No WP is going to sell close to an iOS or Android flagship, or remotely better than a previous WP flagship, if items below are not addressed, regardless of how well spec'd the phone is:
- Carrier exclusivity - End it.
- Tech Site Perception and fairness toward Microsoft and/or Windows – We know just how much some sites love to hate MS. Even if they don’t mean it, it generates clicks and ends up spreading bad press in the process.
- Salesperson Bias – Being smartphone owners themselves, most have a personal allegiance toward their “religion” and it shows. Go in to a carrier store and ask about Windows phone and count how many seconds it takes for them to sway you toward iOS or Android.
- Microsoft Marketing – For the love of God I hope they actually do something good with the release of Windows 10. Enough with the Siri bashing and expand on how the OS and phone will work well in the everyday lives of owners. Show a collage of all the sh** load of apps and games that it does have.
1. Exclusives are probably the only way that MS could get the carriers to sell them. This is where I see a chicken/egg problem. Without stellar sales, MS can't go to carriers and dictate that they carry one "flagship-level" device(like Apple and Samsung can), but without that relationship to carriers, they can't get stellar sales. I would think that carriers want a third player to offset the Apple/Samsung duopoly that exists today. I'm not sure why MS doesn't go to them with the Holy Grail of WP devices and say, "You want a product you can REALLY push to put those other guys in their place? Well, here it is. The question is, does MS have it in them to try.
2. Personally, I think the "media bias" excuse is just that--an excuse. Microsoft has to give news sites/blogs a reason to be excited about their products. They got a lot of positive feedback from a lot of sites for their HoloLens and Surface Hub.
3. Ok. I can't say much to argue against this one. We all have our "allegiances" when it comes to pretty much anything these days. The trick(once carrier support comes) would be to train employees to show/tell the benefits of WP devices. Not necessarily to say that iPhones or Android devices suck, but tell potential customers what WP devices can do.
4. Agreed, and maybe the easiest thing for MS to fix. Microsoft has billions of dollars at their disposal, so why aren't they marketing the heck out of these devices? And once they do decide to advertise more often, what is the message? This is where they need(IMO) to take a page from Apple. Say what you want about them, but they make ads with a simple message:
a. Here's our device
b. This is what it can do.
c. This is what you can do with it.
Why do you think they promote creation apps on their site? Why do you think the "Shot on iPhone 6" campaign exists? Their focus is on their products(and no one else's).
Microsoft's marketing strategy for most, if not all of their recent ads has been, "Apple products suck. Buy our stuff instead." That strategy may get them short-term buzz, but they don't tell a wider story about the products they're trying to sell. What's more, they also position the Apple product as the standard they're trying to reach or surpass. Before anyone brings it up, I'm well aware of the "Get a Mac"campaign, and yes, I'm aware that attack ads worked for Samsung(for a while), but even their strategy changed.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram