It is not an poor excuse. When I use my bank site via a browser or try to book an airline ticket, there are lots of distractions or offers etc. The app is more usable with minimal distraction and often can retain information offline. I travel extensively and use booking.com app to book all the time. The app stores my hotel booking offline so if I show up in a country where I have not had time to buy a local data SIM, I can still access my booking. As someone who is always converting money, I could use something like xe.com but try using that site on a mobile browser, it is not a good experience and certainly not something you can do with one hand (you are in a cross border town and your other hand is holding your bags or maps etc). Compare that to this new app I am using called Converted. The developers must have really spend time understanding the situations where someone is changing money and the importance of doing your calculation with one hand. And yes Google Play has shoddy apps but Windows is more terrible. Try finding a half decent podcast player on Windows.
Bank site? Mine doesn't have apps as far as I'm aware for any platform (HSBC). They require two factor auth which makes the app idea pretty pointless as you have to carry two things around with you.
I travel without a smartphone. It's not hard and at least if you lose it (which has happened to me), you're not totally fucked. I really couldn't possibly depend on something like that for anything critical. So many horror stories from colleagues on that front as well. I carry a USB stick with truecrypt encrypted documents on it only.
As for conversion, it's not hard. Any old calculator app (even the s40 calculator) is usable for this. Even a pencil and paper is good enough. The base rate+commission is easy to calculate and is always available on hand. You don't need an app for that. Plus if you want to argue with them and barter which you can do in some places, it works better without a smartphone. In fact its fucking rude to whip one out on half of the planet.
It just sounds like you're justifying the use of a smartphone for these functions rather than specifying a platform advantage when the greatest advantage is gained from not using one.
Oh please. << insert this isn't reddit/Slashdot >>
It isn't Microsoft's job to write the damn apps, even though they did write a lot to start with themselves to get a good value proposition to start with.
And let's apply your flawed logic to other things:
"It's really ironic that Windows is being bailed out on its lack of apps by the web".
The irony I was pointing out is that while at one time, Microsoft's Windows ecosystem had a huge advantage in number and quality of apps, now they are the ones relying on the web to fill in gaps where 3rd party software exists on other platforms but has not been written for their minority OS.
What I'm saying is that the web transcends all platforms so writing an app isn't necessary. Microsoft actually do get this hence the focus on IE and Windows Azure recently. They probably have the best web offering on the cloudy space as well.
Microsoft do everything literally.
as for embrace, extend, extinguish, what you say is true but they got stuffed by the EU so had to start making open specification documents which are now available on MSDN so they have been defanged there.
Everything that there isn't an app for you can do on the damn browser which is good as its the same as full desktop IE10.
This is a poor excuse and justification.
As for shoddy apps, Google Play has its fair share as well don't forget.