AT&T - Windows Phone 7 is doing "just fine".

[jalb]

When I went to the AT&T store to get my focus, I was surprised to find that the store manager came THIS close to actively trying to talk me out of it. When my wife said "we want to look at smart phones" they showed her the iPhone immediately, then the Atrix, then a variety of Android phones. I had to ask them if they had Windows Phone 7 phones for him to show me the WP selection. He went out of his way to mention that one of his employees had one and "kind of liked it, I guess". While I was telling my wife about the Focus' features, he would interject about it's limitations. He mentioned the iPhone no less than 5 times. Basically, if I hadn't gone in there convinced I wanted a Focus, I would have walked out with an iPhone.

At the end of it all, I have to wonder if they just get a bigger commission for iPhones.

 

[jalb]

Or, I should say, iPhone plans. Apparently they do not get a bite off the phone sale, but rather off the contract.

 

[Dagolara]

When I got mine in December, the rep didn't even show me the WM7 phones. He basically ran through the Droids and BBMs (since I was pretty upfront about never even considering iOS). If I hadn't walked around when he had to take care of something I probably would have walked out with a BB.

 

[jtn05]

i use to work at Verizon and if at&t works the same way, then all the plans give the same commission. Its new customer lines that bring in all the money. It amazes me how these reps wont give WP7 a chance and let the customer decide what's best for them.

 

[Jay Bennett]

Hmm, I think I might go into my high street stores next week and do a little social experiment...

 

[starblade876]

Similar thing happened to me when I went to exchange my Evo for an Arrive at Best Buy. I went directly for the display model and I was suggested the Epic 4G and the Evo Shift instead, no nice things to say about WP7 or anything. I was asked why I wanted the Arrive and I said, "I like the keyboard and the OS is simpler and smoother." The response was, "Are you sure?" I rolled my eyes (first, mentally and, then, physically when she wasn't looking ).

Frankly, it pissed me off. Sales reps should really be indifferent to OSes first, explaining the features of each, not trying to downplay the other choices right off the bat, especially when a customer showed interest in a certain device beforehand. Give an opinion afterward, not constantly trying to sway people towards iPhone and Android.

I mentioned it either here or in a comment to an article before, but this is the same Best Buy store that has the only working display of WP7 (HTC Surround) in the area and it's tucked away, almost hidden. What gets the main spotlight by itself as you walk in? Google Nexus S. Is it working? No, it's been broken for weeks. What gets a working display right where all the non-working displays are? iPhone and Xperia X10. I have to wonder if they get paid to have it all set up like that or what (ad space with MS somehow paying the least?). Regardless, that sickening favoritism by sales reps is another hurdle that WP has to somehow get over.

Hopefully, when Mango comes, the light WP7 will be showing will be too bright for them to try to hide from people.

 

[eric12341]

ughh I can't stand a$$holes! when I got my arrive on 3/20 the person who sold it to me said its fast,very smooth,great sound quality and that he loved it. he also told me that he had 20 others before me who went in to get one. this was 1pm when I went in and the store opened at 10am

 

[Jay Bennett]

It is a very interesting point this one. In owning the phone I've showed it to several people, one 22 year old like myself who then bought an HD7.
My father (57) who used it for a few minutes, proclaimed "This just makes sense, and I can actually read all the fonts" (his eyes have been better) then bought an HD7.
Finally my uncle (42) who was looking to switch from his Nokia N97 mini, who then went and bought an LG.

Everyone who I show the phone to is very impressed by the OS and finds it intuitive and easy to use, even friends of mine using Android and iOS compliment the OS everytime they see me quickly replying to a text and responding to e-mails.

So it really begs the question, what is the issue here? The age range WP7 appeals to is staggering, and all the money in TV & billboard advertising will only get people to the store. I think Microsoft need to invest quite heavily in sending reps round to talk to sales staff and try and get past the stigma that's left over from Windows Mobile and the PDA years.

 

[jtn05]

It is a very interesting point this one. In owning the phone I've showed it to several people, one 22 year old like myself who then bought an HD7.
My father (57) who used it for a few minutes, proclaimed "This just makes sense, and I can actually read all the fonts" (his eyes have been better) then bought an HD7.
Finally my uncle (42) who was looking to switch from his Nokia N97 mini, who then went and bought an LG.

Everyone who I show the phone to is very impressed by the OS and finds it intuitive and easy to use, even friends of mine using Android and iOS compliment the OS everytime they see me quickly replying to a text and responding to e-mails.

So it really begs the question, what is the issue here? The age range WP7 appeals to is staggering, and all the money in TV & billboard advertising will only get people to the store. I think Microsoft need to invest quite heavily in sending reps round to talk to sales staff and try and get past the stigma that's left over from Windows Mobile and the PDA years.

Good point.

I remember showing the phone to Verizon co-workers(who all had android phones of course) and even they were impressed. one guy even said "dude that phone is fast..i hate android now" lol.

I agree that Microsoft needs to send out their own reps so that customers can get a true demo of the phone.

 

[jimski]

ughh I can't stand a$$holes! when I got my arrive on 3/20 the person who sold it to me said its fast,very smooth,great sound quality and that he loved it. he also told me that he had 20 others before me who went in to get one. this was 1pm when I went in and the store opened at 10am

Thanks, that's the best news I have heard all week.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[jalb]

think Microsoft need to invest quite heavily in sending reps round to talk to sales staff and try and get past the stigma that's left over from Windows Mobile and the PDA years.

That's a really good point. I still talk to people who don't know that WP7 is a completely new OS, or that think it is Window's 7 shoehorned onto a phone. Old Winmo really left a bad taste in people's mouths.

 

[Winterfang]

I say on the main story that When I was searching for Windows Phone I had two Options.

1- AT&T with it's delicious Focus/Surround/Quantum combo and had them all proudly next to the door with their own exclusive area and one big fake Focus that you can see it from across the mall, teasing me all the time because I work in front of it.But I couldn't afford the plan and even worse I didn't had credit.

2- T-mobile with the HD7, which I don't like for some reason ( The phone it's nice but the titles look weird ). I wanted the Dell Venue pro but the phone never made it here and the HD7 was just shoehorned besides other Android phones.

Now I asked the girl at a T-mobile kiosk if they had HD7's because the guys at T-mobile probably though I wasn't going to buy anything. ( I guess I looked too young or poor I dunno, they kept ignoring me ) She told me that I shouldn't get the phone.

I asked why and she told me that they had a high return rate because people couldn't buy apps or browse the web. ( I don't know why was that, I never hear that on the news and I work selling covers so I had my share of HD7 users and nobody told me of problems before or after that I'm not saying she lie but there's something fishy ).

She told me that of 20 people that bough the phone last week, 20 return it, which is understandable why you wouldn't want to sell it.

 

[Duvi]

I took as not doing Android/iPhone numbers, but was probably selling a couple per day, per store. whether they go iPhone, Android, WP7 or another platform, I'm sure AT&T doesn't mind as long as they're coming to AT&T. I'm sure they prefer WP7 because of the lock down nature of WP7 and not as easily hacked for wireless tethering and such.

 

[Jay Bennett]

Ok so if I were to walk up my highstreet next week with a list of specifications that point perfectly to Windows Phone 7, I wonder how many reps would point me to a WP7 device.

If I were to think up specs that should get me pointed to a WP7 device they'd be:

Able to quickly search for public phone numbers
Great phone for downloading and playing music (should point me away from Android this one)
Very fast, very reliable
Great games available
Ability to read documents on the go
Full integration with Facebook

Anyone got any to add to that list? Remember I (and anyone else who want to try the experiment) will be saying this to sales staff which should point them to WP7, we don't want to make it obvious by saying things like "Microsoft Office support"

 

[Dave Blake]

Here is what I think and I have a unique perspective because of my work on the AC where I am a Mod. People who sale phones frequent forums and those who own Android phones and IOs phones are just a passionate about there OS as we are about WP7. If I was a sales rep I would try to sale WP devices to everyone who walked in the door. This is IMHO what is going on and until WP7 picks up market share and wins over some of these fan boy sales reps this platform wont be pushed by them.

WP7 Specs:
Cloud integration
Best Hotmail integration
Upload to skydrive
XBOX integration

Or is that to specific to WP7? I bet even after adding these they will still try to sale you Android or IOs... Sad really

 

[Devilstar]

Yeah, I would just mention your a gamer on box.. Don't say anything about integration...

The sprint store I got my arrive at loved it, the girl had one and was bashing droid all day, and even iPhone.. She talked up the virtual keyboard, comparing it to the IOS keyboard. She warned me of a few things, like the how people can show anything on Facebook, same with picture hub. I was already set on the phone before I went in, she sold me even more on it. Was awesome.

 

[Averry]

Well, Microsoft were the ones who launched a phone that wasn't competitive from a feature point of view. Bullet points mean a lot to consumers. Unfortunately more people don't do more research on a device that they may only spend $50 on, but end up shelling out a couple grand for over 2 years.

 

[Winterfang]

I love WP7 but I bought the phone because I had faith it will become amazing not because what is has now. It's hard to recommend WP7 to a regular person that wants some customization ( Android), are pretty social ( Blackberry) or just want something true and tested ( Iphone ).

I myself didn't like neither of those but WebOS, Symbian and WM6.5 seem to be for old people or ones that didn't know better.

 

[jalb]

I am so not interested in customization (i.e. making your phone ugly). I hope if they ever add widgets and home screens and all that crap, that we still have the option to just stay with our live tiles.

 

[Dagolara]

I am so not interested in customization (i.e. making your phone ugly). I hope if they ever add widgets and home screens and all that crap, that we still have the option to just stay with our live tiles.

The only widgetity (new word!) thing I would like is a pull down toast notification bar kinda like on my friends Atrix. Other then that I would prefer everything to stay status quo.