All the carriers hate Apple due to its high cost to them and low ROI to them. RIM slit its own throat a long time ago. It is still bleeding and is unlikely to recover. Android? I have been in data processing for a long time and NO operating system that is so bifurcated will win. Look at UNIX. What UNIX? Every one is different even though they are very similar. Support is a nightmare and only continues because each site is helping. How many Android users are capable of doing that. I know it is currently 75% of the market. A lot of consumers liked it and bought into it. Ask one of them to support it. My son has been writing software since junior high. He received his degree in Data Processing 4 years ago and is now working in the business (many of his classmates work at McDonalds or something like that). He was an early iPhone lover. When the Samsung S III came out, he switched to it immediately (his iPhone lies in a drawer until he can sell it). Now he has voiced som discontent with the S III. I have been using Windows Phone since 7 came out. I had several until I got to the HTC Titan. I loved it. Then Microsoft said that 7.5 (7.8 is cosmetic) was the end of the line. So I bout an HTC 8X – It is exactly like the Titan except that it will live with the changing operating system.
Microsoft has a lot of money (not as much as Apple, but the carriers like Microsoft and don’t like Apple). The operating system on the phone is almost identical to what millions of people will be using on their computers. It is easy to learn. My wife refused to touch the LG VU (now updated to Windows Phone 7.5) when I first bought it for her. Now, I couldn’t pry it out of her hands with a crowbar. The self teaching aspect of the Windows Phone 7 (and 8 – they are virtually identical to a user) is what will make this take off. I know that the start of both versions was and still is very slow. If Steve Jobs had marketed it as he did the iPhone, it would have a larger percentage than the current iPhone has. The Consumer will eventually drive the growth of the Windows Phone and everyone I have shown it to (including both iPhone and Android users) liked it. But my circle of influence is relatively small and the carriers hatred of Apple and the fact that there are so many slightly different versions of Android coupled with the huge number of lawsuits against Android will drop its numbers soon.
