Microsoft Needs to Get Coherent for Windows Phone to Survive
medium.com
medium.com
You cite USB ports, but I think that's going after the wrong kind of integration. Here's what bothers me most: my Windows Phone doesn't just seamlessly join my Windows "HomeGroup" network, and it should. Doing so would be a killer app in my household. All Microsoft devices should adopt a HomeGroup (or an evolution thereof) model, where sharing of resources is expected.
When I take a photo around the house, it should not only be automatically uploaded to Skydrive as it is now. Since the phone is on my wifi network, the photo should be immediately dropped onto my file server's Photos library.
When I fire up the music application, it should (a) be able to play anything from my file server's music library, and (b) act as a DLNA remote to my various PCs, including the one in the living room hooked to the big speakers.
It should be comfortable joining other "HomeGroups" or similar ad hoc private networks. If I am out and about with my Windows Phone 8 and Surface Pro--and I am usually carrying both--the two should play well together--over an encrypted private channel--whenever they are both on the same wifi network. If I receive a Skype message, I should not have to dismiss it on both devices; they should each know I've been notified. (This last bit speaks a bit to my desire for "personal application omnipresence"--a model where applications run single instances with multiple responsive views, all exclusively for me [2].)
Integration remains the most lacking and frustrating element of multi-device lifestyles, and it's not a problem exclusive to Microsoft, but it's one that I specifically want Microsoft to address.