For a normal user, how much does the OS matter in 2013?

The OS playing ground is much more level today than it was in 2008.

I'll be upgrading my iPhone 4 soon, and frankly, I'll be considering everything OS out there. I'll actually be choosing based on hardware more than OS, because all the web services that I use are supported by every operating system.

I guess if you're really into apps, the ecosystem might matter, but I suspect a normal, non-geek really doesn't need access to hundreds of thousands of apps if their core needs are satisfied.

Most notably absent from WP is Instagram, which will be resolved when Hipstamatic launches for the OS.

There is a feature equivalent WP app that uploads to Instagram that is an unofficial Instagram app, can't remember the name now though, but for users that want Instagram the reviews have been good. It's pretty much everything Instragram is sans name.

third-party devs really are the lifeblood of the wp ecosystem and continue to amaze me with the quality of the apps many of them put-out. coupled with an increasing capable mobile web, its made the app gap virtually non-existent for me.

[1] http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/instance/ef18d20...

iPhones sold in china don't have this problem, so they are a safer buy.

They can, but they don't. And Nokia is indisputably the king of Windows Phone world, even though HTC have created some perfectly great devices. It's unlikely that Nokia could ever topple Samsung from the Android top spot.

Apple could have probably made more money over the years by selling Macs with Windows and retiring their own OS.

Competition is good, for example see the flat look and concentration on typography that both Android and iOS borrowed from Windows Phone.

That's why I don't get all the deriding of Firefox OS and Ubuntu Phone. Android has plenty hardware OEMs behind it.

I tell everyone competition benefits us all. I find people railing at iOS or Android or anything else ridiculous.

Yet people persist in that. Oh well.