The new Lumia 950 and 950XL smartphones are Microsoft MSFT +9.43% latest salvo in the smartphone wars, but they already feel like the runts of the new Redmond hardware litter against the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book. While I think that Continuum points to a refreshed future for Windows itself across all its devices, Lumia stands out as a strategy that has been burdened with the failure of the original Nokia buyout, and subsequent $7.6bn write-down, and Microsoft now has nowhere else to turn.
While many pore over the hardware specs across offerings from rivals Google GOOGL +5.29%, Samsung and Apple AAPL +3.36% in a fan-based one-upmanship contest, there are some oddities which fly in the face of where consumers are placing their money. Literally. Microsoft has insisted on using facial recognition, called Hello, as a means of biometric security, whereas the rest of the pack has implemented fingerprint technology. Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Android Pay all use this method as a means of authenticating financial transactions because of the simple and convenient way it blends in with how we use our smartphones.
Microsoft has instead implemented a functionality that would, if it were ever to become part of our financial lives, require us to grimace when we pay for goods and services. In effect, the Lumia and Windows engineers have now painted Microsoft into a corner when it comes to vying for a share of your virtual wallet, one which can only be rectified by releasing yet another refresh of the Lumia line up, ultimately something which will morph into a new Surface Phone as the Lumia name is dropped altogether.
But there is a more pressing issue with the mobile strategy. Apps. Or lack of.
At this time Microsoft is allowing Android and iOS developers to port their apps over to Windows 10 with new SDKs. On the Android side, Microsoft is enabling developers to use Java and C++ code on Windows 10, and for iOS developers they’ll be able to take advantage of their existing Objective C code. But it doesn’t immediately solve the problem, which is that there are far fewer apps in comparison that are available to iOS and Android users (a billion less apps…) It also doesn’t help that some native Microsoft applications have a better user experience and design on these other platforms than it does on its own home ground.
But there is a bigger problem brewing. Companies are withdrawing support of their apps, or removing them altogether.
We will be discontinuing support and development for the Mint Windows Phone mobile app.
We’ve promised to hold ourselves to the highest standard of quality in our products, and strongly believe that shifting our efforts to the Mint Web, iOS and Android applications will help us deliver above and beyond that promise. There’s so much about the Windows Phone app that we love – and it’s hard for us to say goodbye to it – but we are confident that this change will help you get even more out of Mint.
In a statement on its own website, Mint has said it will no longer develop on Windows Mobile. They’re not the first according to The Verge; American Airlines, Chase Bank, Bank of America, NBC, Pinterest, and Kabam have all discontinued their apps in the past year, and Microsoft itself has removed several MSN apps, the Photosynth app, and has also killed off a number of special Lumia camera apps.
This can be interpreted in a couple of ways; either the apps have gone for good because there isn’t a user base to cater for, or they’ll appear again refreshed under Windows 10. I’m inclined to vote for the former.Source : forbes
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