Windows Phone 8. Does it even have a chance to succeed?

tomatoes11

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Okay, let's put away our fan boy goggles and be as objective as possible about this. With Apple not being able to keep up with iphone 5 orders, the GS3 still selling strong, and the Nexus 4 selling out in minutes:

How well will Windows Phone 8 do this holiday season? Discuss.

I say not very well, with the vibes I feel for it in Canada at least.
 

gsquared

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You are thinking in the short-term. Expand your perception out a few years. That's where MSFT is looking. To them, this is just the starting point.

You may end up being surprised however. The Surface has created a lot of buzz around the Win 8 environment. Any salesperson worth their salt would pickup on this trend and have people loaded up with a Surface, WP8 device, and an XBox. Plus a copy or two of Win 8 for the old desktops / laptops.
 

scottcraft

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I certainly don't expect WP8 devices to outsell the iphone 5 , Galaxy S3 or the Note 2 this holiday season, but I think they will do well. As others have said this is a long-term race, so WP8 doesn't have to sell as well as the others to be a success this holiday season.
 

independentvolume

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I certainly don't expect WP8 devices to outsell the iphone 5 , Galaxy S3 or the Note 2 this holiday season, but I think they will do well. As others have said this is a long-term race, so WP8 doesn't have to sell as well as the others to be a success this holiday season.
This is true, and who knows, it doesn't take much to set something in motion, especially in the tech world. Of course that goes both ways.
 

1jaxstate1

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Don't matter. At the rate Android is going, I think everyone is going to play second fiddler to them. MS might be out of their league in the cellphone market. Maybe give a WP device free with a Surface/XBOX/Windows8 PC purchase. Apple will soon start to decline. But google is going to be the one that gobbles up it's marketshare. The amount of new activations they have daily is staggering.

I don't know how Android because so popular, but damn, it's amazing.
 

leo74

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I was surprised when I went to the AT&T store yesterday. Not only did the staff really seem to know their stuff about WP8, I stood in line with quite a few folks who wanted to get a Lumia 920. I expected to be the geeky outsider, but it looks like WP folks were in the majority at the store.
The sales reps knew about the wireless charging pad and made customers aware of it, since some folks didn't know about it. They informed people about it, asked which color to order and got it all done. Smooth experience. I even saw a sales guy leading one guy away from the iPhone stand over to the Lumia section and he was actively advertising and trying to sell WP8.

What surprised me even more is that my iPhone loving wife switched to a Lumia 920 after playing with it for about an hour. She calls herself a person who doesn't adjust to change easily, especially with phones. The fact that she liked WP8 more or less instantly and enough to ask me to get her a Lumia 920 (and how could I say no :) is very encouraging from my point of view.
But we are at the very beginning and it will take time to gain market share.
But when I look at all the reports from all over the world, where especially the Lumia 920 sells out in record times, I am optimistic.
The more WP8 phones hit the market, the more potential there is and I think that within the next 12 months, we will see quite some growth in market share. To be a real competitor to Apple or Google will take longer than that though, but I don't see a reason why WP8 should not succeed.
The market seems to like it and all that needs to happen now is to get devices out there. There is no better advertising than seeing it in real life. My wife was first, some of my coworkers already asked me about it and the more I show them, the more they seem to like it.
It will be partially on us early adopters to make it a success.
I am in and I believe that WP will be big over the next few years :)
No ****** here though. The platform needs to mature and especially developers need to jump on it, but I believe that both will happen.
 

Ushae

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I'm sure MS will catch up very quickly, they are investing huge amounts into the OS and unifying the UI between their devices (Xbox, PC, Tablet + Phones).

Their main areas to develop are apps, OS functionality (some basics are still missing like timers etc) and revisting some existing features and revamping/tweaking them.

They'll get the job done I'm positive of it. Using a Lumia 920 at the moment, and it's stunning to use, it's just missing some apps + features.
 

Tommy Nielsen

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in the short run, yes i5,g3 and nexus4 will outsell WP8.

But looking a bit further I only see WP8 gaining momentum. Every windows 8 app will easily be made available for WP8. And with a ton of Win8 pc/tablet out there is a few months, well WP8 will also be a very attractive market.

Furthermore with WP8 a lot of companies are very interested.

At the moment we are all still first movers, but the other ordinary consumers will soon come as well. With win8 and xbox update, WP will be easily recognizable and thereby not something people will hisitate to buy. It isn't something new and underdeveloped.
 

allos autos

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I say not very well, with the vibes I feel for it in Canada at least.

Sadly, I agree with you on that point. The Canadian smartphone market is a whole different beast than the American market. I put the blame on the lengths of our contracts. If I am to be locked into a contract for 36 months, I want to be damned sure that I am going to be happy with my phone for most of that. People will go with an iPhone or an Android over a Windows Phone because they don't want to take a chance on something they don't know. Add that to a general lack of advertising for WP and amazingly clueless sales staff at most retailers and you have a losing combination, not to mention the "Buy Canadian!" sentiment the BlackBerry enjoys.

Also, for quite a while Canadians were second-class citizens as far as services that make the WP attractive go. Too often I had conversations that included "It has Local Scout...in the States", "it has Zune Music Pass...in the States", or "If I were in the US, my Bing search would provide interesting facts". Thankfully I figured out how to turn on the first and third things, and the ZMP finally came to Canada, but I suspect that there is still some lingering thoughts that this isn't a full device up here.

But mostly I blame the carriers. Look at Rogers's soft (there's an understatement) launch of the 920. Or maybe I'm just bitter that it will cost me $300+ to upgrade. :-(
 

stmav

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Like they said, you have to look long term. The more Windows 8 gets out in the world on tablets and computers, it'll be easier to show how it will all blend with windows phone.

I went up the street to the neighborhood sports bar last Sunday. Took my Surface with me to check on my fantasy team. A lot of the regulars came over to check out the Surface. I pulled out my 920 and took their picture. Shot it up to the skydrive and showed it to them on the Surface. Then had my wife pull out her arrive and show them the picture on her phone's skydrive. Both apple and android users alike were going nuts. Several say they want a windows phone now. Even one guy who finds something wrong with everything you show him.

If they can just somehow show how it all ties together so easily, it will help it grow faster.
 

SnailUK

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Judging by just how frustrated people are getting with trying to buy WP8 devices, the telcos have vastly underestimated the demand for WP device, and their rollout of the devices have reflected this.

With any luck, this worldwide WP8 launch fiasco should pesuade the telcos to go bigger on WP8. Actually start paying attention, and bringing in a decent amount of stock, so people can get the phones without phoning around 10 stores.

The OS isn't that much different to WP7 on the surface, so Microsoft really needs to start helping the big developers out, get them creating A+++ apps for WP8, and get them out quick, so the differences between WP7 & WP8 really start to show up.
 

Villain

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when the xbox launched it was pretty laughable even though it was leagues more powerful BUT fast forward to the xbox 360... the 360 is a HUGE success and pretty much the name of console gaming.


mind you I still think the wp8 launch is the worse launch I ever seen.
 

mlm1950

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Sure it does. Since Windows Phone is just one part of the overall Microsoft strategy, it doesn't have to outsell the iPhone or the Samsung of the Month in order to be successful.

Plus, it's only been out for a few days, give it some time.
 

eric12341

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People tend to want phones that resemble functionality and appearance to their home PCs, with win8 selling well now I expect WP8 to be the same based on this fact alone.
 

1jaxstate1

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It made it to the market first and sony was charging an arm and a leg for the PS3
when the xbox launched it was pretty laughable even though it was leagues more powerful BUT fast forward to the xbox 360... the 360 is a HUGE success and pretty much the name of console gaming.


mind you I still think the wp8 launch is the worse launch I ever seen.
 

phonegeeks

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I think Windows Phone 8 has a fair chance to succeed but my phone has already died on me twice in the last four days. I had been waiting for Windows Phone for way too long but now I am reevaluating my decision. However, although the Lumia 920 is quite a brick, I am still going to give it another chance. I think it has a lot to prove. So I do think that we should give Windows Phone 8 a chance. People seem to be way too impatient these days but there are just so many options out there that you can hardly blame them.
 

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