The USSA Bank is ending support for its universal Windows 10 app available on both PC and Mobile. The bank last year announced that the app will not receive any updates and today it appears that USAA Bank app has stopped functioning on Windows devices.
“Unfortunately, we no longer provide support for the USAA mobile app via Windows phones. Based on feedback, we have made the decision to focus on enhancing the service through platforms most used by our members,” the bank representative said.
Microsoft executive and users believe that the failure of Windows Phone is more or less the result of the lack of apps. The developers were never interested in building apps for Microsoft’s mobile platform and the Universal Windows Platform project seems to have failed for the time being. It goes without saying this is the consequence of Microsoft’s not making its Windows 10 mobile operating system compelling enough for developers.
Terry Myerson says Windows Phone couldn’t get closer to Android and iOS because of Windows CE, while the users think the lack of apps pushed everyone to rival mobile operating system. It is more or less the fault of Microsoft’s culture that made the failure of Windows on phone unavoidable.
“Windows Phone died because it would have been almost impossible to beat Google or Apple without carriers and handset manufacturers embracing it. We got second string devices and almost no support at the carriers. They couldn’t keep burning money to please Sisyfus,” Brandon Watson, who was a Senior Director for Windows Phone until 2012 said in a statement.
Microsoft is betting big on Progressive Web Apps as it could fix the app gap problem. Google explains the Progressive Web Apps as modern web experience that combines the best of the web. The PWAs would load on poor networks, work offline, send push notifications and offer a full-screen experience like an app only if the website is properly coded.
Microsoft has already pushed the first batch of PWAs on the Microsoft Store and it appears that the apps are created by the software giant with the permission of the developers. The PWAs will deliver a good user experience only if the developer is interested, otherwise, PWAs are more or less a web page.
