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.