WINDOWS PHONE: STORE, HARDWARE AND RECEPTION.

The Windows Phone Store was used to digitally distribute music, video content, podcasts, and third-party applications to Windows Phone handsets. The store was accessible using the Zune Software client or the Windows Phone Store hub on devices (though videos were not downloadable through the store hub and must be downloaded and synced through the Zune software).[110] The Store was managed by Microsoft, which included an approval process. As of March 2012, the Windows Phone Store was available in 54 countries.[111]

Music and videos

Xbox Music offered approximately 50 million songs up to 320 kbit/s in DRM-free MP3 format from the big four music groups (EMI, Warner Music Group, Sony BMG and Universal Music Group), as well as smaller music labels. Xbox Video offered HD movies from Paramount, Universal, Warner Brothers, and other studios and plus television shows from popular television networks.

Microsoft offered the Xbox Music Pass music subscription service, which allowed subscribers to download an unlimited number of songs for as long as their subscription was active and play them on current Microsoft devices.

Applications and games

Development

Third-party applications and games for Windows Phone can be based on XNA, a Windows Phone-specific version of Silverlight, the GUI-based Windows Phone App Studio, or the Windows Runtime, which allows developers to develop an app for both the Windows Store and Windows Phone Store simultaneously.[112][113][114] App developers can develop apps using C# / Visual Basic.NET (.NET), C++ (CX) or HTML5/JavaScript.

For Windows Phone apps to be designed and tested within Visual Studio or Visual Studio Express, Microsoft offers Windows Phone Developer Tools, which run only on Windows Vista SP2 and later, as an extension[115] Microsoft also offers Expression Blend for Windows Phone for free. On November 29, 2009, Microsoft announced the Release-to-web (RTW) version of its Visual Basic .NET Developer Tool, to aid development of Windows Phone apps in Visual Basic.

Later versions of Windows Phone support the running of managed code through a Common Language Runtime similar to that of the Windows operating system itself, as opposed to the .NET Compact Framework. This, along with support for native C and C++ libraries, allows some traditional Windows desktop programs to be easily ported to Windows Phone.[116]

Submission

Registered Windows Phone and Xbox Live developers can submit and manage their third-party applications for the platforms through the App Hub web applications. The App Hub provides development tools and support for third-party application developers. The submitted applications undergo an approval process for verifications and validations to check if they qualify the applications standardization criteria set by Microsoft.[117] The cost of the applications that are approved is up to the developer, but Microsoft will take 20% of the revenue (the other 80% goes to the developer).[118] Microsoft will only pay developers once they reach a set sales figure, and will withhold 30% tax from non-US developers, unless they first register with the United States Government's Internal Revenue Service. Microsoft only pays developers from a list of thirty countries.[119] A yearly fee is also payable for developers wishing to submit apps.[120]

In order to get an application to appear in the Windows Phone Store, the application must be submitted to Microsoft for approval.[119] Microsoft has outlined the content that it will not allow in the applications, which includes content that, among other things, advocates discrimination or hate, promotes usage of drugs, alcohol or tobacco, or includes sexually suggestive material.[121]

Hardware

Windows Phone 7 devices were first produced by HTC, LG and Samsung. These hardware partners were later joined by Acer, Alcatel, Fujitsu, Toshiba, Nokia, and Chinese OEM ZTE.

Windows Phone 8 devices were being produced by HTC, Huawei, Nokia, and Samsung.

At the 2014 Mobile World Congress, Microsoft announced that upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 devices would be manufactured by Celkon, Gionee, HTC, Huawei, JSR, Karbonn, LG, Lenovo, Longcheer, Micromax, Microsoft Mobile, Samsung, Xolo, and ZTE among others.[122] Sony (under the Xperia or Vaio brand) had also stated its intention to produce Windows Phone devices in the near future.[123] Yezz announced two smartphones in May, and at Computex 2014 BYD, Compal, Pegatron, Quanta and Wistron were also named as new Windows Phone OEMs.[124]

In August 2014, Huawei said it was dropping support for Windows Phone due to low sales.[125]

Reception

The Metro UI and overall interface of the OS were highly praised for their style, with ZDNet noting its originality and fresh clean look.[126] Engadget and ZDNet applauded the integration of Facebook into the People Hub as well as other built-in capabilities, such as Windows Live, etc. However, in version 8.1 the once tight Facebook and Twitter integration was removed so that updates from those social media sites had to be accessed via their respective apps.[127]

For the first months, market specialists were optimistic about its adoption with IDC forecasting that Windows Phone would surpass IPhone by 2015.[128]

According to Gartner, there were 1.6 million devices running Microsoft OS sold to customers in Q1 2011 worldwide.[129] 1.7 million smartphones using a Microsoft mobile OS were sold in Q2 2011, for a 1.6% market share.[130] In Q3 2011, Microsoft's worldwide market share dropped slightly to 1.5%.[131] In Q4 2011 market share increased to 1.9%,[132] and it stayed at 1.9% for Q1 2012.[133] Reports for Q2, Q3 and Q4 of year 2011 include both Windows Phone and small part of Windows Mobile marketshare under the same "Microsoft mobile OS" banner, and do not make the distinction of separating the marketshare values of the two. According to Nielsen, Windows Phone had a 1.7% market share in Q1 2012,[134] and then dropped back to 1.3% in Q2 2012.[135]

Windows Phone 8 (2012–2015)

After the release of Windows Phone 8, Gartner reported that Windows Phone's marketshare jumped to 3% in Q4 2012, a 124% increase over the same time period in 2011.[136]

In mid-2012, IDC had suggested that Windows Phone might surpass the faltering BlackBerry platform and potentially even Apple iOS, because of Nokia dominance in emerging markets like Asia, Latin America, and Africa, as the iPhone was considered too expensive for most of these regions and BlackBerry OS possibly going to feature a similar fate as Symbian.[137][138] IDC's projections were partially correct, as in Q1 2013 Windows Phone shipments surpassed BlackBerry shipment volume for the first time.[139] IDC had to slash the Windows Phone predictions once again, to 7 percent of total market in 2018, because of the slow growth.[140]

As of the third quarter of 2013, Gartner reported that Windows Phone holds a worldwide market share of 3.6%, up 123% from the same period in 2012 and outpacing Android's rate of growth.[141] According to Kantar's October 2013 report, Windows Phone accounted for 10.2% of all smartphone sales in Europe and 4.8% of all sales in the United States.[142] Some analysts have attributed this spike in sales to both Windows Phone 8 and Nokia's successful push to market low and mid-range Windows Phones like the Lumia 520 and Lumia 620 to a younger audience.[143] Gartner reported that Windows Phone market share finished 2013 at 3.2%, which while down from the third quarter of 2013 was still a 46.7% improvement from the same period in 2012.[144]

IDC reported that Windows Phone market share, having peaked in 2013 at 3.4%, had dropped to 2.5% by the second quarter of 2014.[145]

In August 2017, the New York Police Department ordered Apple iPhone products to replace its deployment of 36,000 Lumia 830 and Lumia 640 XL Windows Phone devices, partly citing Microsoft's end of support for Windows Phone 8.1 on July 11, 2017 and its minuscule market share.[146]

Developer interest

Microsoft's developer initiative programs and marketing have gained attention from application developers. As of Q3 2013, an average of 21% of mobile developers use the Windows Phone platform, with another 35% stating they are interested in adopting it.[147] Some reports have indicated that developers may be less interested in developing for Windows Phone because of lower ad revenue when compared to competing platforms.[148] The main criticism of Windows Phone was the lack of applications when compared to iOS and Android.[149][150][151][152] This also affected Microsoft's largest partner in the platform, Nokia, whose vice president showed his frustration at the lack of apps for the platform.[153]

A few developers refused to develop apps while preventing third-party alternatives. A well known example was Snapchat, which announced a crackdown on third-party apps of its service and its users in November 2014. Microsoft was forced to remove third-party Snapchat apps (including the popular 6snap) from the Windows Phone Store a month later, while Snapchat never developed an official app for those users.[154] A petition from users requesting an official Snapchat app reached 43,000 signatures in 2015.[155] In addition, Google twice blocked Microsoft's own YouTube app for violating its terms of service, objecting to the app's ability to download videos and prevent ads.[156] The app returned in October 2013 but stripped of many features.[157]

By 2014, Windows Phone was losing share and relevance; between that year and 2015 it was reported that developers were backing out of the platform and retiring apps because of the low market share.[158][159] Many high-profile apps were discontinued by 2015 such as American Airlines, NBC, Pinterest and others. In addition, Microsoft itself retired some of its own first-party apps.[160]

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