Apple Devices To Reach Parity With Windows PCs In 2014

The thing is, I think WP will catch up to the iPhone, in 34 markets it currently sits at 2nd or better. True, a lot of them are emerging markets, but still that isn't bad. However, WP will never catch up to android. It is a virus. It runs on anything, and a lot of crappy phones run it. Don't get me wrong, when it's done right it's good, but a lot of phones do it wrong. That's what happens when you give OEMs liberty to do whatever they please, heck that's why we haven't seen a decent Windows tablet until the surface!

 

If you look at the growth of all mobile platforms of the past 20 years, if a platform continues to grow for 18-24 months - they hit at least 30% market share. And, every single time a platform has reached 15% market share, they've surged to that 30% market share in less than 18 months. Windows Phone will reach that - the exponential growth numbers is proof enough that Garnter and IDC have both said that it would do just that.

Windows Phone 8.1 is going to change how quickly Windows Phone can adapt. Currently core functions like music, videos, app store, Office and other core apps are built into the kernal of the device. So they can only be updated when the core OS is updated. At this point it is happening every 6-8 months. That changes with Windows Phone 8.1 when all core apps will stand on their own - giving Windows Phone the nimbleness to adapt faster.

Windows Phone is also going to have Cortana personal assistant launching in April, to compete with Siri and Google's alternatives. Early reports is that it is pretty amazing... and will be on Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox and Bing.

Android will rule for a while because it is the wild west, and most importantly it is free. Google doesn't change a license fee for using Android. In fact, Google must pay Microsoft a licensing fee for patents for every Android phone sold - so Microsoft wins either way.

Windows Phone "inside" is the enterprise, where most companies won't allow Android phones due to their security risks. As Microsoft builds out the integration with Windows Phone more and more with Windows 8 and Windows Server, it will just make sense for enterprises that aren't BYOD to go with Windows Phone, because it will be supported by their enterprise agreements already in place.

I could go on... but long story short no one in Microsoft is worried about the future. It is all optomistic because the unified vision is finally in place, where each and every Microsoft device, program, app or service is strengthened by the other items in the food chain.

It is funny because people who base the strength of Microsoft off of simply what is seen on the consumer side are only seeing a tiny sliver of Microsoft, yet they think they know how the company is performing.

 

You hit the nail on the head. This is in part why MS is so compartmentalized as well. A lot of people fault MS for doing this, but if Windows died tomorrow the ship S.S. Microsoft would float on. Also, the contextual analysis of Cortana looks flipping amazing from what I've read. Is april the developer release time period or general masses? I thought that was only for developers last time I checked (it's sort of moot because of the whole developer preview program).

 

More importantly, all of the enterprise applications and platforms that Microsoft is selling like hotcakes helps drive further adoption of Windows itself. This is a huge reason that even since new PC sales have tanked since 2010 across the board (even for Apple) that Windows 8 licenses sold is on par with Windows 7 during the same time frame. Each Windows product used and sold in the enterprise further strengthens Windows' stronghold. As an example, Windows Server 2012 improvements with Active Directory and DirectAccess work far better with Windows 8x than any other version of Windows.

As far as Cortana goes, most people think it will be shown and released to all Nokia Lumia devices at the Build Conference, which takes place the first week of April in San Francisco. I of course hope this is the case because I have a Lumia 1020, and I'll be at the Build Conference =D

If the information that has been released by Microsoft Research is any indication, Cortana will eventually be more than a virtual assistant. They want to make it a real-time translator as well. Remember, this assistant is going to be across all Microsoft devices and services eventually - including Bing apps on iOS and Android.

Here's a preview of the translation happening in real-time. Jump to the last few minutes for the good bits.
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