If apple can do it alone, why not Microsoft Lumia?

[Soulstream]

Well apple is the only one in the modern phone market to actually succeed on that front. Google with Android went for a different approach by allowing OEMs to put their own touch on Android. While the same OS, you get different feelings when using Samsung devices from HTC devices from LG devices from Motorola devices.

Blackberry is also not doing very good with it's own OS. Microsoft tried to be Apple (tight control over the OS), but also Google (allow others to use the OS). I think the fault of Microsoft (and this also applies to Blackberry) is that they came a little too late to the party.

 

[thesachd]

Foxconn make the Apple handsets. I think Sharp supply the screens.

And Samsung and TSMC makes the chips, Sony makes the cameras.

But that isn't the point, many of the designs are Apple's own but they need help of other companies to make them come to life.

It's equivalent to making a drawing and getting it printed or photocopied, the idea is still yours but others are helping you with creating more of it.

 

[ShinraCorp]

"Introducing the Lumia 1030" I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU CALL IT! I'll call it the Lumia Sauron Edition, the camera is the Eye of Sauron and it watches everything! With Windows 10, it has the one OS to rule them all!

 

[nohra]

I don't think the issue is creative device names. (I probably wouldn't carry an "All-Seeing-Eye" just because of that name, actually.) Sure, brand recognition as a whole, maybe. But pretty much everyone who would ever buy a smartphone anyways knows the name Windows Phone, and those that don't still probably know Lumia (and there we go, Lumia = Galaxy). Although, I get the occasional, "Wait Lumias aren't Android?" but that's usually followed by the "I thought anything that wasn't an iPhone was Android."

In the US, though, Microsoft is nowhere near that level of consumer awareness of Windows Phone or Lumia that you mention. I think most Americans are of the "anything not iPhone is Android" mindset, and haven't heard of Windows Phone or Lumia, and certainly wouldn't think that Lumia is the same kind of product as a Galaxy. But advertising for WP in the US has always been very low. A commercial here and there, but no where near the exposure that the Surface gets. Microsoft really needs to do something like that for the Lumia line: sponsor something big, sports related maybe, where they can plaster the Lumia name and windows logo everywhere, and you get a WP commercial during every break. Name recognition for Lumia and Windows Phone is still dreadfully low for something that's been out several years and had multiple improvements (7, 8, 8.1).

 

[techiez]

So a simple name would muck it up, but all of the different numbers don't? The average consumer is confused by the numbers. They like simple. Whether you believe it or not, the numbers are not simple and easy to remember for the average consumer.

Nokia had 10s n 100s of devices with such numbering, and no consumers were not confused and Nokia sold millions of those devices once.

 

[Jose_Rey]

If Microsoft equaled Nokia when I came to Windows Phone(2011) I wouldn't have given it a chance. I think in that year alone I went thru like 4 phones, until I found a WP and have been... for the most part pretty happy with it.

 

[EBUK]

it's like your PC BUT ON YOUR PHONE!

That's exactly what I don't want: A buggy, hard to use, unintuitive experience with weekly updates to patch all the security holes.

 

[EBUK]

I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU CALL IT!

Lumia Bhopal
Lumia Exxon Valdez
Lumia Chernobyl
Lumia Hiroshima

A name can say a lot....

Lumia is a great name. A simple naming scheme, differentiated between entry level, mid level, and top of the range. For the first generation of Microsoft Lumias I suggest:

Entry level: Lumia 1 Mini
Mid Level: Lumia 1
High End: Lumia 1 Plus

Dual SIM versions could simply have a + siffix.

 

[Steve Adams]

So the high end would be the Lumia 1 plus +? That would screw peoples minds for sure. They need to pump a lot into marketing, make people want it, almost like the Hi im a pc and im a mac ads but not so juvenile like apples were. Wow, I sense a theme in apple. Child like and juvenile. Do it on a professional level. Get some good spokes people and make some good ads. Next would be education sessions for the carrier employees. And toss incentives in for good salespeople of windows phone products. I know Microsoft has some scratch to do that. Like top seller in each region gets a free phone. or something. it's simple to get the product marketed better. Just MS does not do it. Also, Make the professional series of phone the surface phone to match the surface tablets.

 

[Mr Lebowski]

Because unlike Apple, the tech media and mass media don't kiss Microsoft's ****, every time they release a new device. They actually don't even notice or block it from their minds.

edit: seriously, "that" word was censored?! what if I had wrote it the way I originally thought it!

Use the UK variant, RM-arse instead.

 

[idokamaroq]

In the US, though, Microsoft is nowhere near that level of consumer awareness of Windows Phone or Lumia that you mention.

I was talking about the US. At least where I've lived. Right now, I live in Seattle, and I see plenty of WPs around. Obviously, Microsoft has a large impact here, so I guess it makes sense. But I just moved from California, equally close to Apple's HQ as I am to Microsoft now. And even there, I saw quite a few WPs (Lumias, with the occasional HTC 8X) and I never met someone who didn't know what WP was. So, maybe it's a regional thing (more detailed than just by country)?

 

[Dk92]

Or..what if Microsoft launched a Lumia Icon ll? I see it now, a new icon every 6 -12 months on every carrier. Continue the improvements on the operating system, maybe a overhaul and such, ahh one can dream. Honestly, Microsoft has to learn to be cool on their own with vision. Apple is the popular girl, Google is the jock, and Microsoft is the geek with the overalls trying to convince everyone his science project is "awesomer" than everyone else's. Regular people are too lazy to pay attention to the innovating things MS tries to push. They need shades and some hair gel.

 

[someone2639]

Well, if MS won't stop the numbering, then maybe they should put the name before the number. And, as always, a list:

Lumia Starter 520
Lumia Selfie Jr. 535
Lumia Super Starter 635
Lumia Selfie 730
Lumia Intermediate 830
Lumia Expert 930
Lumia PowerShot 1020 (to appease you)
Lumia MagnaScreen 1520.

I forgot some entries in my Lumia naming:
Lumia SimpleTab 2520
Lumia MagnaScreen Jr. 1320
Nokia WorldStarter 130
Nokia Asha (the only named Nokia/Lumia)

 

[vEEP pEEP]

Or brand it with a movie release - Eye of Mordor.

 

[denzilla]

Look on the bright side. No matter how bad MS has handled WP, at least its not KIN

 

[MDK22]

Look on the bright side. No matter how bad MS has handled WP, at least its not KIN

That's it - the Lumia Snotkin - people will not soon forget that. :winktongue:

OR

name it after Joe, the Surface Belfiore

OR

the Surface Alledan for Satya (kinda like that one)

OR

the Surface Harpo, Oprah will give them away ' ... you get a Harpo, you get a Harpo, Everybody gets a Harpo ... '

somebody please stop me ! :winktongue:

 

[doob9911]

You are right. Don't expect support form OEMs.
1. Only Samsung can help MS but they are going to Tizen.
Sammy will never give up tizen because they know the fate of oem.
Think about Sony in pc market. Phone market has same future.
Sammy will ditch even android in 10 years. WP is not even option.
2. Other OEMs have no power to boost market share of wp.
3. Phone market is already saturated. There is no room to make market share.

If so, MS has only one choice.
Just keep making lumia alone. There are still many fans. Especially Europe.
Who knows? Google may be blocked all over the world for security reason.
Apple may go bankrupt suddenly. Cheap factory will end in China.

 

[Nicholas Maguire]

I was talking about the US. At least where I've lived. Right now, I live in Seattle, and I see plenty of WPs around. Obviously, Microsoft has a large impact here, so I guess it makes sense. But I just moved from California, equally close to Apple's HQ as I am to Microsoft now. And even there, I saw quite a few WPs (Lumias, with the occasional HTC 8X) and I never met someone who didn't know what WP was. So, maybe it's a regional thing (more detailed than just by country)?

Here in East Texas, I see a lot of Windows Phones too, and everyone at least knows what Windows Phone is (though most who don't use it claim that it's complicated). I've seen 520's, 635's, a couple 820's, a couple 920's, an 822, and a couple HTC 8X's. I see them a lot more than I did a year ago.

 

[Robinsonmac]

The Lumia line up is as fragmented & illogical in the US as can be. How does an average consumer who sees a Windows Phone on TV & wants to buy one in the US know what &^$^%$ phone to get. 520, 521, 525, 535, 630, 635, 730, 735, 830, Icon, 930, 1020 or 1520? How the hell do they decipher that? Especially when you have to explain some are available in the US, but only on certain carriers, some are the same phone for different carriers & none are available on all US carriers or at the same time? What the hell of a mess is this?

Imagine the Iphone 6+(1520) only on AT&T, the 6(ICON) only on Verizon, but then cancelled after 8 months. The 5S(920) only on AT&T then 6 months later Tmobile gets the 5T(525) a 5S variant that looks completly different, then 2 months after that Verizon gets the 5U(928) another 5S variant that looks completely different than the other 2. There is the 5R(830) that is the "affordable flagship" that launches on AT&T then a month later on Tmobile. The 5Q(735) that isn't available in the US right now but might come to only Verizon next year. The 5P(635) that is available on Cricket wireless. The 5O(535) not avilable in the US. The 5N(525), 5M(521) & 5L(520) no longer sold in the US...

Bottom line is the Lumia line up is a cluster *!&% right now. They need 3 phones with names. Low, Mid & High on all carriers at the same time period. SO when the average consumers sees the Lumia ad on TV, no matter what carrier they have "that" phone is available at the store.

 

[psoham777]

So you mean to say only people that aren't Windows Phone users will be confused?

That would mean globally over 95% of people(that own smartphones) would be confused with the naming scheme of Microsoft's Windows Phone provided they even knew it existed.

I like numbers as naming schemes a lot too, but sometimes it is just pushing it.

The Lumia 520, 620, 720, 820, 920, 1020 and 1520(some variant we're in between) was completely fine.

Much like how HTC One was fine. But the M8 is killing the name a bit, and an M9 would be a bit too much.

But as far as Windows Phones go, it's gotten way more confusing with tons of numbered smart phones doing one thing better than another.

Some people who don't have any idea about WP might only get confused!
5XX, 6XX series is low end.
7XX is mid ranged series.
8XX series is higher mid ranged.
9XX is high end.
10XX is camera exclusive.
1XXX is phablet series.
I don't see a point to get confused.
I would really don't want names like Lumia galaxy, sun, Jupiter or like Lumia 1, 2, 3 etc... Names can be more confusing than numbers for sure!