The Windows Phone: an $8 Billion fiasco 

The Windows Phone UI (Metro) was so ahead of its time. Still looks incredible in 2020.

I really wanted Windows phone to succeed.

I used to have a Windows phone and I actually prefered it to the classic Android/iOS. The ergonomics were just amazing and if it wasn't for their lack of apps problem, I would prefer it to Android/iOS

Everyone talked about Live Tiles, but for me Windows Phone has the best typing experience at that time

Their failure was that they came out too late and moved too slowly. Had they pivoted quickly from windows mobile to windows phone when iOS and Android first came out they would’ve had a chance. They had the biggest head start with windows mobile but fumbled the bag tremendously.

“You can learn a lot from your mistakes when you aren't busy denying them.” ― Oscar Auliq-Ice

My first three self purchased phones where Nokias operated by a windows system. Man, I wish they had succeeded.

I actually really liked Windows Phone. I liked the fresh look and the interactive tiles which gave me a glimpse into the content behind it without clicking on it. It didn't had much apps but to be honest the big ones were there and I didnt needed most of the Apps I have now on my Android.

We all miss windows phone. I wish they would still use the previous windows ui on top of android. For old time’s sake.

Microsoft using Google's Android for its phone and Google's Chromium for its browser... I never thought I'd see the day.

Loved my windows phone. Love Nokia. If it had support for a few more popular Apps never would have left. In a few years when processors get more powerful everyone will have the option of running full windows on their phone.

I liked the Lumia series. The interface was good and camera was great.

Skype : 8,5 billion failure, Microsoft prefer push Microsoft Teams rather than adding features for Skype

Windows Phone was amazing. I had a Lumina 950 as a smartphone to use when I go abroad for long periods of time and need a local phone number (my daily driver is an iPhone and has been since 2008). The phone and OS were amazing, certainly not chunky. I even used it as a quasi-desktop with their extra dongle. Anyway, beyond the preamble... the problem for Windows Phone was developed relations and all the backwards-incompatible developer changes.

I had owned Microsoft phone and it was my first phone soon after I joined a job. I liked the ui so much but it lacked so many apps. I really wish for t them to launch it again

Windows Phone was in its prime around 2012-2013. There were actually a lot of notable apps and games on the platform around that time (excluding Google apps and Snapchat). When the RU-vid app was around, it was awesome. I’m going to miss Windows Phone and Metro UI.

I loved the Windows Phone. I really felt the tiles concept was more natural for a touch screen environment. they should really bring it back.

I still have my Lumia packed away. It was pretty slick and had an amazing feel. Very elegant too.

There was also the fact that Windows Phone 7 devices weren't upgradable to Windows Phone 8, which gave original users of the OS very little incentive to stick with it.

Skype is a failure ? Really ? Almost 80% companies use Skype as their business messenger .

Lack of Google services did harm Windows phone. Satya nadella in early days of Windows phone could have helped better collaboration. Also, the transition from Windows phone 8/8.1 to Windows 10 mobile was terrible, the light and snappy ui suddenly felt clunky on the same device despite added functionality

I remember having the the Nokia 1020 and the camera still beats the modern iPhones! It had Zeiss and 41mp lens . The camera interface had a manual feature where you can control the aperture and exposure that the iPhones and Android phones are missing.

I hope this trend DOESN’T stay...folding technology is crap

Windows Phone UI, was the future and still impresses me.

It all came down to YT and FB apps. Microsoft should have done way more to keep Google and FB on board, and no side-loading in Win 8(.1) was also a failure that kept indie development of apps low. They fixed it in 10, but that was too late. Windows Phone was always more refined than iOS/MacOS integration, that remark made no sense. iOS interface is really incredible stupid at times, especially the settings concept. I'm a 30 year MacOS user, yet I refuse to use the utterly insane version for mobile. And another big failure: Windows Phone forgot to make USB-mass storage working on Mac's, I believe Mac users were Microsoft's best bet to target their platform. I do however still use a 950XL day to day. These phones are astonishing, especially when you shoot better pictures with a 50€ like new second hand phone than your college with a 1400€ 11ProMax! Bitter sweet! Nice benefit of using a 950XL: you can use it 2 days on a charge as you really start reducing phone your phone use.

Windows Phone will always be better than iOS and Android in my opinion. The UI is so much better and friendly.

I'm the only one who thinks the widgets now in iPhone are a copy from windows phone? If only they have the same apps as android and iOS for sure this phone will be still alive today

I use an iPhone and an iPad Pro, but my workhorse is and always will be a Windows pc. I use CAD softwares which need windows and now that iPad OS is powerful enough full Adobe apps, it’s made life easier on the iPad Pro. But I always have had a soft spot for windows phone as I absolutely adored it brilliant ui since the 7. I had a Nokia 820 just to play around which I bought off a friend for cheap because he found the lack of apps frustrating. I also made it a point to experience windows phone 10 on devices at retail stores. I never quite made the jump because I always had the nagging feeling that it wouldn’t be a success despite my love for the OS. I sincerely wish windows phone makes a comeback. There was nothing like it, well, except Palm’s Web OS, again, another personal favourite which didn’t survive.

Microsoft was competing against BlackBerry in mobile space before the iPhone. Since most of the BlackBerry customers switched to iPhone, they went after the iPhone even though their clear threat in smartphone space was Google's Android.

Late in Windows Phone life, there was actual native Android App support on Windows Phone but it was scrapped because of incompatibilities in most apps

Nice video. Microsoft seems to love wasting money. I too cannot wait to see the future of the surface duo. I generally do not like dual phones but who knows. Maybe it might take off. Such is the nature of the tech world. A suggestion for a future video. Can you do one about Adobe?

Windows UI was really unique and cool. I thought it had potential.

For some reason, alll the gigantic merger of gigantic company in my book always result in failure

I had a Lumia 710. It worked great & run smoothly. The UI was refreshing & I still miss it sometimes. The problem was that it didn't have many popular apps like Instagram & RU-vid. Mine also couldn't be upgraded to the next OS version that just came few months (I think) after I bought the phone. A shame that Windows Phone never became popular & successful.

I was a loyal windows phone beta tester, to the point that Microsoft themselves actually sent me, for free a surface phone. Microsoft biggest mistake was to listen to the testers advice and then do approximately jack shit about it. We watched our beloved platform die as was inevitable. I type this from a Google pixel 4a, the best phone I've ever owned. I absolute love it. All my future phones will be Googles.

I remember having Lumia 625 and loved it. It looks very modern, fresh, and different. I don't really use many apps at the time so it was sufficient. If only they had more third party support it would've been amazing OS

people like talking about how good windows phone was and how beautiful the tile interface was but in reality the UX was terrible. More form over function. I had one back in the day.

It’s weird because I had a dream about a Pocket PC that had Windows Mobile but also had a Google UI on top of it. It was based on the real-life HTC Shadow from 2009 and a tilting screen like the AT&T Tilt did. It had a full tactile keypad, including send and end keys. It ran a fictional version of Windows Mobile that looked like Windows 10 on your desktop. From what I remember, the Google Suite had RU-vid, regular Chrome browser, Gmail app, and that was about it. If it were real, it would have been similar to HTC’s Sense UI but for Google services instead of HTC’s.

Windows phone would have won if it could run exe files

I wanted a Lumia 640XL so badly back in the day. Solid midrange phone with a big screen size. I had a Lumia 920 for a while, and I still miss that phone every now and then. If progressive web apps had existed a decade ago, I think things could have turned out differently.

Microsoft would be wise IMO, if they will: 1. *Release Android apps on Microsoft Store* 2. *Make the ARM-powered tablet dual boot* I'll explain why. The main reason that Windows Phone lacked any meaningful apps was that developers weren't interested in creating apps for a platform that had so few users, and thereby people had limited access to the top apps that are common in other stores. If they are going to manufacture an Android-powered device by themselves, it makes perfect sense to mirror what other big companies like Samsung are already doing, by having their app store pre-installed on the device alongside Google Play. Sure, the number and/or the quality of those apps may not reach the ones on Google Play, but developers are already taking advantage of these alternative app stores. Microsoft has all the tools and infrastructures to run a functional app store, so it would make sense that they should support Android apps in their store alongside the regular UWP apps for Windows. When the developers make an account and join the app store to release their dual-screen tablet exclusive apps, now they'll have access to publishing stuff on UWP for other Microsoft tablet/PCs, such as the surface. In the long run, they can publish their app natively for UWP on Windows Phone too, if Microsoft decided to bring their mobile phone OS back. Secondly, it would be a terrible mistake if they do NOT support dual-booting Windows on ARM alongside with Android, or at least offer official support for it. Now's the best time to give users access to the new polished Windows, that works super-well on ARM. The main cause that Windows Phone had so few users was because users did not want to invest in hardware that came _only_ with an OS that did not support their favorite apps, or had them missing. In the other hand, Android is already plenty rich with a myriad of working apps, so they have an incentive to purchase the device. Now that they have the hardware, it'll be the perfect time that Microsoft offers them Windows on ARM. Sure, it may lack those Android apps, but there are a LOT (and I mean really a lot) of software that _only_ works on Windows, and if Microsoft decides to offer them the full version of Windows, it could well even emulate the x86 apps. So, the users have an incentive to switch to Windows if they need to run those apps, and coupled with my other point (Microsoft Store beginning to attract developers) they will start to see the same or equivalent apps that they may use on Android. And as an added benefit, they will be able to go back to playing games on Android simply by just rebooting the device. I hope that if Microsoft decided to only ship the devices with Android, people on XDA would find a way to port Windows on ARM to those tablets. Of course, it may be that Microsoft wouldn't be interested in shipping Windows to their mobile users if this doesn't bring them any benefit, now that they prioritize providing SaaS based on the revenue that it generates for them. If you could sell Microsoft Office on Android better and in more numbers than Windows, it wouldn't make really a lot of sense for them to try and push Windows on these devices. Especially if they could have the same amount of control over Android on their devices that say, Samsung has for example. I love Android, but I really do wish to get to see Windows on ARM on these devices as an offered alternative, like Samsung offering Tizen in place of Android. Other than iOS, I do not know of any modern mobile operating system that is NOT based on Linux, and I think having the ability to run x86 Windows apps on mobile devices would be a really welcome feature.

Steve Balmer really hurt Windows Mobile division.

I am still using Windows phone 640 but I use it for calls only

I want a phone that is a bit different from the others. Like just changing how the menu screen looks like or how the notification screen looks like. Either way, I'm excited

microsoft should have named it's phone fiasco

I had a lumia icon as a first phone it was so limited. It took sometimes years to get apps such as Instagram

Loved my old windows phone. The lack of apps was 100% why I dropped windows.

Microsoft started continuum with windows, but failed when windows 10 for phone dead, but Samsung made it possible step by step with dex. And it might not be possible with DUO cause it runs android 😭

Even for flagship phone market, a new foldable phone with 1000++ dollars pricetag is so damn outrageous

1400 dollar phone is just to high during this pandemic.

Apple doesn't license it's OS to OEMs the way Google does with Android. It limits is OS to just its device. The problem with that is that you have many devices to choose as you do with Android, you are stuck with what Apple offers. Android's biggest problem is updates as Google doesn't control the updates and let the OEMs decided on the updates. Some OEMs abandoned phones after 2 years

I would love to have a windows phone again, of course with better app support. They could have easily been a competition for Apple, but the chose to compete with Android. Nokia destroyed itself on the way. Windows phones were way less fussy and they worked really great. Even the camera was amazing, and the top end ones had a Carl Zeiss lens. I do not really like folding phones as they are nothing but showpieces. It would be really nice to see a powerful windows phone with all the usual apps.

Even on Windows 10 that we used on our PCs, most developers still aren't interested in making apps for the Microsoft Store.

Man I had a windows phone up until September of 2019. I held on for so long and only got my first iPhone last year

I remember my sister and friend had a windows phone and liked them . My sister switched though because windows was taking forever get their app store going..

“Let us remember the OG Phone and the Epic Failure it was” 😂😂😂 ouch! No filters here

I remembered the Lumia’s from back in the day.

Ig Surface Solo will be a banger, especially with integration of all devices

They gave us a free course of Windows Phone apps developing course in the U when it was coming out. As I remember the app could be run on the simulator that came with Visual Studio and ir was slow, really slow and obviously didn't have some thing to try that we needed to our app like GPS. The app couldn't be installed on a phone directly neither as you can do on Android it was going through the store or you needed a payed developer account like iOS (but Microsoft ain't Apple and didn't made any sense). Uploading an app to the store was also a nightmare, it took us more time get it accepted on the market than developing it, the rules weren't clear and we had to go guessing what it wanted, we actually ended up uploading the app with a tux image because the requirements were mad. We ended up fed up with it and never developed anything for Windows Mobile again. We were sure about a couple of things, it was BS for the developers and it was destined to die. It died because the developers didn't wanted anything to do with it, no apps = no people using the OS. The uploading process to the Apple store is a pain in the *ss too but it is Apple and at least the rules are more clear and better known. And everybody expects to pay for everything with Apple and to be expensive too, lets face it, we don't expect or want that from Microsoft.

I remember owning a lumia 625.. good phone( the windows 10 beta was really nice) just very underwhelming when it came to the app store

There were myTube & MetroTube which were the RU-vid apps with no ads

The Surface Duo looks like a Nintendo DS.

Microsoft didn't buy Nokia tho, they bought their mobile division and rights to the "Lumia" brand. Nokia continued their networking business after that deal, and in recent years they licensed the "Nokia" branding to HMD Global who designed the current "Nokia" phones.

I'm not convinced that many people are prepared to pay a premium for a foldable phone. Sounds like an idea that will gain traction when the technology has moved on and you can get a cheap Android version... which will probably do it all just a bit better.

Hey slidebean i like your forensics and analysis videos But these days you dont make videos on startup 101

I've had a Lumia 950 for 2 weeks. I loved the UI and the hardware but it crashed twice a day and the app store was (and remains) crappy. So I sent it back. I'd love Windows phone to succeed but it was too late.

i attracted to windows phone because of the animation when you click an app. Used 2 lumia phones before unfortunately need to ditch them because one of the apps that i often used left that ecosystem

Fun fact: Android was built to compete with Windows Mobile, not with iOS. It was Google's ultimate goal to beat Windows and they did it.

I miss my lumina. To me it was a portable extension of my PC. My thought on why Microsoft struggled with market share was their focus on being the competitor to IOS. As for the youtube app on windows, I didnt notice it, I prefered it in a browser anyway. I hope that 10x isnt just another attempt to disrupt Apple and that it isnt stuck in that price catagory.

What about the Emperion Nebulus? It’s running Windows 10 on ARM and is expected to be able to run Android apps.

Maybe if that android app thing got finished, it would’ve had a better chance

I'm so sad WP died. It looked incredible and felt alive in a way. And all those colors.. Android and iOS feel like a board with glued on stickers. Appearance and feel wise, they are not even close. But Microsoft messed up with the low to low-mid budged options. They were barely usable. The browser barely handled some more advanced sites. It's unfortunate and sad...

I miss windows phone I loved the operating system

I can see it as a good potential personal laptop replacement. Throw in a thunderbolt port and you're good to go.

The Google wrangle did a lot of damage to windows phone. Personally I used third party apps on windows phone 8.1 and 10 which were better than the android versions for maps and RU-vid. I'm sure that made Google hate windows even more. And for whatever apps were not available in original or third party I got around this 90% of the time with pinning web pages to my homescreen which often worked as live tiles too. The dark mode was better than androids is today and it had the best keyboard. It was the best! AHH nostalgia. It isn't what it used to be!

Every reviewer I've heard talks about how the Live Tiles on Windows phones were one of its best features. Honestly, those Tiles are the exact thing that I absolutely HATED! Just my opinion.

Always coming with the quality content.

Windowes phone is still ahead of times compared to Crappy Android and High price iOS. Any work is damn easy compared to remaining both two.

Who else wants WP to return?

I actually bought a W10 mobile device to test it out and because I always wanted one lol and I love it!

Til this day....I've only seen 1 windows phone out in the wild. I have a job where I deal with the public on a regular basis.....only seen 1! 😑

I still use my Lumia 950 XL phones with Windows 10 Mobile. There is nothing better, so far. The app store is worthless so I just use Edge to go to the main website and download the Mobile version of whatever I need and then make a Tile for my "desktop". I'll have to go to Android someday...but not now.

Wp arrived in 2010 wasn't really late, it's the app situation that sealed its fate

Microsoft today is all about open source, if they started that trend on the windows phone, we would have a 3rd major mobile OS.

Windows phone was great. Just the lack of apps was what killed it

If windows phones, and by extension, windows tablets had survived the purge, I would have bought them as my hardware of choice, I was looking closely at the Lumia and wanted to purchase it as my following smartphone, I never got the chance to buy it.

Is it by design that the introduction has no personal name ? A video on it perhaps 🙂

I use to own a Windows Phone since I got it cheap, sadly I wasn't a fan and I already saw what Android had to offer and felt Windows answer was lacking. Also it had weird issues for some reason like needing to connect to a PC to download ringtones? (Something like that, I couldn't easily add ringtones for some reason) edit: Found a LINK! (apparently you can only add custom ringtones if you connect to a PC first, LOL) answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mobiledevices/forum/mdlumia-mdsettings/how-to-add-custom-ringtones-on-windows-phone-8/c1614e43-eb7a-4fd5-a79d-8c2b9f6982bc?auth=1

Steve Ballmer just never got what made smartphones cool....

I actually liked windows phones had 2 my only issue was at the time they was charging for apps that was free on Android so I stuck with Android, well got my 3rd IPhone few weeks ago but we’ll see if I keep this one longer than 2 months

I HAVEN'T BOUGHT A MICROSOFT PRODUCT IN THE LAST 10 YEARS.... ONLY OLD PEOPLE BUY MICROSOFT PRODUCTS

I had Lumia 640. I still have it (although it is broken). If microsoft launch a windows Phone again, i would buy it at any cost 🥺.

I totally forgot that Microsoft had been pushing their OS in Nokia phones. Thanks! I now know why their pushing the tablet-to-laptop experience.

Great phones just too late to the market. The developers refused to develop for 3 different OS.

had lots of windows phone, windows mobile to this days is the best looking SO.

Daaaaaamn Satya. BACK AT IT AGAIN THEM WINDOWS PHONES.

Microsoft threw 8 billion dollars out the window.

Even hp wasted around 8 billion dollar

How is it a "windows phone" if it runs Android? That's bollocks!

Was that Steve Balmer?