I see the PinePhone as a Raspberry Pi equivalent in the Smartphone world, there's definitely a big niche for that.
Don’t get me wrong, I really hope something like PinePhone sees enough adoption to get the apps I need a smartphone to run so I can break away from the two monopolies. I just don’t believe it will happen when Microsoft couldn’t do it.
Now an truly open system might make a difference. Not saying it will, it has it's own problems, but comparing it to Windows Phone is not really apples to apples.
I had a Windows Phone. It was bad. Even Microsoft apps were subpar. Skype app was simply unusable. They weren't dogfooding.
Also Google torpedoed it.
In the first version, the default blank app from Visual Studio's "new project" wizard was slow to load. I think I measured it on the order of 500ms at the time. Not much room for third parties to add more stuff without being slow.
I personaly just need SMS, voice and a browser. The rest, I can live without it (or program it :-)
Pretty much all the apps were bad though, I agree. Even the official OneNote app was a joke compared to the Android version.
If the user can't interact with their bank, whatchu YouTube, talk to their friends and parents over Snapchat or Skype, call Uber, play Spotify, etc etc etc, it doesn't matter in the least if your phone is 100% open source.
Microsoft had sunk billions into trying to get the ecosystem off the ground. What makes you think that "a truly open system" will get that ecosystem?
Most of this should be available on the PinePhone at launch (albeit not as nicely as on Android).
Bank - should have a website (and if they don't have a website they most likely don't have an app anyway)
YouTube - website again (youtube.com)
Skype - has a web app and a Electron app available for Linux (web.skype.com)
Uber - has a PWA that can be used for booking rides (m.uber.com)
Spotify - has a web app and a Electron app available for Linux (open.spotify.com)
In my experience mobile banking is more often than not provided via app exclusively.
Doesn't that require Widevine DRM?
All it really needs to do is make calls and have good browser (Firefox would do). Signal would be a nice bonus.
This might not be enough for all (i am sure it wont), but for me and several other people I know, it would be enough, to be our main phone.
The market you're describing is minuscule.
For traditional CRUD apps, PWAs are quite alright, and one avoids having to deal with Android's always changing "best practices", with a stagnant Android Java.
How would I get on in Denmark?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/03/mps-slam-an...
The biggest mobile-only thing is an app called MobilePay which is used mostly for person-to-person transfers, and a lot of people don't use cash at all anymore. I am starting to see classified ads that specify "MobilePay only", although I guess you could usually convince people to accept a bank transfer instead. A lot of shops also accept it, but there is a law that shops have to accept cash, but some places don't respect it. Very few shops don't accept credit cards, but these generally also like cash...
As for digitization in general, all communication with the municipality and state and things like your bank and insurance company is digital. You're required by law to have a bank account and to have it associated with your personal ID number (all Danish residents are tagged with their birthday + 4 digit code in the Central Person Register). This all goes via a website that works with all browsers, though, but I wouldn't be surprised if down the line some features started being smartphone/app store only.
What are the permissions granted to these apps ?
Do they, as I fear, "require" full access to all contacts, all photos, location data ... ?
It's not super hard. Until ~3'ish years ago I did not have a smartphone here in DK. Life is just so much easier with it.
I think they got rid of the 10x Bus ticket you would buy at a kiosk, so now you have to buy a single tickets with coins inside the bus. (depends on the city) Which means you need cash. DK society is very much cashless, I mostly see older people still using it.
Is the bus late or did you just miss it? Check the app to see the bus location.
Train Ticket? Now you have to print that out or buy it at the station. It's so easy to search, buy and show the ticket via the app.
Letter from most public authorities / government? There is an app for that. Or website.
Want to give your mate some money? -> MobilePay app. Now you have to get cash somewhere and convince him to take cash. Or go to a computer and transfer it. Which requires more information then just this number and takes longer.
But it certainly helps a lot to have a smartphone, mainly for the government messages and the nem id app.
Crazy but it's the future. It's just a shame that it's gatekept by unaccountable duopolies such as Google...
In summary, fuck Google. This is why I want cryptocurrency to succeed. I don't want corporations deciding how I spend my own money.
And that's the problem, that it's going to be insidiously gradual. These lockouts will mostly be seen as acts of God, things that happen to the less fortunate other people and not us. As long as they're kept rare enough, people won't bother solving them, like what happens with countless other things.
Through all of Windows phone 7, 8 and 8.1, the devices that were selling were low end devices -- things like the Lumia 520, especially in markets with more cost sensitivity. Because of software architecture differences, windows phone was often more responsive than android on bottom of the market phones, and that drove sales. But when it came time to release Windows Mobile 10, there were no low end phones.
Having to build out essentially three flavors of your app (one for 7, one for 8, and a 'universal' app for 10) isn't a great way to keep developers engaged either.
Not sure if that ends up being cost effective considering how cheap you can get low-end Android phones these days, and how easy it is to find Android developers, but I'm sure there are some applications along those lines that would be well suited for the equivalent of "a Raspberry Pi with a touchscreen and smaller form factor".