Dear Mr. Fagioili

An article in BetaNews published today by Brian Fagioili made me want to comment about it. I admit that I am a fanboy, so I am (a bit) biased but I am also a Finn and I want the legacy of Nokia phones to continue way into the future with Microsoft.

So dear Mr. Brian Fagioili, I try to answer some of your points that irritated me to peeled off a comment 🙂

The crazy thing is, you are selling the Lumia 950, while the operating system is hardly complete.

Da-ah! Current Windows build 586 is the RTM and should hit the new phones. I will get my Lumia 950 XL next week, so I will check the OS version then.

But neither are the new iOS and Android versions “complete” when they hit the streets. In my experience usually just days after the official release of the newest iOS version it gets an update to it. Wasn’t it complete? How is that possible? You forgot to mention this, did you?

There are two important things when it comes to mobile platforms — security and app availability. Apple’s iOS is the king for both of these, while Android has a lot of apps.

Excuse me, but Windows Mobile 10 is more secure than iOS and Android. I admit the app gap, but I do not need millions of apps. The most important ones are there and now with Universal Apps platform more are coming and many of the “important” ones are already developing their Windows 10 Universal apps or upgrading the current ones to it.

If someone decides to purchase a Lumia 950, which is way too expensive by the way, they are in for a world of hurt. Most banks do not offer apps and never will.

Expensive compared to what? Oh, the iPhone is cheap? On Android phones you have a way more alternatives to buy a cheap phone that’s for sure, but not all of them are the best possible quality. We are now talking about flagship phones now aren’t we?

Let’s compare the prices here in Finland with the flagships of these three manufactures Apple, Samsung and Microsoft: Samsung Edge S6 is priced 697,90 €, iPhone 6S Plus is priced 968,90 € and the Lumia 950 XL is priced 698,90 €. So why you say the Lumia 950 XL is way too expensive? I don’t get it. I would say the iPhone is the most overpriced phone there is with the “Apple tax” in the price.

And about bank apps, I do my banking with a laptop, thank you. So this app gap is not that important to me to jump to iOS or Android.

Many popular apps, including Google’s aren’t available.

So this is the fault of Microsoft? It has been a calculated decision of Google not to make any apps for Windows. But let me predict something for you, now with Windows 10 and the growing adaption of it (already over 120 million users have updated and still growing, currently the 3rd most popular OS), Google will eventually create Universal apps for Windows of their services sometime during 2016. They have to, they cannot ignore the Windows 10 market share. And when they do, it will be available also on the Windows phones.

Your Live Tiles, while interesting, just get in the way. It is counter-intuitive to the way the brain works. You have thrown icon-memorization out the window.

This is the most ridiculous comment I have heard of. You are old school aren’t you? One of the best innovative features has been the Live Tiles. With on glance your up to the task and can decide do you need to launch the app or not. With the icon stuff you need to open the app to see what has changed. Sure, all of the OS’s have notifications now as well, but aren’t they irritating as hell if the phone peeps every two seconds of some kind of note, I do not have the time to look at them every time something pops up. Notifications can’t be compared to Live Tiles anyway.

And Continuum? It sucks. You can only have one app on the screen at a time, and not every app is even supported.

Gee, what to answer to this. Of course it will not replace a laptop, but you have the opportunity to use it as a PC replacement when you do not have your laptop with you. Also it is the first incarnation of Continuum in mobile, but Microsoft has said it will keep making it even better with the Redstone update next year. Even now it is something that the other OS’s do not have to offer. The only strong argument you can make is that it does not support multiple apps on the screen currently, neither does your phone what ever it is.

Of course not every app is supported, they need to be Windows 10 Universal apps to work. And have you heard the news that Microsoft is considering to make Win32 applications to work on the mobile platform too?

What about this, can you do this with an iPhone or an Android phone:

Regarding my comment about fanboys’ mental prisons, you have the power to free them. Stop feeding into their never-to-be-realized dreams of Windows 10 Mobile being a success. You know it will never be a success — most of the world knows too.

I believe Windows 10 Mobile will gain success in the enterprise market as it is the most secure mobile OS but also because companies can create great business productivity apps that work immediately with a PC, tablet and phone. In the consumer market it will not be that successful as Android or iOS, I get it and it’s ok with me.

What I strongly believe is that we need to have alternative OS’s besides iOS and Android. I welcome Sailfish, Firefox or Tizen etc. as well to the mix. With competition each and everyone of those manufacturers will keep innovating their products, software and services even better. I haven’t seen much of innovation with Android or iOS lately. For the consumer this mobile OS competition is for the best. Don’t you agree?

In the end I would address some words to Satya Nadella as Brian Fagioili addressed his writing to him.

Dear Mr. Nadella, keep up the good work with Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile. We need them both, companies need them both and consumers need them both. Keep innovating and making them even better in the future. Thanks.

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