> I think Apple by now realizes that Android was a necessary defensive play by Google aimed not at them, but at Microsoft
Huh? Could you elaborate on this? Maybe I am missing some historical context, but it feels like Android is very much eating into Apple's market share, not into Microsoft's. How does this reasoning work out?
They did not have to do much though, Microsoft killed Windows Phone all on their own. Windows Phone 7 was pretty great, but Microsoft threw all early-adopters under the bus by then releasing Windows Phone 8. None of the Windows Phone 7 devices got an upgrade to WP8 and WP8 apps would not run on WP7.
I knew a bunch of folks who were very sour after how Microsoft handled WP7 -> WP8 and moved to other platforms. And these were the people that were championing Windows Phone.
That was actually the second time they through earlier users under the bus. I had a WP6 and was promised (at the time I bought it) that it would be upgraded to WP7 when that came out. Then Microsoft decided not to. Then they shit all over us by decided to shut down the app market. So my not even year-old phone became essentially worthless very quickly. I switched to Android and that was the last time I ever paid for a Microsoft product. It also turned me into an anti-advocate for Windows phones. I still cringe when I think of that perfectly good flagship (at the time) level hardware sitting worthless in a drawer
Huh? Could you elaborate on this? Maybe I am missing some historical context, but it feels like Android is very much eating into Apple's market share, not into Microsoft's. How does this reasoning work out?