++ the future of Microsoft Lumia mobile phones ++

I honestly think people exaggerated the "app gap" problem. Windows 10 Mobile had almost all the major apps. My mom only uses Facebook on her phone many days (not counting default apps like texts, email, calls, etc.). It did lack Google apps but all those had a Microsoft alternative (except youtube). I did have the original LG Stylo from T-Mobile (only android phone I had, it's still lying around), and I noticed that most of the apps on the playstore were either: scams, copies, apps of low quality, unsupported apps, or apps created to infect your phone or steal info. I actually used more apps when I got the Lumia 735 than on the LG Stylo, games included. Only recently with apps getting removed or no longer working are we really experiencing an app gap. 

I also am lost as to why Microsoft sold off Lumia/Nokia. Why couldn't they just make Lumia's running Android? The Surface Duo doesn't count, even to Microsoft as they say its a Surface that can make phone calls, or a Surface First and a phone second (something like that, or maybe both). It's honestly too big to fit in a normal pocket, heck the Lumia 950 XL with a durable case is a tight fit in some of my pants (mostly jeans). I actually hope it fails.

LOL on the dark and oui oui on the quotes, Szilard. :)

I hope you’re correct that Microsoft revamps WM, but I think it to be wishful thinking. Anything past this point would be beating a dead horse. All we have now is to speak of the history.

I perceive there’s a young gamer that has come on attempting to teach us, ahem, “older gents” a thing or two. I should hope he realizes that we’ve been using Windows OS in any edition and cell phones far longer than he’s been alive. :D Also, not sure about you, but working management in the construction industry I used a Motorola cellular bag phone with AT&T’s Illinois Bell service back in the late 80’s. Then onto the Motorola DynaTAC brick. Then onto a rugged Motorola I530 walkie talkie via NexTel and so on. Ahh! Those were the good old days. :)

Concerning the commercial app gap we’ve been speaking of; here’s an interesting article I found: https://thinkmobiles.com/blog/how-much-cost-make-app/ The price of those continue to rise as demand rises. Supply-demand-cost ratio. Very difficult to perform business these days without one. Almost a requirement, especially the with the younger generation.

So far as hardware > According to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone#By_manufacturer Nokia had the big chunk of the market in 2014. If I remember correctly, Nokia was the main company that offered Windows Mobile along with Android too, then Microsoft bought them, then it was strictly Windows. I think what really started the decline was that users started to buy up the cheap Asian phones with Android preinstalled. These were highly promoted by service providers in their stores. Lumias were on their store’s last page. It was about that time I purchased my first WM Lumia via Microsoft online store.

When companies started looking into purchasing tailored apps they looked at market stats and saw that rise of Asian Android phones. Some hesitated at investing in a Windows flavored app and held off. Of course, iCrap didn’t have the best stats either, but companies had to chase the money. The rich and upper middle class are the ones that purchased those originally. It absolutely irked me that I would look to find an app with no Windows flavor. If need be in emergency, I would simply use Edge browser, although a little difficult.

Which leads me to my last thoughts on the subject > Why did we need apps to begin with? Why not revamp needed web pages that caters to tapping fingers? After all, a cell phone is nothing but a mini computer that makes calls.

All in all, woulda > shoulda > coulda. I’m sure Paul Harvey has the rest of the story, but unfortunately, he is no longer with us. :(

Cheers

Yah - and I remember the first "portable" phone I saw was a handset with embedded circular dialpad that was attached to an electronics/battery block about the size of an automobile battery.

My first "WINDOWS" phone was a Motorola Q9c that ran some flavor of WINDOWS Mobile 6; loved the phone, but hated the browser as my wife's Blackberry ran a browser better than mine. I went from there to an HTC Lancet and then on the Lumia 735. I had a love/hate affair with the Lumia - as in I loved the phone, but came to really hate MS for what they put users through.

Long story short: I finally gave up my Lumia a few months ago for a Samsung A50 when I started running into web sites that refused to launch the EDGE browser - the latest version for my phone - because it was too "old"; that's not to mention the banks, brokerages, and commercial sites that either never had or dropped WINDOWS apps. I have to do business and can't wait for MS to decide to be part of the party which I don't think they will especially when they have had reps at business presentations on Azure operations showing off what could be done on Apple or Android phones, but never mentioning WINDOWS phones.

Why not browser based? It's because, essentially, the CPU architecture on the average cell really wasn't designed for the morass the modern browser has become with js, asp, and whatever else these bandwidth pigs have been designed to swallow. They may be pretty on my laptop, but I don't want to watch them slowly crawl on my cell if they'll run at all. Some applications, say Intuit's QuickBooks Online, don't even run that well in the average environment (IMHO).

Enough - I don't wish anybody ill, but Lumia phones and the WINDOWS OS we're speaking of are dots of light in the rear-view mirror.

++ it is great to hear about senior opinions & here we have also a relatively fresh interview with the Microsoft founder ++ https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/06/bill-gates-people-would-use-windows-mobile-if-not-for-antitrust-case.html ++ on the Windows Mobile subject : in a nutshell it says that nowadays nobody in the audience ever heard about Windows Mobile ++ of course this means that Windows Mobile is alive (maybe experimental versions not available at the moment for the public), otherwise why bother with a retired horse ++ I think that here we have in fact a dark horse //

"I perceive there’s a young gamer that has come on attempting to teach us, ahem, “older gents” a thing or two. I should hope he realizes that we’ve been using Windows OS in any edition and cell phones far longer than he’s been alive."

This has actually made me wonder, does anyone under the age of 27 use Windows Mobile? And chose it themselves? Because yea I am a gamer, one of the big deciding factors that made me get the Lumia 735 was Cortana (big Halo fan here).

I'm not really trying to teach you guys anything really. Microsoft is the one I want to teach that they need to change course. "Now we want to put Windows in your pocket. 110 million people using Windows 10 right now. If you haven't thought about these phones wakeup." - Panos Panay 2015. That entire event made me wakeup. But looking back, it all feels like lies and empty promises. "Do great things." - Microsoft 2015

Also I'm going to throw this out there, I'm Autistic. Microsoft inspired me and gave me hope. Cortana and Windows 10 in general were helping me cope. I don't really want to go in depth about it, as I'm not trying to make people for sorry for me. The main reason I bring this up is because Microsoft continues to act like it's helping people with disabilities, Autism is one that they themselves focus on, however I'm not seeing it. Their videos about their hiring program for people with Autism only feature those with College degrees. This isn't the majority, no where near it. My state offers almost no help to Autistic adults, this is most unfortunate as I can make it through college but I can't get in.