My oh My where are the Premium Windows phones? Missing the Holiday season is a disaster

[Christian Matthew]

I always said this and I will say it again and again until Microsoft gets it right. We want premium phones. Someone in MS went down this path of putting WP OS on cheap phones in this scrape to the bottom to somehow bolster numbers of the WP penetration. What has this fools errand done? nothing... in fact while the os is maturing and getting phenomenally better the penetration is decreasing. I am not saying cheap phones aren't important but why is that your target market?

Think about this for a second... You can buy a phone for 200 bucks every two years. That is cheap to be honest. This is why people working at mcdonalds on minimum wage have Iphones. You creating a phone off contract for 150 bucks is NO BIG DEAL. Furthermore, after waiting for 3 - 6 months I can get your premium phone for a 2 year contract for 100 bucks. Now this is even cheaper than the no contract phone.

Hello - this is fundamental Apple and Samsung strategy. We are charging a crazy price for a 5 inch device that is 1000x less powerful than a laptop and charging you more than a laptop. How are they able to do this? With the insane contract system we are on. lol, we all got put into a lease program and now we think this is normal. To us the phone cost $200 - period.

So why the hell is Microsoft trying so hard for this cheap-O strategy? It's a fools errand and proving to be a disaster.

Next, where in gods name are the updates to the premium phones like the 1020 and the 1520. I probably want the 1020 or 1520 update. But spec me out like full bore - blow my socks off - and charge me $250 - $300 for a 64gig device - 41 megapixel camera - cortana. I want to buy a premium freaking windows phone.

Microsoft what are you doing? Why is it about to be the holiday season and you don't have this ready? Something... Anything... my lord.

This is like Halo 5. You had 10 years knowing you were going to update the Xbox. 10 years. How in gods name did you not prepare to have Halo out a launch and a year later still not have it ready. You just fired thousands of people - Instead, perhaps they should have been shifted into helping get these product launches out much FASTER.

And lastly, nokia made some UGLY ****. Let's be real about this. people do care about the design quality and build of their devices... Make design a premium thing in your planning. Funny, I actually think the Iphone 6 is an ugly designed device and would have been an awesome time for WP to come out with a great looking device for such a premium OS that WP 8.1 is.

It is SAD that MS is going to miss this holiday season. SAD

 

[Ashalinia]

Sorry, what's your question?

 

[Christian Matthew]

Sorry, what's your question?

My oh My where are the Premium Windows phones?

 

[LumiaIcon]

I believe it is... How can a Fortune 500 company be so out of tune to the basic fact that everyone - including the carriers - are pushing a yearly upgrade cycle and Microsoft has no flagship in the store?

 

[Zacharyw70]

Yeah it's surprising that Microsoft still hasn't shown off a new Flagship device yet and the fact that we haven't heard any rumors in the pipeline makes me think they aren't going to be releasing anything new for the rest of the year. That's nothing short of a disaster in my eyes. They've basically built hype and attention towards Windows Phone 8.1 and now they've completely abandoned in with the lack of a new flagship device and the lack of advertising into the OS.

I think they're just going to completely ignore Windows Phone until the new Windows Phone 10 software releases, but that's a horrible move for them to make because it could really scorn people who've gotten tired of this cycle that Microsoft has been going through. Honestly I think Windows Phone is a great OS, but Microsoft has done a terrible job handling it and I don't see the future for it being bright if Microsoft continues to blunder like this.

 

[theefman]

All well and good wanting a premium phone but when they don't sell in any meaningful quantity, why bother? But the reality seems to be, they put all their eggs in the McLaren basket and since that seems to be cancelled they literally have no other flagship Lumia for the holiday season. A huge screw up no doubt, but whining about it wont magically make a flagship appear. WP flagship options are the 930, 1520 and the htc M8. Buy one of those or wait for the next launch, problem solved.

Sent from my Surface Pro 3 using Tapatalk

 

[Marc Cupido]

They could atleast give us some rumors or something but I agree this is a huge disappointment from WP because by the time they released their flagship it will take another couple of months for it to come to my country.

Also does anyone know if Microsoft's sales channels wil be the same as Nokia's? I mean here in South Africa Nokia had a strong market and presence but Microsoft was non existent. I mean know surface products ever, so after this sale wil they stop selling phones here as well? I would be pissed if they did.

 

[Christian Matthew]

what is tapatalk?

Put all their eggs in the mcclaren basket? Was that a real thing? and why would they cancel it? Seems like Nadella cancelled the surface mini too. Perhaps he wanted a more polished device upon delivery. Hopefully that is the case. Otherwise this is a huge screw up and to be honest is leaving me hanging waiting and waiting for a new premium device.

 

[Zeem Frostmaw]

All well and good wanting a premium phone but when they don't sell in any meaningful quantity, why bother? But the reality seems to be, they put all their eggs in the McLaren basket and since that seems to be cancelled they literally have no other flagship Lumia for the holiday season. A huge screw up no doubt, but whining about it wont magically make a flagship appear. WP flagship options are the 930, 1520 and the htc M8. Buy one of those or wait for the next launch, problem solved.

Sent from my Surface Pro 3 using Tapatalk

How in any way does that solve the problem that the WP Flagships are old hardware that the few people that noticed them in the first place have already moved on from?

 

[Laura Knotek]

what is tapatalk?

It's an awesome app for forums on mobile devices. Tapatalk | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)

 

[aikidaves]

Nokia began the McLaren project. After Microsoft acquired the division, they reviewed the project and for reasons that haven't been published, they canceled it. We don't know whether Microsoft has begun another project or projects to replace it, but we do know that if they have, it will take time to finish them and bring new phones into production - time that Microsoft hasn't had yet. That's the reality, and ranting about what a mistake it is isn't going to change it.

Maybe the thesis is correct, that the success or failure of Windows on phones is dependent on sales of premium phones in first world markets. I personally think that's just one factor, but I could be wrong. I also don't think one holiday season is going to make or break Microsoft in the phone market, but again, I could be wrong. I think Microsoft recognizes the problem, which is why they've been working with HTC the way they have.

I don't see anything wrong with selling to the low end of the market to gain market share, especially in markets where the low end is important (all of them, perhaps?). Do you really think that not making low end phones developed when the division belonged to Nokia would have provided the resources Microsoft needs to push out a high end phone in record time, especially while simultaneously absorbing and reorganizing the devices division? Can't really see it, myself.

 

[berty6294]

I don't think Microsoft has anything to really stress about, they make more money off android anyway. They push the low end phones because the low end phones are easy and nobody else is really pushing that market. Why rush into the premium devices, I think Microsoft is taking a step back and doing all their homework first before they rush out another sub par flagship. They really have no reason to rush.

 

[dezzilakk]

I don't think Microsoft has anything to really stress about, they make more money off android anyway. They push the low end phones because the low end phones are easy and nobody else is really pushing that market. Why rush into the premium devices, I think Microsoft is taking a step back and doing all their homework first before they rush out another sub par flagship. They really have no reason to rush.

Except customer respect and such, yeah.

 

[berty6294]

Except customer respect and such, yeah.

Somehow I feel Microsoft would prefer a handful of people whining about not having a flagship right now than hundreds of thousands of people complaining that they spent a huge amount of money on what they thought was a "flagship" device but was instead a rushed subpar device. But yeah, you know, perception.

 

[colinkiama]

Nokia began the McLaren project. After Microsoft acquired the division, they reviewed the project and for reasons that haven't been published, they canceled it. We don't know whether Microsoft has begun another project or projects to replace it, but we do know that if they have, it will take time to finish them and bring new phones into production - time that Microsoft hasn't had yet. That's the reality, and ranting about what a mistake it is isn't going to change it.

Maybe the thesis is correct, that the success or failure of Windows on phones is dependent on sales of premium phones in first world markets. I personally think that's just one factor, but I could be wrong. I also don't think one holiday season is going to make or break Microsoft in the phone market, but again, I could be wrong. I think Microsoft recognizes the problem, which is why they've been working with HTC the way they have.

I don't see anything wrong with selling to the low end of the market to gain market share, especially in markets where the low end is important (all of them, perhaps?). Do you really think that not making low end phones developed when the division belonged to Nokia would have provided the resources Microsoft needs to push out a high end phone in record time, especially while simultaneously absorbing and reorganizing the devices division? Can't really see it, myself.

The mclaren is not real. Evleaks said himself. The wife of a blogger pretended to be a blogger on the husbands website. 1525 is a lie.

 

[aikidaves]

The mclaren is not real. Evleaks said himself. The wife of a blogger pretended to be a blogger on the husbands website. 1525 is a lie.

I have no evidence to prove or disprove this, so I'm willing to accept the possibility. So, perhaps Nokia didn't start any premium phone projects before the acquisition, in which case it was left to Microsoft, and we don't know what they're doing. Or, perhaps Nokia did start such project(s), but they weren't viable and Microsoft reconsidered them. Or maybe Nokia did start such projects, they're still running but so secret nothing has leaked yet, and we'll see a new premium phone or phones sooner than we think. We just don't know, so I guess we'll continue to have threads here complaining that nothing is out yet.

 

[OldMillXxX]

All well and good wanting a premium phone but when they don't sell in any meaningful quantity, why bother? But the reality seems to be, they put all their eggs in the McLaren basket and since that seems to be cancelled they literally have no other flagship Lumia for the holiday season. A huge screw up no doubt, but whining about it wont magically make a flagship appear. WP flagship options are the 930, 1520 and the htc M8. Buy one of those or wait for the next launch, problem solved.

Sent from my Surface Pro 3 using Tapatalk

IMHO, they need to stop with 100 variants and make phones that work across ALL carriers. GSM/CDMA = DONE.

Keep your low-end stuff to gain market share in developing areas, and OFFER a flagship device (just like iPhone does, just like Galaxy S5 does).

 

[Noahma]

The mclaren is not real. Evleaks said himself. The wife of a blogger pretended to be a blogger on the husbands website. 1525 is a lie.

The 1525 was a fake, the rumors were made up by the wife of someone that swindled money out of a fund raiser for Evleaks. The McLaren was never the 1525. The McLaren was a code name for a device that was said to be released on the three major carriers in the US. Microsoft canned it because the 3d touch tech was not up to par, and as a matter of fact, the person at Microsoft that was the head of the development team for the 3d touch was laid off during the cuts earlier in the year. He talked a little about the McLaren in one of his interviews just after the layoffs happened.

 

[berty6294]

The 1525 was a fake, the rumors were made up by the wife of someone that swindled money out of a fund raiser for Evleaks. The McLaren was never the 1525. The McLaren was a code name for a device that was said to be released on the three major carriers in the US. Microsoft canned it because the 3d touch tech was not up to par, and as a matter of fact, the person at Microsoft that was the head of the development team for the 3d touch was laid off during the cuts earlier in the year. He talked a little about the McLaren in one of his interviews just after the layoffs happened.

This is exactly what I thought too, but wasn't positive. Thanks for confirming!

 

[Bodeanicus]

I always said this and I will say it again and again until Microsoft gets it right. We want premium phones. Someone in MS went down this path of putting WP OS on cheap phones in this scrape to the bottom to somehow bolster numbers of the WP penetration. What has this fools errand done? nothing... in fact while the os is maturing and getting phenomenally better the penetration is decreasing. I am not saying cheap phones aren't important but why is that your target market?

Think about this for a second... You can buy a phone for 200 bucks every two years. That is cheap to be honest. This is why people working at mcdonalds on minimum wage have Iphones. You creating a phone off contract for 150 bucks is NO BIG DEAL. Furthermore, after waiting for 3 - 6 months I can get your premium phone for a 2 year contract for 100 bucks. Now this is even cheaper than the no contract phone.

Hello - this is fundamental Apple and Samsung strategy. We are charging a crazy price for a 5 inch device that is 1000x less powerful than a laptop and charging you more than a laptop. How are they able to do this? With the insane contract system we are on. lol, we all got put into a lease program and now we think this is normal. To us the phone cost $200 - period.

So why the hell is Microsoft trying so hard for this cheap-O strategy? It's a fools errand and proving to be a disaster.

Next, where in gods name are the updates to the premium phones like the 1020 and the 1520. I probably want the 1020 or 1520 update. But spec me out like full bore - blow my socks off - and charge me $250 - $300 for a 64gig device - 41 megapixel camera - cortana. I want to buy a premium freaking windows phone.

Microsoft what are you doing? Why is it about to be the holiday season and you don't have this ready? Something... Anything... my lord.

This is like Halo 5. You had 10 years knowing you were going to update the Xbox. 10 years. How in gods name did you not prepare to have Halo out a launch and a year later still not have it ready. You just fired thousands of people - Instead, perhaps they should have been shifted into helping get these product launches out much FASTER.

And lastly, nokia made some UGLY ****. Let's be real about this. people do care about the design quality and build of their devices... Make design a premium thing in your planning. Funny, I actually think the Iphone 6 is an ugly designed device and would have been an awesome time for WP to come out with a great looking device for such a premium OS that WP 8.1 is.

It is SAD that MS is going to miss this holiday season. SAD

Microsoft has lost the high end market. Period. It's over. Their best chance is at the low end. If you're a spec junkie, you're on the wrong platform. Time to face reality.

Also, you're not paying only $200 for that new phone after two years. You're making a $200 down payment. The balance, which is more than what you would have paid up front, is spread out in monthly payments over that two years. Ever wonder why the prepaid plans are so much cheaper than contract plans? Hint: it ain't for roaming and faster mobile data speeds.