Navneet Alang at the Toronto Standard says that Windows Phone is failing because it's too good.

Microsoft has done a great job catching up to Android and iOS in a short period of time. It's a real competitor for Android and iOS, in terms of quality. When it comes to sales.. not so much. Not at all, really.

Would I buy a Windows Phone smartphone? No, I'm still waiting for everyone else to pick it up and everyone else is doing the same. Not to be part of the 'in' crowd either.. it's just no one wants to invest their time and money into a platform that may not survive.

A smartphone is part of social life, so why use a phone that no one else is using?

And let's face it.. the name doesn't have many positive associations.

Navneet also feels that Microsoft has put too many requirements on hardware manufacturers, preventing them from differentiating their handsets or from creating low-cost phones in order to scale.

I'm not too sure about that - Nokia certainly differentiated the Lumia, but unfortunately shot themselves in the foot with a poor feature set.

They've shown up so late and have such a small base to build from that very few people even know how Windows Phone differs from the other OSes. If that applies to you, have a look at our giant smartphone OS comparison chart, and then share your thoughts in the comments.

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