back to article Windows Phone users beg Pokémon Go creators for attention

Frustrated Windows fans are lobbying the creators of Pokémon Go to bring the augmented reality game to their smartphones and devices. Forty thousand individuals so far have signed a petition at Change.org for Pokémon Go to be ported to Windows 10 and Windows mobile. According to the petition on Change.org: With the above …

  1. Steve Evans

    Probably cheaper...

    It'll probably be cheaper to just send a budget Android phone to all those that signed the petition than employ the development staff, and support the windows version.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Probably cheaper...

      770,000 signatures are fake.

  2. Dwarf

    The hard reality

    The hard reality is that it costs money to develop an support applications on a target platform . Finance people will have done the calculation against the potential target audiences and decided its not worth it.

    Who can blame them given that the use of Windows generally is dwindling.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The hard reality

      This. I wondered about making apps as a hobby (you know, like all those other hobbies we have :P ).

      It's easier and cheaper for me to buy and Arduino and program it, than try to navigate the hurdles and costs of uploading for Android or iOS (yes I know there are free options for testing/home development).

      1. Indolent Wretch

        Re: The hard reality

        Have things changed?

        Developing and even globally releasing for Android is essentially free. It is/was a one off $5 charge. All of the software is free and you can by multiple test devices for peanuts. It's also a p.o.p to develop for.

        What possible costs and hurdles are there?

        1. ShaggyDog
          WTF?

          Re: The hard reality

          <q>What possible costs and hurdles are there?</q>

          - you're having a laugh, very good! Either that or you haven't got the 1st clue about developing real software...

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The hard reality

        Not sure what you are trying to say here. I have apps in both iOS and Android stores. Uploading is definitely not hard for either - I doubt you'd manage to write the app in the first place if you couldn't figure that out bit out. Android is basically free, and even with iOS you can get second hand kit very cheaply or just borrow someone's Macbook for the day...

        1. a_yank_lurker

          Re: The hard reality

          The real cost is developer time to port from OS to another. iOS and Android have enough users spending money to justify the time. Winbloat mobile and all the other dwarves do not have the market share to recoup the costs.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The hard reality

      It may be true that it isn't worth it at the moment, but it depends on what trends are likely in the future. Pokemon has a good history but there are other apps and games out there that would be a big risk to support and no doubt the competition have already produced something that people may not switch from. A little like windows mobile and ios or android. As we have seen from android, produce a decent OS and Store then various large and small manufacturers will buy in. After being slow on the uptake this is what Microsoft are trying to do. Only time will tell if windows mobile is great enough for people to switch from incompatible systems and if some app developers have seen the trend early enough for it still to be worth it.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The hard reality

      Supporting games on Windows Phone is like supporting games on Linux. Unless the porting is easy and cheap, the user base doesn't justify it.

  3. Chazmon

    It sucks to be on the platform with the smallest market share. I have a windows phone because they are cheap, reliable and work well with PCs. I honestly don't expect any apps to appear beyond the standard social media ones. If I wanted that I would have stayed with Android but I found I simply didn't use any.

  4. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Trollface

    Windows Phone users: Gotta catch 'em all...

    ... That didn't take long.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    There are dozens of us, DOZENS!!!

    That being said, I'm in no rush to hand over the contents of my Google account to a bunch of people like Niantic. Windows, the only platform where you are safe from Pokemon Go.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: There are dozens of us, DOZENS!!!

      You don't have to install it you know, even if you are using an iOS or Android device.

      Go on, just say No and be different, be an individual.

      1. veti Silver badge

        Re: There are dozens of us, DOZENS!!!

        I'm just saying No to Android and iOS. There, that's my individuality asserted.

        1. jimbo60

          Re: There are dozens of us, DOZENS!!!

          While we're wishing we should ask that the Win Mobile port not have any blatant privacy violations.

    2. Darryl

      Re: There are dozens of us, DOZENS!!!

      I'm horrified to know that I'm not safe from Pokemon Go because I own an Android phone. And worse, I have a company iPhone!!

      Oh wait. I didn't install Pokemon Go on either of them. Phew, crisis averted.

  6. JimmyPage Silver badge
    FAIL

    As an advert for *not* buying a Windows Phone

    this story really can't be beaten.

    I gave up with Windows Phone (still the best mobile OS I have used :( ) last year after being fed up of not being able to get the apps which nowadays are part of engaging with the modern world.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: As an advert for *not* buying a Windows Phone

      Well... Seriously: for me it's an advert to continue to buy into this phone. I like it that the platform doesn't follow all the hypes and just boringly does what it has always done. Of course it also helps that I mostly use my phone in a business like fashion, and I hardly play any games on it.

      Speaking of which... It's one thing to try and get such a game to come to Windows Phone, but I seriously wonder if the batteries can actually cope with this :) There is a reason why Windows Phone hardly has any multi-taking.

      1. MJI Silver badge

        Re: As an advert for *not* buying a Windows Phone

        If you want to run games on your Windows phone, go to Steam store and install some Windows games.

        1. nkuk

          Re: As an advert for *not* buying a Windows Phone

          /S ? Not sure if that is sarcasm, but Windows Phone is not Win32, there isn't even a Steam client app for Windows Phone.

          1. Goldmember

            Re: As an advert for *not* buying a Windows Phone

            "but Windows Phone is not Win32, there isn't even a Steam client app for Windows Phone."

            No, but Win Phone will happily run XNA games, of which there are many available on Steam.

            1. davidp231

              Re: As an advert for *not* buying a Windows Phone

              So long as they are built for x86 *and* ARM execution... Example: Terraria is XNA, but look how long it took them to port it to the Xbox 360 - XNA yes, but the X360 is also a PowerPC platform.

            2. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: As an advert for *not* buying a Windows Phone

              You really did buy inyo Microsoft lies about universal platform... lol

          2. flippet

            Re: As an advert for *not* buying a Windows Phone

            "/S ? Not sure if that is sarcasm, but Windows Phone is not Win32, there isn't even a Steam client app for Windows Phone."

            Yes there is!

            https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/apps/steam-official/9nblggh4x7gm

          3. MJI Silver badge

            Re: As an advert for *not* buying a Windows Phone

            Yes it is sarcasm, they call it Windows and it doesn't run Windows software

    2. Alumoi Silver badge

      Re: As an advert for *not* buying a Windows Phone

      Pray tell which apps are you referring to. Besides email, chat, navigation and a browser, that is.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: As an advert for *not* buying a Windows Phone

      Which apps would they be? Pokemon must be a tiny part of engaging with the world especially as it's so new to mobile OS. Unless you and your friends have been Pokemon crazy all these years. Not sure which apps aren't available that stop you engaging.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: As an advert for *not* buying a Windows Phone

      I gave up with Windows Phone (easily the WORST mobile OS I have used :( ) last year after being fed up of not being able to get anything worthwhile on it, and people laughing at me in public because of it.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Age old problem

    I remember having a nice, capable Nokia S60-based phone back in the day. It would support all manner of applications (they weren't called 'apps' then!), but there simply wasn't the developer base to create them or distribute them.

    That problem disappeared when Microsoft announced they were buying Nokia - suddenly nobody bothered buying those phones anyway, so there was no desire for applications either.

    1. Bob Vistakin
      Windows

      Re: Age old problem

      Same happened to Skype.

      It's happening to Linked In right now, too.

  8. wolfetone Silver badge
    Trollface

    Windows Phone?

    What's that?

    1. Sil

      Re: Windows Phone?

      What's that had almost 15 % market share in some European Markets before MS did nothing, budgeted 0 € advertising, and delivered W10 very late.

      So not that far from iOS.

      Since then it's halving every year congrats MSFT in helping your customer base.

      1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

        Re: Windows Phone?

        and that same MS who has just annouced that the last bits of Nokia that they had in Finland are to close.

        That's the EEE (with the last E being Extinguish) job wrt Nokia complete then.

      2. nkuk

        Re: Windows Phone?

        Windows Phone has less than 1% marketshare. Those that made the mistake to buy one and expect app support should get a clue that they should have bought an iPhone or Android if they wanted to play the latest games. Windows Phone has had bad app support for the last 6 years.

        1. asdf

          Re: Windows Phone?

          >Those that made the mistake to buy one (cheap) and expect app support

          Are the same people who buy a house next to an airport for pennies on the dollar and then spend all their effort petitioning against the jet noise.

        2. John70

          Re: Windows Phone?

          Windows Phone does the job...

          1. Makes Calls

          2. SMS

          3. Email

          4. Web Browser

          5. Maps

          6. Camera

          7. Whatsapp

          8. Social Media : Facebook, Twitter, etc (if you're into those things)

          What else do you need?

          Millions of pointless apps?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Windows Phone?

            No Grindr.

            No Pokémon Go.

            No life.

          2. davidp231

            Re: Windows Phone?

            7. Whatsapp that doesn't bother notifying you most of the time because it's not been updated to use the new WP8.1 or 10 APIs and supplies you with a constant hiss from the speaker when it's open

            Fixed it for you.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Windows Phone?

        15%???? Where outer Mongolia???? Link please . Its never been more than 3% anywhere that mattered.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Windows Phone?

          >15%???? Where outer Mongolia????

          You mean in Redmond WA where the original poster is right? Of course that includes freebies given by a certain local employer to its employees.

        2. flippet

          Re: Windows Phone?

          I believe the 15% high was Italy a couple years ago. It was around 10% or more in quite a few European countries too, including the UK, France and Germany. I think they also had similar success in Russia and some South American countries.

          http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-phone-sales-are-hitting-new-highs-but-market-share-falls-in-europe/

          http://www.gsmarena.com/kantars_data_shows_windows_phone_ahead_of_ios_in_russia-news-14808.php

  9. not.known@this.address

    Phones <> Games console

    Oh for the heady days of my youth when a phone was a telecommunications device and games were played on computers, consoles or handhelds...

    But how long until the first obliviot is run down because they ran in front of a car to catch some nonexistant creature on the other side of the road? Not that it will be the poor little idiot's fault for not paying attention, or the parents who are only too happy to have their darling little offspring wandering the street with an expensive piece of consumer electronics in their hands, or the supply chain who are happily counting their ten pieces of silver while the hapless motorist will once again be blamed for everything...

    1. MJI Silver badge

      Re: Phones <> Games console

      I get ratty at my current work phone (an Android jobby) as it is no that good at being a phone, my two phone ago N8 was much better at being a telephone,

      And my Vita is much better at playing games.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    There is a simple issue...

    ..the Windows OS is a nice OS, try it you may surprised! I really like mine and would choose it any day over a Android phone costing 10x the amount.

    BUT

    would I recommend you buy it? No.

    The simple reason is, MS are just not saying in, laymans terms, "Yes, we are going to continue to develop it and will support it for X years".

    It's the uncertainty that is really killing the phone, not the OS or the hardware.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: There is a simple issue...

      MS will support it for as long as Windows 10 is supported. HP, Dell and others are currently producing hardware in support of windows mobile. Mobile isn't new to MS, I would have thought if MS thought mobile was a mistake then time and money would not have been spent creating an OS, supporting a Store and everything else that comes with app development. At worst the future will be as it is now whereby some android apps don't work on older versions, some uwp apps don't work on 8.1 and some future windows 11 apps (probably about a decade from now) won't work on windows 10.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: There is a simple issue...

        MS will support it for as long as Windows 10 is supported.

        Why do think that? These are two very different products.

        HP, Dell and others are currently producing hardware in support of windows mobile.

        Until all 200,000 people who want a windows phone have one.

      2. nijam Silver badge

        Re: There is a simple issue...

        > ... if MS thought mobile was a mistake

        In the real world, it's mobile that thought Microsoft was a mistake.

  11. Sil

    I signed in solidarity, although I couldn't care less for the game.

  12. Bub

    the worm turns

    Just a few years ago it was all about Linux users signing petitions for game/app/whatever to be ported to Linux, only to be told 'it's not worth it'

    The times they are a changin eh

    1. Patrician

      Re: the worm turns

      ...."The times they are a changin eh"..

      They're changing but not very quickly even now; just 18% of Steams catalogue runs on Linux.

      1. asdf

        Re: the worm turns

        > just 18% of Steams catalogue runs on Linux.

        Well considering most of that is old dos games (granted some are good but might well run under Wine steam) or total self published crap like Don't **** your pants (real game) the 18% seems to mostly be the games I want to play like CS Go and XCom 2.

        1. asdf

          Re: the worm turns

          Ok ok say Don't *** your pants is a adobe flash game (so actually available for Linux gamers) but even its probably better (if you are into survival horror games lol) than a lot of independent shovel ware that bloats up the Steam catalog is what I am saying.

        2. Avatar of They
          Stop

          Re: the worm turns

          In all fairness my Linux Catalog of games includes borderlands 2 and the prequel, Grid autosport, the entire Valve catalogue, company of heroes 2 and planetary annihilations titans. not quite old or DOS based. And some are actually massive. And sorry to tell you but CS:GO and Xcom2 are in steam play so work in linux. I have CS:GO but don't have Xcom2.

          I haven't touched anything like Wine or Cedega, I actually put on Vmplayer with Windows 7 so I can play older games in windows.

          18% is a massive step up from five years ago when nothing ran in Linux. Steam is something like 70% of PC games sales, either directly or with the Steam key and is pushing not only Linux games but their own Linux flavour.

          It isn't mainstream yet but future is looking rosy. As the OP said, "Times they are a changin'"

          1. asdf

            Re: the worm turns

            >And sorry to tell you but CS:GO and Xcom2 are in steam play so work in linux.

            Read my reply again. I am actually agreeing with you totally. Admittedly my wording sucked but was saying even supposing the original posters number of 18% the other 82% are mostly old dos games and shovel ware. The new good stuff for the most part all runs on Steam Linux.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: the worm turns

      Because there's so much cloud and web these days, the apps are mostly platform agnostic and not locked up on one OS e.g. Windows.

      Unfortunately for Microsoft, because its mobile market share is absolutely pathetic (despite spending a fortune since WP7 and then piggybacking on Nokia's carcass), developers are less inclined to make things for Windows, because it does not make economic sense.

      The only thing Windows is good for is legacy stuff. Increasingly, Windows is nothing more than a glorified DOSBox. The irony is cruel, but hilarious and poetic.

  13. asdf

    yep

    One word drastically changed all that on the Linux side, steam.

  14. tiggity Silver badge

    no chance on win mobile

    Pokemon Go on Windows will not happen is my best guess.

    Niantic (well funded by Google before being spun off for the Pokemon app) did all the ground work / proof of concept / crowd sourced data to allow pokestops & gyms to be created for Pokemon Go in the game Ingress release a few years ago and continually evolved

    Ingress was android first, iphone followed later

    There were many calls for that to be ported to Windows, which were ignored - if win phone was long term target there would have been windows ingress.

    Obviously Pokemon Go has more money making potential than ingress, but given the low market share of win phone & the way ingress & pokemon go are resource hungry (external battery vital for any amount of extended play) and lots of win phones low spec, then if it was ported it would probably struggle on low end hardware anyway

    1. Bod

      Re: no chance on win mobile

      "& the way ingress & pokemon go are resource hungry (external battery vital for any amount of extended play) and lots of win phones low spec, then if it was ported it would probably struggle on low end hardware anyway"

      Except Win Phone frequently perform better on far lower spec hardware than their Android counterparts. Android is bloated and resource hungry. Breath of fresh air to use Windows Phone and be back to old Nokia style days of battery lasting days instead of hours.

      A game is another matter of course, but for those games that do exist on WP (more than you think), they still generally drain the battery slower and yet show no sign of struggling on the hardware.

      1. veti Silver badge

        Re: no chance on win mobile

        Pokemon Go requires geolocation enabled. If you've ever used your Nokia for navigation, you'll know what that means for the whole "days instead of hours" battery life thing.

  15. Joseph Haig
    Trollface

    What goes around ...

    Well, they just comfort themselves with the memory of years when companies used the market share argument for not supporting anything other than Windows.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What goes around ...

      Karma is sweet, innit?

      Remember the dark age of the Internet, IE6 and 'Best viewed with Internet Explorer' banners on websites? And later, pretending that Silverlight was actually a genuine competitor to Flash.

      1. asdf

        Re: What goes around ...

        >Silverlight was actually a genuine competitor to Flash.

        I enjoy taking the cigarette lighter to Redmond as much as the next guy but lets not pretend Flash is or has been anything but a friggin disaster (nothing but a cpu spinning malware portal guaranteed to hold the all time record for critical CVEs). Silverlight at least was less likely to get your computer owned but yeah death to plugins in general in the browser has been a good thing.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Nope, ignore Windows and let the Microsoft ecosystem die

    If banks and newspapers wouldn't make a Windows app, Niantics shouldn't be coerced into making one either.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I play it in windows on my laptop with a GPS dongle in an android emulator so I don't look stupid walking around staring at my phone.

  18. Jonathan 27

    Yeah...

    40 thousand? Did everyone who owns a Windows Phone sign up?

  19. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

    Gotta Catch Em All

    Neither business users, nor Windows Phone users should fret, I'm sure that pretty soon each Pokemon character will have their own LinkedIn account that you can connect with.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Good luck with that

    With Windows Phone having a tiny and shrinking market share, Microsoft giving signals that they may dump it, and a high percentage of its devices used by enterprise users, the chances of it being worth it to port a game are essentially zero.

    1. MJI Silver badge

      Re: Good luck with that

      Am I alone in thinking we need an alternative to Iphone and Android?

      Perhaps Windows is not it, perhaps it is ?

      1. tiggity Silver badge

        Re: Good luck with that

        Plenty of non smart alternatives.for just voice / texts use.

        Basic feature phones are cheap.

        Even a few ultra simple, big button phones around designed for elderly / people with poor motor control.

        But agree the smart phone market is very much android / apple with all others (win mo, sailfish, ubuntu phone OS etc.) as also rans. Biggest obstacle to "new" entrants in smart phone market is lack of apps as a big chunk of buyers expect to have apps for whatever social media etc stuff that they use

  21. Jonathan 27

    I'm pretty sure they're not going to do anything about this. Pokemon Go gains 40,000 players every day.

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