@ChrisL said in NYPD opts for Windows Phone over iOS and Android:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/nypd-windows-phone/
Smartphones have made policing easier....but Windows Phone? That's criminal.
The NYPD worked with Microsoft to develop apps specific for the phone/NYPD to help with paperwork, policies, remote management, etc.
Do you think Windows Phone will run the route of Blackberry and become the "enterprise" mobile of choice?
What several folks are missing from the article is that NYPD implemented Windows Phone LAST YEAR (2015), and it has been so effective/successful for them, they are now planning to upgrade 36,000 devices to new Windows 10 Mobile devices. And they're not alone as there many other business out there who are quite happy with their implementation of a Windows-based phone device. Remember back in the 2014/2015 timeframe (I don't remember exactly), Delta Airlines equipped more than 20,000 flight attendants with Lumia 1520 phablets to run credit cards, perform seat upgrades, and more. And I could go on and on. My point is that Windows Phone is definitely no stranger to organizations looking to make their jobs a bit easier.
And to play devil's advocate (as SAM knows I will), while Windows Phone lacked many of the more popular consumer apps and games, it did have a solid base, especially business apps (their specialty). But things are changing under the Universal Windows Platform (UWP), where a dev can code once and distribute everywhere (e.g., desktop, laptop, tablet, phone, Xbox and possibly HoloLens). I've already seen a rise in different apps developed under the new UWP ecosystem that we normally would not have had. We also have major names taking control of their apps from Microsoft, who kickstarted their apps to get them interested (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, etc.), although there are still some 3rd party apps that blow them away (on any OS). Of course, you still have some great IT-related apps like VPN capability, TeamViewer, Remote Desktop, SharePoint, Office 365, Mobile Office, Office Remote, Office Lens, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Network Tools, etc. There's also a lot of other great & popular communication apps like Line, WhatsApp, Slack, Viber, etc. And there's still a lot of apps that just aren't any good, but they have a fantastic HTML5 website that I would rather use anyways.
Personally, I count the number of times on one hand where I saw an app that I really, really wanted but could not get it on Windows 10 Mobile. I seriously have not seem something that I could not live without, that I did not have the same or similar app on my phone.
And Microsoft did well to attract a lot of developers, probably too many if you looked at all the junk apps in the Store last year. But recently, Microsoft made a new commitment to cleanup their Store. They set stronger qualifications and gave devs a period of time to meet them or get kicked out. Just recently, they removed over 10,000 apps from the Microsoft Store. And if you remember, this is sort of like an annual purging they do on a regular basis. So yes, they might be short on apps as compared to other OSs, but they are not so desperate that they don't clean house every so often. And which each cleanup, they refine and redefine their qualifications in order to keep up the quality of their app store.
And with Windows 10 Mobile being Windows 10 ... the core of the OS, not just the kernel ... it is becoming more and more capable. While Continuum is still very much a work in progress, the idea of having a 3-in-1 device can be very attractive to many industries, especially those where people travel a lot or don't have a permanent office assigned. And as we move into the Snapdragon 820, we now have the ability to run 64-bit applications, meaning that sometime in the near future when Microsoft shifts Window 10 Mobile into a 64-bit version, we won't necessarily need virtualization workspaces like HP's Workspace to run desktop and/or legacy apps.
Oh, and don't forget that part of the Windows 10 core is the HoloLens VR technology, which more folks know about since Microsoft's last event. That opens up some pretty impressive doors. Matter of fact, T-Mobile just announced the Alcatel Idol 4S with a free VR headset. So we already see U.S. companies investing in this technology and marketing it. And don't forget, Microsoft has a lot of international partners investing in the Windows 10 ecosystem, including mobile.
NOTE: Microsoft has a pretty impressive International Store too. Almost every month, I hear of more international Banks and/or Financial Institutions releasing a Windows 10 Mobile app (as well as a few US banks).
And finally, Microsoft still has a large number of handsets being used in warehouses around the world, running Windows CE (we still use these in our warehouse with our shipping systems), Windows Embedded, and now moving forward with a version of Windows 10.
Yes, they are behind in the consumer market, but I think they just might have a good insight into the "next big thing."
Just my two cents worth!
