Which is lovely, but deeply flawed.
Read the windows phone suggestions thingy, and about 90% of it, is people requesting stuff that already works on iOS and Android, but they can't do on WP.
What's the windows phone suggestions thingy?
I'll just venture a guess and assume it's something on Microsoft's website or somewhere else where people are submitting suggestions of what they would like to see on Windows Phone.
Whatever it is, I think it's important to realize anything like that is not an accurate representation of what most people think. The kind of people who post suggestions on something like this are people who already have Windows Phones, or are phone geeks of one form or another. I think you're making the same mistake many of us do, in assuming that the opinions of phone geeks carry more weight than the 90% of customers who are NOT phone geeks, or that they represent what most people think. Both are incorrect assumptions.
With that said, I think it's a given that WP8 will have more features and many of them will be features the other OS's already had, so I'm not sure what your point is.
Android will always be cheaper, and more functional than WP, so they are completely the wrong target. Not to mention that Android people don't like to spend money.
That doesn't follow. You seem to have missed the entire point of my argument. Windows Phone can compete at most of price points Android does. Microsoft has already made a point of this. Android is growing marketshare very quickly. iOS is not. iOS will always be limited by price and by the fact that Apple only produces their one model of phone.
That said, many iPhone users are fiercely loyal. So you have a much larger audience of Android users, many of whom have had negative or neutral experiences, who are already exposed to lots of different brands and aren't particularly loyal... versus a group of people who have always used ONE model of phone that has only had small incremental changes over the years to both OS and hardware. iPhone users are extremely familiar with iOS which always looks and acts the same as it always has since the beginning and using phones that have barely changed and the vast majority of them are happy with it.
Tell me again which audience will be easier to convert.
What Microsoft need to do, is go after the iPhone crowd. Make WP8 match iOS feature for feature (which is a lot more plausible than matching Android), highlight the speed, style, and cost benefits of WP8.
No, you're missing the point once again. It's not about bullet points of features. There are 1000 Android phones out already that match the iPhone feature for feature and then some. Why aren't iPhone users leaving in droves to buy those? Why would WP8 be any different?
iPhone users stay loyal because they are comfortable with what is familiar and because the iPhone is a good product that they trust and know how it works. If you think showing them some wacky looking phone with colored tiles that looks nothing like their iPhone and telling them how it matches their iPhone feature for feature is a good marketing strategy, then you just aren't getting it.
Speed? WP is no faster than the iPhone. Style? That's relative, people who like iOS might like the tiles, they might not. They are very polarizing honestly. Cost benefits? That is a weak point to market on, especially with iPhone users who generally aren't that concerned with price. Besides, they have iPhones at every price point. They can get a 3GS as cheap or cheaper then the cheapest Windows Phones. Do you think they care if the Windows Phone has 343.1 more mhz in the processor? They don't.
Once done, the people who want an iPhone, but settle for an Android because they can't afford one, will start considering a WP8 too.
WP8 is already likely to match iOS feature for feature anyway, but again you're making the mistake of thinking that most people shop for a smartphone with a checklist of features they want. They don't. Most people choose the phone based upon either what they already have (if they like it) or based upon what looks cool. They have a handful of features they want, and that's it. "Can I play angry birds? Does it have Facebook? Hows the Camera? Can I watch Netflix?"
People who want an iPhone, want an iPhone and they will get an iPhone because they can go all the way down to a 3GS if they have to.
If they aren't sure what they want, then they wind up with an Android. THOSE ARE THE PEOPLE YOU TARGET. There's a lot more of them, and they are undecided.
The majority of Android buyers don't get Androids because they thing Android is awesome. They get them because they think it is the ONLY other choice. They either can't get an iPhone because of the carrier they are on or the price perhaps (though that is much less of a factor now) or they may not want an iPhone because they think they are pass?, or they may want a bigger screen. Regardless of the reason, THOSE people are much easier to win over than someone who knows what they want (most iPhone buyers).
I don't mean to be rude, but it's very simple. You either understand this fundamental marketing 101 stuff, or you don't.
As a left field suggestion, why not work on app licensing, to make sure you buy an app once, and your entitled to the phone, tablet, xbox, and PC versions of it.
Therefore making it easier for people to migrate, because as they are buying apps on one platform, they also get the phone version free, so as they go to update their phone, its easier to migrate to WP8, because they already own a huge library of content for it.
This is actually a great idea and would be far more effective than targeting iPhone customers. It's also an excellent way to retain customers after they invest in Windows Phone, which is really just as important for the long term viability of an ecosystem.
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