BBC gets onboard with Windows Phone with the Top Gear app!

I’ve been following in the news allot the growning numbers of developers who are wanting/thinking/in development of apps. One giant to have in your app is anything from the BBC.

I posted a few weeks ago the news of the BBC not wanting to develop an iPlayer app as the formats that WP7 uses is not what they use to stream media, well this Top Gear app could change the future in terms of other big developers coming to the platform.

on to the app

If you are a petrol head, arround the world you will know of Top Gear and the fantastic series. The app covers all the basics you would expect, videos, news, behind the scenes. The all follows the famous metro style which seems the “norm” in development. An all round fantastic experiance and worth a download. The importance of this app to me is the BBC have developed for the platform and should stear some other big things our way.

First publication on the WordPress app!

Draw Somthing…no wait….its social artist

 

One of the hottest games at the moment and it is not on our Windows Phone Devices. Why you ask well Zynga the games creators the team behind the world famous Farmville games see no potential in the Windows Phone market and won’t develop it as of today unless Microsoft sends them farms full of cash to them.

Social Draw

…Aims to fill the gap, its a brilliant like for like copy of the game and a set of decent features such as Bering able to post you scores to Facebook and save your best pictures, its not the only copy of the game on the market but its the best at what it does. The game also brings some nice additions such as notifications for when another player replys to your drawing ( for the users who know what draw somthing is)

All in all a really great game and copy which makes me think that the real draw somthing is not needed providing all your freinds use Windows Phone!

Windows Phone outsells the iPhone is Russia!

The Windows Phone platform has outsold the iPhone in Russia. We have some stats from MTS, Russia leading mobile operator and its with regards to Sales of smartphones OS in Q1 (units sold) Windows Phone took the lead with 8.2% and ios with 7.3% a win is a win and we look forward to these sales figures increasing!

Source:  wm poweruser

Why I think windows phone 7 will survive!

I’ve been an avid follower of mobiles and the change in direction they have taken, I’ll be the first one to admit that the iPhone did “change everything as apple put it” but the dominance of Android has changed the playing field amoung consumers and what options they have among the smartphone market, I don’t confess to being a natural blog poster or have any experience self-opinionated my views across to an audience so i welcome any comments, below is what i believe to be the future for Windows Phone 7

The Current Market?

When windows entered the smartphone market (2000), it was a true smartphone but was hindered with the shift in technology mainly due again to the iPhone, Microsoft had been creating software since the 1990’s for pocket PC’s but you can’t build a OS from the ground upwards for a pysical buttoned device and rapid shift direction to a touch Interface to match current trends and do it well, something that Nokia and Symbian learnt the hard way with many failed devices along the way, all let down by software.

Android has changed the marketplace and consumers choice but no matter what Android phone I have used, quadcore, dual core and even single core the experiance is not the same as the iPhone and its because when hardware and software are created by one manufacture the experience is flawless.

iPhone Positives 

• Reduced Bugs
• Maximum performance from hardware
• Control over content

these three points to me are what dominate a good user experiance which Apple have, but leaves some key areas in which its lost users and is the reason Android has taken share, but the real star is windows phone as it takes the best of both worlds.

Android Positives

•  Different manufacturers (more consumer choice)
•  user can remove hardware
•  high and low priced devices
• Good selection of popular apps

Android Negatives

• Buggy software
• Slow updates
• Cheap devices often perform poorly
• Hardware and software not tuned together

This is where windows phone can score huge potential in the smartphone race, I see a huge gap which WP can fill for users.

Windows Phone Positives

•  Smooth, non buggy
•  Hardware and software approved by Microsoft so different phones all have the same smooth feel and not buggy with different hardware
•  Integrates with social networks for a unified experiance
• Removable hardware
•  App’s are fantastic quality and run smoothly
• Microsoft integration with other products, xbox live, Microsoft Office, exchange etc…

Windows phone negatives

•  Marketing
• Updates (Microsoft seems to be slow at addressing issues and providing regular updates)
• Popular App’s – Windows phone has a variety of apps and all of fantastic quality, but seem to be lacking some of the major apps that iOS and Android have, draw something instantly comes to mind!

Nokia the saviour!

 Stephen Elop can be summed as the man who has saved Nokia and possibly given Windows Phone the boost it needs in terms of Market share, we all know there was a huge Substantial cash amount offered my MS but that is beside the point, Nokia now have an OS that can compete in the market,  but the key factor i believe is it leaves Nokia to do what Nokia does best, create fantastic handsets!

Survival

The market is so competitive with the likes of Samsung pushing out more and more handsets each month, Windows really need to step up the Marketing side of things, here in  the UK we have nothing which represents Windows Phone, no adverts, radio adds the shops which do stock Windows Phones are buried in displays among Android and Blackberry’s , Apple have a designated area for them with the iPad and iPhone, consmers are like sheep, they want what is hot, whats hip whats new, the only reason half the people i know own an Apple Device is purely brand power.

Microsoft really need to ramp out the advertising budget for Windows Phone, once its the must thing to have that will bring more users, more developers and push Widows Phone into a more respectable position, creating a better echo system for anyone wanting to use WP7 and develop on the platform.

I really welcome your comments on the future of Windows Phone 7 and on my short blog and I hope to contribute more regarding current app’s, phones and news on the new adventure which awaits Windows Phone