The cut-throat mobile platform war rages on in full fury as different platform vie for a bigger share of pie of mobile user segment. If we would’ve done a deep dive a few years earlier, it was a clear distinction of iOS and Android vs. rest of the platforms. But with massive shift in customer expectations and massive marketing and advertising done by other mobile platform providers have made the overall mobile platform ecosystem pretty fragmented. One such smartphone platform that has literally galloped ahead in the smartphone platform race is the Windows platform backed by the technology colossus – Microsoft.
Windows vs. iOS and Android – how do the numbers stack up?
The recent Kantar WorldPanel ComTech report that analyses US mobile phone market
1. Overall market share
The Kantar report shows how the overall smartphone market is split by the different mobile operating systems. While Android continues to lead the market with 51.7% market share, iOS too occupies a good chunk of the US smartphone platform markets with 41.4% of the smartphone users on the Apple’s proprietary iOS platform. However Windows mobile OS is slowly but surely making its presence felt by grabbing an impressive 5.6% share of the US mobile platform market. The other platforms made up for the remaining 1.3% of the market.
Also Read – What’s New in Windows Phone 8?
2. Year on year growth Feb-Apr 2012 vs. Feb–Apr 2013
A look at the year on year projections shows how the increase has happened and whose performance has shown acceleration. Android market share changed from 50.3% in Feb–Apr 2012 to 51.7% in Feb–Apr 2013 depicting a measly 2.8% growth. iOS has achieved a growth of 5.9% in the same period. However what’s astonishing is the growth achieved by Windows in the same period. From a share of 3.8%, it has jumped to 5.6%, a remarkable growth of 47.4%. While many might argue that the overall market share is less owing to which the smallest shift translates to a large increase, nothing can take away the fact that Windows has been on an upward trajectory over the last one year or so.
A profile overview of who’s moving to the Windows platform from other smartphone platforms.
Interestingly, the increase in Windows share means people are transitioning to Windows majorly from Android phones and who upgraded from feature phones. Almost 65% of the users who moved to the Windows Mobile platform came from these two former types of phones. The study shows 23% of former Android users making up for the increase in Windows market share in US. The obvious reason for the shift is that Android users have been exposed to some astonishing user experience features on Widows phone which has attracted them enough to ditch their Android smartphone and opt for a Windows phone instead.
Let us have a look at how the Windows mobile platform offers a better mobile experience to users.
Also Read – Nokia Lumia 1080 Concept Phone,Now on your Wrist
Benefits of Windows over Android:
1. Uniform interface – What is common between Android on Samsung, Android on HTC and Android on Motorola? Well, nothing. The massive difference in device software integration with the device has been a pain area for Android users for quite some time now. With Windows, the user interface is going to be the same irrespective of which device manufactures your smartphone.
2. Power of better apps – Android is universally regarded as having some of the best as well as some of the crappiest apps in the Google PlayStore. Owing to its open source nature, you might have to sift through a wave of low grade apps to find one that truly worth downloading. The situation is much better with Windows app store. Many of the games and lifestyle apps had a polished look and feel to it, which couldn’t be found on Android apps.
3. Tile features – The Windows mobile features the amazing new tile system that works wonderfully well if you are willing to get over the learning the new functionality. While it is a fact that these tiles help organize audio-visuals, daily tasks and have a better search option, some also go on to add that the tile system looks cooler than the present arrangement of icons on other mobile operating systems.
Windows platform does seem to have pulled up its socks to snatch market share from Android and things do look positive for Windows in the days to come.
The Clash of the
Titans!
A discussion of the
ongoing war between Apple, Microsoft and Google
Let me get one thing straight, I am a technology fan and
keep myself up-to-date with the latest things happening in the gadget world.
Few months back my interest was largely in the PCs but the smartphones were
hard to ignore. I made an entry, at that time I only knew that Google and Apple
are major players, Blackberry is also here and Microsoft keeps popping into
existence every so often.
But soon, I got the picture, Google was god! Apple filled
most of the rest, Microsoft barely alive and what is most shocking was that
Blackberry was pretty much dead! I remembered the hype around their Z10, but it
seemed that the god has vanquished most of its competitors. Apple and Microsoft
were surviving because these companies had too much invested in this world to
die out quickly.
I was at the point where I needed a smartphone for my daily
use. I had followed Android for some time when it was announced. I used to talk
about Android when no one knew what it meant! But seeing their astronomical
sales figures I thought something isn’t right. So the quest began, I had to buy
my first smartphone, I was not going to go for an OS not made for me, I
certainly did not like the sound of iOS, although I was pretty excited when
Android was born but when actually handling an android phone (from HTC) I rarely
had a clue!!! Lastly, this Windows Phone had me thinking about a comparison,
otherwise it was simply a win-win for Android from my side.
I knew Windows Mobile was not very good OS, although I did
like the i-mate but somehow, it was not something for mobiles, tablets maybe
but certainly not mobiles. Then there was Windows Phone, which although
Microsoft claimed was a fresh approach, I was still a bit wary of it because it
was Windows. At this point I would like you to know that I had been testing the
developer preview of Windows 8, most people around were not even aware of Windows
7 back then.
So here I am, I had tried iOS and Android, though I was like
an Android fanboy but just once I got around iOS and I was in mixed mood. Then I
heard about Windows Phone 7.5 but had never tried it since it was so small
compared to Android. Then came a surprise one evening when I entered a shop and
saw Lumia 610 for display. It made a positive impact on me, I was strangely
attracted to the animation that brings the start screen when you hit the
Windows button while inside an app. I made a mental note, and soon tried out
the Lumia 800 in another place. It had me sold immediately!
Back to the drawing board, I got busy online, learning about
each ecosystem’s abilities and began comparing them for my usability. Flying across
wars between Apple and Android fanboys, I would rarely find any Windows Phone
user. So I made my own strategy to compare Google, Microsoft and Apple.
Remember, what I write below is what my perception of these
things is. It is solely based upon personal experience and needs. Please do
give your comments where you find necessary.
Apple
A company famous for making computers, and starting the
smartphone wars! Apple has one of the best devices money can buy, it all comes
only to personal taste and of course your budget whether someone will buy an
Apple product or not.
Builds its own hardware and software.
Google
One of the most widely recognized names around the globe,
Google’s Android has stormed the smartphone market. When budget is an issue,
Android can make sure your phone does most of the stuff that is required, but
make no mistake, flagship Android phones are also top sellers!
Has its own software available for free to third party
manufacturers but is also entering into the hardware.
Microsoft
The silent killer company that has habit of thinking very
long term plans, its products may not attract users at first but it survived
the test of time more than once, something most of its competitors failed at. The
company has so much experience that it is not that easy to put up a fight with
this giant.
Basically a software giant, but also releases limited
hardware.
Software
Apple ****
Microsoft *****
Google ***
Apple failed to get the final star because of the lag that
users experience sometimes.
No arguing with Microsoft, their OS is always written
perfectly, yes it does not have features, but that’s why other OS makers also
release updates. It is not about usability, but about how well the program is
written.
Google fails big time sadly, Android is so poorly written
that even high-end smartphones tend to lag too much.
Hardware
Apple ****
Microsoft ***
Google ****
Apple gets four because for the same amount of price their
hardware is, I could get two others equally competitive!
Microsoft makes quality hardware (Surface) but too bad their
arsenal is empty.
Google has released great hardware product that are
carefully designed for the people’s daily use. But then, I think companies like
HTC and Sony make them better. And it’s a shame really that Google’s own
Android tends to lag on Google’s own hardware!
The TEST!
I sat down with my laptop and began jotting down notes about
each mobile OS. Then made up a table with important stuff that should be on my
smartphone. Furthermore, I marked some benchmarks with a star * which meant
these are essentials. Then began an immense task of finding the specs of what
could be my future smartphones. Once I got all the specs, I compared specs of
each phone to the others and gave stars out of 2 for each. 2 for the best one,
1 for acceptable and 0 for poor solution to a problem.
I myself was pretty shocked when I compiled the results! Here…
I was scratching my head when I formulated these results.
Android had clearly shaken my trust in it. I figured out that it was a cool OS
where you have plenty of things to waste your time around, but not much to
offer a hand in your work.
I thought iOS would score the best in basic specs, but um…..
Windows beats them both by more than triple the usability and more than double
the overall experience. Notice that I haven’t mentioned the status of apps, it
is because as a new user to smartphones I will not be bothered by them much,
and what could I possibly do with apps when the core requirements are
lacking?????
I was seriously thinking about going Apple because of the
Android’s lag, but after this test, Windows Phone had me sold!!! Another
advantage that I soon realized was the integration of the ecosystem. I was
already using Windows 8.1 on my laptop, and a Windows Phone would complete my
experience.
iOS and Android are awesome operating systems, but where it
comes to actually get some uses out of them, they fail in comparison to
Windows. It makes me wonder whether Windows Phone was made keeping especially
such core experience in focus.
In the end I would like to add only this much, in the table,
two stars represent desirable, one represents acceptable, and zero stars
represents avoidable item. These markings represent what I believe a smartphone
must have at its core, you may add your points to it to complete the picture.
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