One could make an even faster, lighter, and more usable platform if it didn&#x27;t have to support apps at all.  Heck, the very first iPhone was such a platform.  But really the fundamental purpose of a smartphone is to run applications.  It&#x27;s also the fundamental purpose of most operating systems, including especially Windows.<p>The part of Microsoft that runs the desktop side of things knows that people use their OS to run apps.  That is it&#x27;s primary purpose and they do everything they can to move forward while ensuring as many apps run as possible.<p>With Windows Phone&#x2F;Mobile&#x2F;Whatever they&#x27;ve done everything possible to make app existence and development as low priority as possible.  And as such, their platform is mostly empty.<p>Apps are fundamental to the smartphone experience -- the lack of them is not an absurd reason to avoid the platform.  Ironically Microsoft makes some great smartphone applications but even the best mobile versions of those are on other platforms.