Seems like Reddit users are giving our very own Joe Belfiore a tough time during an AMA. Many important questions have been raised at the question-answer session, and the responses, well, I have to admit they are a little different from what I was expecting. One important question was raised concerning the feature gap Windows Phone has to face, when compared with iOS and Android, and some features which should be, but are not present.
“Why does the WP Team, and MS in general, seem reluctant to admit or even acknowledge the fact that Windows Phone, in terms of feature parity, is far behind Android and iOS? There are plenty of features that should be in WP that aren’t there, for no particular reason. I’ve never seen you or MS address stuff like this,” a user asked.
He did point out the company’s strategy in 2009. Well, iPhone did change the way we use smartphones, and Windows Mobile was not even close to what iPhone had to offer at that time. Windows Phone 7 was a complete makeover compared to Windows Mobile and they had to put a lot of effort in order to bring it on par with the competition, according to Joe Belfiore.
“So… I’d say we’ve acknowledged plenty of times over the past few years that we’ve had features missing relative to iOS or Android. SOme of this was intentional decisions to be focused– we did NOT focus on Enterprise/Corporate at first– but then we did,” Joe said during the session.
He further stated, “I’d say with WP8.1 the feature gap is ALMOST completely closed. As mobile is much more mature now, it’s less likely that ANY platform will have ALL the features of its competition — and that’s what makes one platform fit certain people better.”
Windows Phone 8.1 is impressive, and yes, it did introduce most of the missing features in the operating system, such as Cortana, Action Center and more. Now, the next thing to look forward to is more apps in the Windows Phone store. I have high hopes with Windows Phone 8.1, and it might help the Redmond-based company gain some market share.
Further reading: Microsoft, Windows Phone
