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Microsoft only sold 4.5 million Lumia phones in final quarter of 2015


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Old 31-01-2016, 23:44
Everything Goes
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To say Microsoft Lumia phones are selling poorly would be an understatement. They seem to be heading the same way BlackBerry did. Thankfully Microsoft have plenty of money to throw at it. The question is how long will they continue to do so....

Microsoft's Windows Phone revenue tanked 49 per cent year over year, despite the recent launch of the Lumia 950 and 950 X. It only sold 4.5 million Lumia phones during the 90-day period, compared to 10.5 million for the same time last year. That's a whopping 57 per cent dip. Keep in mind Apple just revealed that it sold 74.7 million iPhones during the last 90 days of 2015.
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/1365...fiscal-quarter
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Old 01-02-2016, 00:32
Aye Up
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I don't think its a case of having the money to throw at it, its more down to vision. Once MS finally gets universal platform going we should see big business buying packages for the cloud and such, which will include a Lumia or similar device. MS cloud operation has been ramping up over the last year and I would see W10 Mobile being a fundamental part of that. Obviously they have a lot of work to do, I should hope after the summer period things will look a lot more positive. At least MS is responding to feedback on WM, Blackberry just stuck its bloody head in the sand till te most recent move to Android.
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Old 02-02-2016, 02:40
Zee_Bukhari
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possibly because they haven't been releasing new phones for some time, especially high end phones. Large companies use Lumias though including coca cola, tesco, kone, foxtons, and mall of America.
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Old 02-02-2016, 06:11
Stig
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Windows 10 Mobile has only just arrived after a long wait.

I agree that it could still do well in business. Blackberry has left a big hole in the corporate market, and if Microsoft can give some good enterprise tools to the corporate market, it could still do well.

However, Microsoft has a long history of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory as far as mobile devices go.
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Old 02-02-2016, 08:13
swb1964
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Aren't they selling Luminas at a loss as well? If that was an attempt to boost sales it has clearly failed.
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Old 03-02-2016, 00:59
Zee_Bukhari
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Aren't they selling Luminas at a loss as well? If that was an attempt to boost sales it has clearly failed.
Not anymore.

Microsoft has a new strategy.

A budget phone every few months, a business phone with mid-range specs and then something for the die hard fans with great specs and features.
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Old 03-02-2016, 01:12
Pedro_C
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I recently bought a Lumia 930 on eBay for about £110, since I wanted to try something new after using iOS for short periods and Android for years: Galaxy Ace, S5, Moto G first and third gens. Must confess my first impressions are positive. For a start, good quad core CPU, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage and 1080p display put it in the class of phones like S5 which are available on the used market for quite a bit more. However, the Lumia has a refined air of quality about it, with true weight and aluminium, contrary to the plasticy nature of the S5. Additionally, the Lumia is always responsive, whereas my android devices can sometimes seem like they're paging to a slow HDD, reminiscent of old Windows XP machines with 256MB of RAM.

The frequently mentioned, pseudo-'Elephant in the room', aspect is app availability. I have all the apps i regularly use: social media and emails. However, in a market already crowded with competitive devices, one perceived weakness is enough to totally rule out a device in the eyes of the public, especially with regards to the unknown

TL; DR: Lumia 930/Windows Phone first Impressions (my Video)
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Old 03-02-2016, 08:06
Miyagi
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My Note 3 died a few weeks ago so while it was away being repaired, i bought a Lumia 640 (running Windows 8.1) to keep me going. Must admit it was a great phone for the money - amazing battery life, good fun to use. Too small (for me) to keep as my main phone tho. Based on this, I bought my 72yr old mom a Lumia 535 and she loves it, and my brother's work just bought him a Lumia 640 as well. Have kept the 640 as a back up phone.

It was pretty much upgrade time for me anyway so when my Note 3 was returned, I sold it, and bought a Lumia 950 XL. I really wanted to like it - I did in many respects, but I feel Windows 10 is a work in progress, and the battery life was not that great - so I switched to a Nexus 6p. The app gap wasnt a major issue for me, even though I'm heavily invested in Google to manage my calendar and accounts, I was happy to work around it in the main. Hasnt put me off Windows phones in the future though - I have a Surface Pro 3 and my daily driver is a Surface 3 (I'm a med student so all my uni files are on OneDrive), so I will be very interested to check out the Surface phone if that ever materialises. It would have to be completely amazing though to beat the Nexus.
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Old 03-02-2016, 12:18
finbaar
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I've had three Lumias (710, 830 & 930) and an Ativ S. I also dog fooded the Ativ S for 7 (long) months. Windows on a phone does have some good points, as mentioned. I still have a crappy little L530 kicking about and that runs quite well on 512mb and a SD 200.

But the app gap is real. Not only are there apps missing the ones that are there (with a few notable exception plus the MS apps) are mere shadows of what is available on Android. And companies release their app to Windows and never update it. The app store is also full of scam apps, shocking behaviour by MS allowing that to go on.

As a Office 365 subscriber I get all the MS services I need on Android. What is the point of W10M? None that I can see anymore.
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Old 03-02-2016, 12:20
ChrisHay
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I would only ever consider purchasing a windows phone. The integration with the PC/laptop with Outlook, Onedrive & Edge on both devices makes for a fantastically user-friendly experience.
The user-interface itself is great & I love the customisation possibilities & live tiles, transparent icons.

- OS

For me, this is where ALL the mainstream media reviews are plain WRONG. The WX operating system is hands down the best system on any phone. It is an absolute joy to use. I hate the Android OS as it always looks so cluttered and messy. There are buttons, numbers, widgits and mess everywhere. It is not a clean looking environment, every phone looks a mess, with random bloatware added. I also hate the oversaturated look of every Samsung phone.

The Apple iOS looks okay, but let’s face it, just like their computers (I am a long-time Mac owner), the OS has not actually changed in a decade or more. Okay, they have gone from jelly colours and faux 3D buttons, to a flat colour look, but other than incremental updates to the hardware each year, the OS on iPhones has barely changed.

Compare Android and iOS to WX and there is no comparison. The 950 is so much more dynamic and looks so much smarter. The main attraction for me is the ability to re-size and position all the buttons. I want large phone, email, messaging and internet buttons as they are what I use the most, and I can make them the size I want and position them where I want. No-one else allows this.

I am amazed that no-one points out that the ability to re-size tiles/buttons on Windows phones is great for anyone with impaired eyesight. I like photography, so I have a large Photos button and it scrolls through my photos which look great. On iOS you have had a flower button that takes you to your photos for nearly a decade and that is it. On WX your photos are shown on rotation on the photo tile itself. Having a photo as your background with invisible buttons is also brilliant (same as W8).

Live tiles, like the Photo tile, really are nice, with the latest news scrolling on the News tile, latest apps for sale on the Store button etc. The start screen looks so dynamic compared to the iOS screen that has not changed an iota in nearly a decade.
Everything is easy to use and navigate. I added a Micro SD card to hold all my music and it instantly recognised this and took me to a settings page so I could allocate everything either to the phone or the SD card. It was so easy to allocate all photos, video and music to the SD card. My iPhone has 16GB and no expansion. My 950 now has 150GB of storage and costs much less…
It’s hard to express how much nicer the OS is to use compared to Android and iOS, you just have to use it.

If, like me, you hate haptic feedback (small vibration when you press Home or Back), you can thankfully switch it off under Settings > Extras >Touch > Off

- Camera

For anything important, I use a top-end Nikon with prime lenses, but for videoing the family and taking snapshots, a decent camera phone is important. Again, the 950 excels. The camera is excellent. It has a Zeiss branded lens, which possibly helps, but the real winner is image stabilisation which really helps produce clear images in low light. The iPhone 6 has an excellent camera in good light, but in low light, I think the 950 is better. There is also this really cool feature when taking a flash photo where you can change the lighting effect to reduce the effect of the flash, which really improved some harshly lit photos. Very clever.

- Music

Groove Music is much better than the W8 music player, it is less complicated to use, the album displays are smaller so more information fits on the screen and the album features on the start screen during play. Music sounds very good and certainly beats my old iPod Touch which I have been using since the iPhone only holds 16GB, whereas my 950 now has 150GB of storage. Only the Sony Experias come close and they have a fatal flaw (in addition to Android) - the volume up and down button is at the bottom of the phone making it impossible to adjust volume holding the phone with one hand, it is a bizarre design error.

- Windows Store

The WX windows store is so much better looking and professional than the W7/8 store. It looks just like Apple’s App store and that is not a bad thing. Again, I think Android lags behind in terms of style. In terms of the Apps available, this is the single biggest knock against Windows and Microsoft. And it’s true. But it really depends if you care and need the apps.

The online reviews from tech magazines all focus on the Apps because they are techy geeks and apps matter to them because it is their job. In practice, I simply have no need to use any apps. I have 100s of games and Apps for Apple devices none of which get played or used and all of which have been deleted after a few hours or maybe days.

One online review slammed the phone because of an issue getting a photo onto Whatsapp. I have no use for Whatsapp and this glitch is irrelevant to me and I suspect many phone users. But the techie review focused on it and slammed the phone as a result.

Popular apps that actually have some utility, like Shazam, Uber, banking apps etc, can be downloaded. But if you are worried that you cannot download the 56th iteration of Granny Run or the latest game being given away at Starbucks, maybe don’t buy this phone.

It comes with a decent Maps App, but it no longer has Here Drive (which admittedly gave some of the worst routes but was still useful). I guess there might be a licensing issue as I think they are Nokia apps, so I will have to find a driving direction app.

Other people have complained about Bing Weather being an auto app. Compared to the useless Apple junk that cannot be deleted, this is actually a useful app that at a glance gives a weather update without being opened. Not being able to delete it is annoying - not for me personally, but conceptually as everything should be deleteable. As I say, compared to iOS and Android bloatware, it's no big deal

All the adults I know simply don’t use that many apps and just want a phone that is easy to use and does the basics well while being able to browse the internet, take photos etc. They couldn’t care less about the 100,000s of pointless, repetitive apps available for other phones, but which people working in phone shops or at online tech review sites focus on exclusively.

- Typing / keyboard

One thing I really liked about the Nokia 925 W8 phone was how quick and fluid the typing was on messages and emails. While I find nothing is as accurate as the physical keyboard on a Blackberry (it's only saving grace), the 925 swipe keyboard was super fast and the predictive text really clever and accurate. The good news is the 950 is just as good, perhaps better as it gives more options as you swipe. In comparison, the iPhone 6 has painstaking one letter at a time typing, it takes forever to type an email and worst of all, Apple overrides everything you type and chooses its own words anyway. iOS typing is infuriating as it changes simple, common words that are properly typed, like "Sally", into rubbish like "dally" that makes no sense in context. Apple keyboard (without a swipe app) is terrible, the 950 keyboard is great.

- Battery

The battery life is not very impressive if you use the phone consistently given the incredible screen resolution. It also gets hot listening to music for long periods. Not too hot, but it is hotter than previous phones I have used and is hotter than I would expect or want. The battery is replaceable which is great if you are on a long journey without a charging point, so you can swap in a new battery.

- Conclusion

Whether the 950 is right for you really depends on what you are looking for in a phone. If you prioritise a great screen, good camera, expandable memory and re-sizeable buttons with an easy-to-use and clean operating system, this is a great phone. If you want the latest games and apps and want to use the same phone as everyone else on the tube, train or bus, look elsewhere. I just wish Microsoft put more money into marketing the phone and into getting its Store populated with apps, so it had a fairer chance to compete as the OS really is wonderful.

-------------------------------
UPDATE:

From reading MS message boards, MS are looking into the short battery life, overheating and repeated warning about low storage (even when there is plenty of storage left on the phone). I am pleased that MS are taking customer feedback seriously as the short battery life and heating of the battery are the only two issues I have had with the phone so far.

The majority of colleagues at work have a personal iPhone 5 or 6, with a few others having Samsungs. Company iPhones are also issued to senior employees. Everyone who has seen the 950 has been wowed by the front page. Everyone loves the cycling of photos on the photo tile, the cycling of financial data and share prices on the Money tile, the news updates etc. When people have then compared it to their iPhones, where you need to press a button to take you to photos or to share prices or to weather, they have all commented on how much better Windows 10 is. However, people are still hung up about Apps, so MS really need to use their power and money to get developers to reproduce the most popular Apps for Windows 10.

-------------------------------
FURTHER UPDATE:
A firmware update has addressed the overheating battery, low battery life and low storage warning issues previously experienced.
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Old 03-02-2016, 18:48
PowerLee
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I get the feeling a lot of the issue with lack of apps is developers thinking " its Windows, stuff them they don't need an app, let them use Internet Explorer "
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Old 03-02-2016, 23:33
Zack06
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Windows Phone is dead and I don't see the Lumia brand lasting long.

Microsoft has more than enough cash to keep the brand going for a while, but ultimately, it's not profitable and it doesn't make business sense.

Satya should just cut the mobile venture off and focus on cloud/mobile cross-platform, which I believe he is doing.

Either sell off the mobile division or keep the teams working on other Microsoft projects like Surface maybe. Either way, it's not looking good. A dead OS and disastrous hardware sales.
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Old 03-02-2016, 23:54
Gigabit
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Windows Phone is just a waste at this point. Microsoft will privately admit that they've given up.
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Old 04-02-2016, 00:35
aurichie
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Windows Phone is just a waste at this point. Microsoft will privately admit that they've given up.
Windows Phone was DOA. But yeah it does appear most of their focus is now building great experiences for the best in class iOS mobile operating system. I still think they are too proud to admit anything yet, but at some point soon they will have to stop burning money on a fruitless exercise. Or they can try to claw back the money they are wasting by disposing of a lot of talent and cutting money spent on salaries.
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Old 04-02-2016, 21:43
jchamier
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Windows Phone is just a waste at this point. Microsoft will privately admit that they've given up.
I suspect they're holding in for a while to manage the expectations of share holders. They've already "written off" $7.6bn acquisition of Nokia in under 2 years which shows massive carelessness on the part of the previous CEO (Steve Ballmer).

Pouring good money after bad is not usually a way for CEOs to stay in office, and may be the ultimate reason Ballmer had to go.

http://www.computerworld.com/article...quisition.html
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Old 04-02-2016, 21:44
jchamier
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Or they can try to claw back the money they are wasting by disposing of a lot of talent and cutting money spent on salaries.
I think that's been done, the mobile teams acquired as part of the Nokia deal have been decimated already.

Its a bit Monty Python now (dead parrot sketch).
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