As a Winboy, I am still confused about WP compatibility with Android apps

[[130936]]

First of all, it should be pointed out that the news that Windows Phone will be compatible with Android applications has not been confirmed by Microsoft. Of course, I have not seen Microsoft deny it, but it has always said "no comment". However, as a relatively explosive news, similar news has been circulating for more than a year. In early 2014, The Verge also revealed that they had received news that Windows and WP will be able to run Android applications. Recently, similar news has begun to circulate again, all from anonymous sources, and has been spread by many well-known American technology media.

So it seems that the issue of WP being compatible with Android apps is like Schrödinger's cat, and the progress of the matter is uncertain. However, the last Alipay incident also shows that although WP currently has less than 1% of the market share in China, the volume of voice it creates far exceeds this 1% (actually 0.8%). As one of the few Winboys, I still feel very entangled about the possibility of WP being compatible with Android.
Why do I want WP to be compatible with Android?

As for the affirmative side, the reason is very simple. The WP version of Alipay incident has shown that many large manufacturers are not serious about application updates. In the article "As a minority, the 1% of WP is not in a good situation", I also mentioned that many independent WP developers cannot see the future of making money on the WP platform, and gradually lose interest. As a result, the applications on the WP platform always remain at the "sufficient" level, and are far from the situation of iOS and Android where a hundred flowers bloom.

Being compatible with Android apps means that WP users who have been troubled by app problems can use more apps and more updated versions of apps. As for other issues, such as compatibility and performance, WP users can only comfort themselves with the lines from "A Chinese Odyssey":

"Cut it off, it's all burnt.

A little crispy is better than nothing.”

For WP users, having more choices is not a bad thing. When I was writing about many smart hardwares before, I found that the supporting applications often said they supported iOS and Android. To some extent, WP is isolated from most of the current smart hardwares.
WP is compatible with Android apps, so why shouldn’t I buy an Android phone?

Think back, as a Winboy, why did you choose WP phone in the first place? Maybe it was because of the Nokia aura; maybe it was because you loved Microsoft; maybe you were indifferent to iOS and Android and wanted a different life; or maybe you were persuaded by other Winboys to join the "pirate ship". Now, after layers of screening, WP users who wanted to switch camps have almost all turned to Android and iOS, and the remaining 1% can be regarded as the last backbone of WP.

So for hardcore WP users, if WP has fallen to the point where it needs to be compatible with Android apps to complete its ecosystem, what is the point of staying here? Seeing Metro UI and Material Design presented on a mobile phone is really too beautiful to look at directly. In addition, the design specifications and operation logic of WP apps and Android apps are completely different, and the fragmented experience can be imagined.

An important factor in the quality of mobile phone experience is to follow intuition, so when there are two sets of applications on WP phones, this intuition accumulated over a long period of use is no longer useful. The result is that since I choose and stay with WP, I am ready to accept the status quo of WP applications; since I want to use Android applications, why should I use them awkwardly on WP instead of switching to the Android platform? It is almost certain that if WP can run Android, the experience will definitely not be better than native Android.

Relying on Android apps to please users, boost sales, and save the system is a really strange idea and path.

On the system level, WP 8.1 has been gradually improved after several updates, and several popular functions have been improved, calming the public anger. However, in terms of supplementing the ecosystem, using a "shortcut" such as compatible Android applications is tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst.

Again, when the selling point of WP phones has become Android applications, why don’t I just buy an Android phone?
Win 10 is a life-saving straw, Android apps are poison

The lessons learned from the past are obvious. Both the declining noble BlackBerry and the resurrected Jolla tried to save the situation or expand the market by being compatible with Android applications. As a result, BlackBerry still declined and survived in the niche market by taking a different approach, so much so that our editor surnamed Hao began to consider selling his Passport. Needless to say, Jolla's core competitiveness lies in a crowdfunding story of perseverance and the appeal of the old MeeGo members, and it is destined not to counterattack other systems.

WP's situation is much better than BB 10 or Jolla. Although the three-way division of the world is a false proposition, at least Microsoft, Google and Apple are companies of the same level, and WP is still the third.

The introduction of Android applications is like opening the sheepfold and letting in the wolf. The only remaining possibility of developing its own ecosystem was directly strangled by Android applications. It is conceivable that with the already very complete Android application support, the WP applications that originally needed to be developed have been objectively supplemented. After the missing part is supplemented by the illusion, the missing part of WP applications will always be missing, and WP developers will further stay away. The final result is that WP phones actually become puppets of Android applications, and the WP ecosystem stagnates and even shrinks.

So a strange situation may arise. Even though Microsoft has embedded various self-services in WP, it has become a pseudo-OEM manufacturer of Google, indirectly expanding the Android ecosystem.

At a time when Windows 10 for Phone is about to be released, and Microsoft is holding the last straw to save WP, it is not very Microsoft's style to have a WP-compatible Android app. Microsoft under Nadella's leadership is a company that will drive its own "tiger apps" into the Android and iOS ecosystems. It is unreasonable to "let the wolf in" at this time.

However, time is running out. Both WP 8 and WP 8.1 failed to save WP, and Microsoft itself is obviously more responsible. The Universal Windows Apps plan, which is far superior to all others, is actually a life-saving measure. Whether 1% becomes 5%, or becomes "Others" in the statistics of institutions such as IDC, also depends on this time.

Even though Microsoft has always been careless and taken the wrong path in the mobile end, it has finally waited until Win 10 is about to be released, and it is even more necessary to close the country. Although Win RT was abandoned before, Microsoft has said before that its historical mission is to occupy the market, and it will retire after occupying Surface Pro 3 and even Win 10. Now that Surface Pro has received rave reviews and Win 10 is being promoted for free, WP has bravely strangled its own destiny and suffocated its own ecosystem. It is really heroic.

However, the future still belongs to the mobile Internet and even the Internet of Things, and the crucial link is the smartphone. Although we often criticize the current smart home for having an additional smartphone remote control, as part of the roadmap, the situation where the smartphone is the hub will continue. From the user's perspective, WP's compatibility with Android applications embraces this trend. But from the perspective of Microsoft and WP, ​​they have essentially given up the future on the mobile side. Of course, the generational innovation of HoloLens may be a more distant future.

So back to the starting point of the whole incident, will the news that WP is compatible with Android apps come true? According to the fact that such news is heard every year but never comes true, the possibility of it happening is extremely small. As a Winboy, I hope it will not happen in the end.