Clearly Microsoft and its partners have a huge uphill battle ahead of them.
Here are the problems I see:
1. Generally people like their IPhone, think its a best thing since sliced bread and have NO CLUE how the industry has evolved since they started buying Iphones 4 years ago. Nothing else came close back then, and they still think that is the case today. Having the most innovative gadget is just not that important to most people, so they just dont go out looking for a Windows Phone.
2. The have this sense of comfort with their phone. It works for what they want to do and they dont want to rock the boat. They have no idea that what daily tasks they do today, can be done in 1/10th the time on a Windows Phone. They just dont BELIEVE it, and they just dont want to try something new. Its the grandmon-syndrone.. they are happy with how they have always done things.
3. For the younger people that have IPhones, they have a much bigger reason for never considering too switch.. they have WAY TOO MUCH MONEY INVESTED in Apple crap.. Apps and music. To get these guys to switch, I would think Microsoft would have to Pay them to switch i.e. Microsoft could tell them.. show me you bought App X for IPhone/Android. We will give you $ gift card so you can buy the same app(s) on Windows Phone, when you buy a new Windows Phone. I know this is not going to happen.. but without it I just dont see how people will give up their entire iTunes collection and make a clean start. The more time progresses, the much worse this is going to get.
4. Microsoft has made TWO BIG mistakes that they are really going to have to pay for for a long time. #1 - They let that WIndows Mobile deteriorate so much that people hated it and thats what 9 out of 10 people think about when I mention Windows Phone. They think Windows Mobile IS THE SAME AS Windows Phone. This is even friends of mine that are highly technical software pros. Microsoft just hasn't broken away from the stigma of Windows Mobile. They should have dropped the "Windows" from Windows Phone. That might have got them off on the right footing at least. Windows Phone sounds just to similar to Windows Mobile #2 - I tell them you have to check out THE NEW Windows Phone with Mango. They tell me, Windows Phone is not new, its been around for over year and has gone nowhere. Whey the f@!# did Microsoft release a new OS, their future OS and let it languish for year with little to no marketing and then a year later suddenly wake up and try to push it ?
5. Lets face it ... Nokia's Rolling Thunder.. catchy name, but then they release that run-of-the-mill Lumia 710 on T-Mobile in the US. Seriously!!! Even a Nokia 800 would have to work hard to gain any attention from the IPhone yielding american public. That Lumia 710 has no chance. Why start with your WORST FOOT FORWARD.. A sub-standard carrier T-Mobile and a phone that looks like dog-food for the IPhone.
As much as I love Windows Phone, I have to agreed with a lot of what is said in this piece The Microsoft/Nokia low-end strategy is backwards.
One mis-step might be fine, but the next phone Nokia comes up with better be WAAAY BETTER in its industrial design and feature-set than the IPhone 4S/5. While we understand that Windows Phone is much more fluid on a single-core than how Android/IPhone performs on 2 cores, the average Joe doesn't care or get it. Nokia needs a HEAD-TURNER. Period!!
Here are the problems I see:
1. Generally people like their IPhone, think its a best thing since sliced bread and have NO CLUE how the industry has evolved since they started buying Iphones 4 years ago. Nothing else came close back then, and they still think that is the case today. Having the most innovative gadget is just not that important to most people, so they just dont go out looking for a Windows Phone.
2. The have this sense of comfort with their phone. It works for what they want to do and they dont want to rock the boat. They have no idea that what daily tasks they do today, can be done in 1/10th the time on a Windows Phone. They just dont BELIEVE it, and they just dont want to try something new. Its the grandmon-syndrone.. they are happy with how they have always done things.
3. For the younger people that have IPhones, they have a much bigger reason for never considering too switch.. they have WAY TOO MUCH MONEY INVESTED in Apple crap.. Apps and music. To get these guys to switch, I would think Microsoft would have to Pay them to switch i.e. Microsoft could tell them.. show me you bought App X for IPhone/Android. We will give you $ gift card so you can buy the same app(s) on Windows Phone, when you buy a new Windows Phone. I know this is not going to happen.. but without it I just dont see how people will give up their entire iTunes collection and make a clean start. The more time progresses, the much worse this is going to get.
4. Microsoft has made TWO BIG mistakes that they are really going to have to pay for for a long time. #1 - They let that WIndows Mobile deteriorate so much that people hated it and thats what 9 out of 10 people think about when I mention Windows Phone. They think Windows Mobile IS THE SAME AS Windows Phone. This is even friends of mine that are highly technical software pros. Microsoft just hasn't broken away from the stigma of Windows Mobile. They should have dropped the "Windows" from Windows Phone. That might have got them off on the right footing at least. Windows Phone sounds just to similar to Windows Mobile #2 - I tell them you have to check out THE NEW Windows Phone with Mango. They tell me, Windows Phone is not new, its been around for over year and has gone nowhere. Whey the f@!# did Microsoft release a new OS, their future OS and let it languish for year with little to no marketing and then a year later suddenly wake up and try to push it ?
5. Lets face it ... Nokia's Rolling Thunder.. catchy name, but then they release that run-of-the-mill Lumia 710 on T-Mobile in the US. Seriously!!! Even a Nokia 800 would have to work hard to gain any attention from the IPhone yielding american public. That Lumia 710 has no chance. Why start with your WORST FOOT FORWARD.. A sub-standard carrier T-Mobile and a phone that looks like dog-food for the IPhone.
As much as I love Windows Phone, I have to agreed with a lot of what is said in this piece The Microsoft/Nokia low-end strategy is backwards.
One mis-step might be fine, but the next phone Nokia comes up with better be WAAAY BETTER in its industrial design and feature-set than the IPhone 4S/5. While we understand that Windows Phone is much more fluid on a single-core than how Android/IPhone performs on 2 cores, the average Joe doesn't care or get it. Nokia needs a HEAD-TURNER. Period!!