to offer some kind of quick web search feature for the device, but instead wound up removing critical functionality from app all across the phone and forcing valuable screen real estate to give birth to a second search button.

Strongly encourage the use of Live Tiles

The Live Tile UI is really great. It takes the rapid access to information that I love from Android widgets and pairs it with the cleanest UI out there. For some reason, many app developers don’t take advantage of this functionality. In some big apps, like Twitter and Facebook, their Tile is nothing more than the icon for the app. There’s no good reason that mentions in Twitter and Facebook notifications couldn’t be in the Live Tile for the app, aside from laziness on behalf of those companies or a fear of UI clutter.

This isn’t the exception, either. Microsoft should be working hand-in-hand with these developers to deliver a better experience to their users, and to encourage new developers to take advantage of the functionality. Developers should be aware that “it was good enough for Facebook” won’t fly, and should be heavily encouraged by Microsoft to better use the APIs provided to them.

 

Stop relying on third-party software for front-facing chat

Few things in the tech world disappointed me as much as booting up the Nokia Lumia 900 for the first time and seeing Qik as the video chat system. I immediately suffered flashbacks to the early days of Android, where devices had front-facing cameras, but no unified way to use them. The experience was often jarring and horrible, and I fear the same for the future of Windows Phone. The obvious choices here for Microsoft would be to embed Skype calling into the OS, or to use Windows Messenger. Either would be functional choices, though the cross-platform capabilities of Skype would certainly be in Microsoft’s favor.

Whatever choice Microsoft makes here, the answer is to embed the option into the OS. Instead of a standalone app that could perform differently on different phones, the video chat service could be an integral part of the operating system.

Market the phones yourself

I realize that Microsoft has taken the initiative to have their own stores, and this generates some buzz when it comes to their new products, but Microsoft needs to do a better job of putting phones in the hands of users. The easiest way they can do this is to work with OEMs to promote their devices running Windows Phone, instead of allowing the manufacturers to run their own ad campaigns. Microsoft has had no shortage of ads for Internet Explorer recently. Big, expensive television ads where you’re not really sure what is going on until you see the IE logo. I have yet to see nearly as impressive an ad for Windows Phone.

In a world where Apple and Google are taking to every advertising medium possible to promote their products. Microsoft needs to join that fight. Instead, Microsoft seems to be alright with taking a backseat and allowing the phone manufacturers to promote things. At the Lumia 900 launch in NYC, Nokia hired celebrities and musicians to come on stage and show off their shiny new Windows Phones, when hours later these same celebrities were back on their iPhones. The effort becomes mostly wasted at that point, and could be better handles with Microsoft’s help.

Final Thoughts

This is a critical time for Microsoft. By the time Windows 8 arrives the company needs users who can see the benefit of the unified experience across their platforms to help ensure that developers are going to make these platforms shine. The race to control the three screens in our lives — the phone, the computer, and the television — is just as much a popularity contest as it is anything else. The slowdown in development of both iOS and Android is the perfect opportunity for Microsoft to play catch up, as long as they can convince users that Windows Phone is the way to go.

View orginal artical here- Windows