Nokia’s North America lead Chris Weber took quickly to shadowing Microsoft’s perspective in an interview late Tuesday. He claimed that the app as a primary concept on Android and iPhone devices was “outdated.” Apple had largely established a concept of frequently jumping in and out, but Google “commoditized it” without really changing anything, he told VentureBeat in the chat.
Again repeating Microsoft’s point of view, he argued that Windows Phone​ was better through its concepts of live tiles and themed hubs, where users can either check information from the home screen alone or can accomplish what would normally take multiple apps, such as reaching a contact through Facebook and text messaging. On Android and iOS, the icons are static, and some of the information is put into silos.
Mango will build on this with live tiles that jump directly to certain parts of an app or hub. Voice commands also allow completely hands-off voice commands and text-to-speech.
The commends come in spite of Microsoft’s concept so far failing to have any meaningful impact. Windows Phone has so far done little to stop share losses as most Windows Mobile users have preferred to switch to Android or iPhones rather than stay loyal to Microsoft. Many have seen the deal with a Nokia as an effective attempt to buy market share where it couldn’t achieve the same with HTC, LG, Samsung, and others.
Nokia is mostly hinging its Windows Phone success on its reputation for hardware, such as its high-powered cameras. Its sheer size as a phone maker may also help, although it has been dwindling in that area as budget Chinese phones and low-end Android have taken away from its footprint.
