From the long article, here's a sample of the app comparison:
- Google Maps – Turn by turn navigation, street view, great coverage. WP – Nokia Maps/Drive. Offline capabilities, great coverage, greater number of navigable countries. Result – Advantage Windows Phone.
- Facebook – iOS integration and a great Facebook app, plus a Messenger app. WP - A Facebook app made by Microsoft, plus deep Facebook integration into the OS. However, the Facebook app has room for improvement. No Messenger app, equivalent but WP has Facebook chat built in. Result – Advantage iOS, but not by far.
- Twitter – Great official app, plus numerous excellent third party clients. WP - A recently updated Twitter app means that the experience is a par with iOS. Also present are great third party choices like Rowi, Twabbit, Mehdoh. Result – Draw.
- Foursquare – Represents the direction Foursquare wants to take the app into – beyond the check-in stage. WP – The focus of the official app is still check-ins rather than discovery. However Nokia and Foursquare are working on an all new app thats coming in March. Finally, 4th and Mayor is an excellent free alternative for WP. Result – Draw.
- Whats App – The defacto messaging client, must have. WP – The app is improving with each release, but is currently a shadow of its iOS and Android versions. Its useable, but could do with a few more updates. Result – Till Whats App finally gets its act together, advantage iOS.
And so on. The final score is:
- Advantage iOS: 11
- Advantage WP: 7
- Draw: 22
Turns out, Windows Phone has done much better than expected. It has equivalents for all but Instagram, Paytm, Flipboard, Mailbox and HDFC Bank app. None of these apps is a deal breaker for me personally. HDFC Bank has a useable mobile website, Mailbox while being the hot app right now is not something that’s indispensable. I have Flipboard installed, but rarely do I end up using its wonderful interface, as on most days I have already gone through my Twitter and Facebook feeds in their respective apps. Moreover, there are some apps that are better on Windows Phone, surprise!
...Does this mean that Windows Phone is on par with iOS and Android when it comes to apps? I won’t say that. But what I will say is that if the only reason you are staying away from Windows Phone is ‘apps’, it may be time to reconsider that decision.
Read the full article here.
From my own platform hoping, in my case from Symbian and Android, the application situation for my needs is very nearly there - I'm finding the still immature podcatching apps are the biggest limitation for me, but these are updated regularly and it surely can't be long. There are also games that I miss from the other platforms, but then Vaibhav admits that the games equation varies a lot more than for general applications, which is why he discounted the former.