Rooting a windows phone?

[shogun]

Quick question... can you root Windows Phone 8?

If you can...

1. How popular is it?

2. Why would you?

I contacted a company today that offers a financial application on Android and iPhone for payments. They say they don't support Windows Phone because most windows phones are rooted, and it's a security risk.

I think it's a BS response. I would imagine it's either a market share thing, or they just don't want to build for WP8. It's their decision either way, but I was curious... is there merit in their argument?

 

[Arthur]

They're taking through their hats. What utter nonsense!

 

[shogun]

They're taking through their hats. What utter nonsense!

That was what I was thinking as well. Knee jerk reaction throwing some tech nonsense that they hope will go over the consumer's head.

I don't like jumping to conclusions though, so I thought I'd ask here to see if anyone else here had experience with this.

Seems like app developers literally don't care about WP8. This is from a pretty big institution as well. I'm leaving the company nameless as that's not the point of this post. I think this problem is systemic. When you are willing to throw away x% per transaction purely because you couldn't be bothered to build the app, then you are either making too much money, or want someone else to take your market.

Hi <removed>,

Thank you for contacting us. You make a very good point and we appreciate your feedback. Unfortunately when it comes to windows phones it is a security issue. With most windows phones being rooted we simply cannot make the app available on these phones. We recognize the demand and are looking at ways that we can overcome this problem. Please keep and ear out for future developments. Unfortunately it is not in the pipeline for the near future.


Regards,
<removed>

 

[mouks]

Lol .. OFF TOPIC - My sister was looking for a cheap 32inch TV to buy and I suggested going for 720p instead of 1080p to save some cash IMO 1080p in only a must when you go bigger then 32inch. She's one of those technologically illiterate peeps and would even know the difference.

The Guy at Game told her.. "When we finally switch from analoge to digital tv signal the TV will not work. See must buy Full HD :wtf:

 

[Arthur]

The writer of that memo is six years out of date.

He's clearly thinking about Windows Mobile, where that was certainly true. The last four or five of my WM phones all had custom/home-brewed ROMs.

That kind of ignorance of the current technology makes me want to tell the CEO that his tech people clearly live in the past, which makes me worry that their solution is out of date before its even launched...

 

[mouks]

That was what I was thinking as well. Knee jerk reaction throwing some tech BS that they hope will go over the consumer's head.

I don't like jumping to conclusions though, so I thought I'd ask here to see if anyone else here had experience with this.

Seems like app developers literally don't care about WP8. This is from a pretty big institution as well. I'm leaving the company nameless as that's not the point of this post. I think this problem is systemic. When you are willing to throw away x% per transaction purely because you couldn't be bothered to build the app, then you are either making too much money, or want someone else to take your market.

There's alot of cheap android on the market to experiment with these days and the Lumia range does not come cheap. Probably one the main reason peeps arent willing the experiment.

 

[p51mustang]

AFAIK, no Windows Phone has been rooted. It is by design, not because of cost. Many reviewers have tested their phones to destruction just to see how tough it is, no it certainly can't be because of cost.

Name and shame, we should all be aware of a company that is clueless or giving out false information.

 

[ToxicBunny]

Lol .. OFF TOPIC - My sister was looking for a cheap 32inch TV to buy and I suggested going for 720p instead of 1080p to save some cash IMO 1080p in only a must when you go bigger then 32inch. She's one of those technologically illiterate peeps and would even know the difference.

The Guy at Game told her.. "When we finally switch from analoge to digital tv signal the TV will not work. See must buy Full HD :wtf:

Thats typical of the guys at Game though. I've actually had to correct them a few times when they've been selling TVs to random people. Usually ends up with the guy being very unimpressed because I get the person to buy a cheaper set that will suit their needs perfectly.

 

[shogun]

AFAIK, no Windows Phone has been rooted. It is by design, not because of cost. Many reviewers have tested their phones to destruction just to see how tough it is, no it certainly can't be because of cost.

Name and shame, we should all be aware of a company that is clueless or giving out false information.

I think instead of naming and shaming i'll send them a link to this thread. It'll serve a better purpose. The point was not to name and shame, but to start a discussion on why companies (rather large ones at that) are pigheadedly refusing to support a growing platform that is actually really good.

The only valid responses I could understand are:

1. We don't have enough money to support 3 applications, so we're focusing on the two most popular.
2. We've done the research, and the market just isn't there.

 

[shogun]

AFAIK, no Windows Phone has been rooted. It is by design, not because of cost. Many reviewers have tested their phones to destruction just to see how tough it is, no it certainly can't be because of cost.

Name and shame, we should all be aware of a company that is clueless or giving out false information.

Looking around online, I see references to WP7 being rooted.

EDIT: That being said... looks like WP7 is sitting at 33% of the WP market... and dropping obviously.

 

[McCrazieGoalz]

There is a general irrational misinformation about windows phone and Lumia out there.

A lot of it is perpetuated by sales people, who are very misinformed or are dedicated fanboys.

However, I place the blame squarely on the service providers / retailers because they do very little to check and ensure that products are sold correctly. Very little is spent on staff training on products. A lot of emphasis is on how to use the system and sell, rather than meet customer needs in terms of what the customer is looking for and addressing customer's problems.

Further, I feel that training in handling returns is also seriously lacking making taking your phone or any device in for repairs a nightmare to contemplate.

Yes, because people can tinker with Android cheapies, gives it the advantage because more people (including sales consultants) know how to deal with minor problems in the OS. Not so much knowledge exists on WP and this is where the retailers systems really show their flaws.