[Windows Phone 7 General] JVH3:
Lawsuits / sales / function / predictions

According to the things all credible sources say Apollo is to bring, the platform is going to rock. There still may be a few Windows Phone 7 issues not solved.

But the OS itself is put together is a very smooth well thought out way. Battery life is exceptional. Also, it does not require regular rebooting. Users do what they want and move on with life. It's very intuitive.

If Android loses suits to Apple and/or Oracle, the costs may increase substantially, or functions must be removed. A patent holder does not need to let someone use the technology. Microsoft chose to take money and let them use the patents. Apple might not. Apple has a large market share. They can just not let Android use their patents. This could seriously block Android sales and cause all Android innovation to be to solve issues without violating patents. That will affect sales.

Anyone remember when Blackberry won against Microsoft for push email? Microsoft had to change how push email worked with exchange or stop using push email. Point is that it is not unprecedented to not let people use your patents at any price.

Regarding iOS, I use an iPhone 4S. I do like it. I like the flow of Windows Phone 7 better. Work dictates that I use the iPhone 4S, so I don't have a choice. But, it is a good device. There are areas that it could be improved. But, there are apps for just about everything. There aren't too many things that make me really wish I was using the Windows Phone over the iPhone. Mostly my biggest annoyance is just clearing email notifications. It's one step on Windows Phone. It's a step for every email on the iPhone. I also miss pinning things like an address or a contact or playlist. Almost everything is launch an app do what you want in the app. There is the curtain which is good for glancing at information. Overall though, it works and it is very consistent. It does not require tweaking, just some apps.

Apollo really will help inspire devs to create more and better apps. In the Windows Mobile days, devs had created libraries using native code. Then Windows Phone 7 came. No native libraries or even dot net libraries could be brought forward. All those libraries were useless. So access to that was gone. Also much of the compact framework was also changed or gone. Apollo changes that. Native code is back. Of course some modifications and recompiling will probably be required. And devs have access to way more in Apollo. Devs will be able to go back to programming creative solutions. Not just dev how Microsoft thought devs should dev. Also, the apps are supposed to work on Windows 8 tablets and Windows 8 desktops. Not exactly sure how that will work with native code, but we'll see.

Android could see some serious hurt from lawsuits.

iPhone sales are going to remain strong. There is serious brand loyalty and reputation there. It's a good OS and even with no impovements, sales will stay strong for a time. They could just put out another color and people will buy it.

Apollo is going to bring back a lot of former Windows Mobile users that went to Android. And it is going to attract users that may have chosen an iPhone.

The hard core geeks and tweakers will probably stick with Android. It is and will still be the most customizable.