Will MS and/or the OEMs ever do what is needed?

[Major]

Guess you just don't watch as much TV as some of us. Not a bad thing, mind you, but it works against you when you try to make a point about advertisement. WP7 is growing, and here's a link to prove it (at least indirectly):

Sharp upward spike in WP7 Facebook users could mean 600,000 new Windows Phones sold in the 2 weeks | WMPoweruser

 

[jfa1]

Guess you just don't watch as much TV as some of us. Not a bad thing, mind you, but it works against you when you try to make a point about advertisement. WP7 is growing, and here's a link to prove it (at least indirectly):

Sharp upward spike in WP7 Facebook users could mean 600,000 new Windows Phones sold in the 2 weeks | WMPoweruser

Or at the same/right times!

 

[jfa1]

WP7 marketing insane? I've seen a total of 2 ads, and like I said earlier they are not good ads because they do not point to specific carriers and devices - hence they are not actionable because they do not tell the consumer what they need to do to have the experience.

WEll unless you have a rther large TV with picture in a picture to watch all the tv shows at the same time you cant possibly know what all shows have had ads for WP nor all the shows which have people using WPO devices now. And the stats in th l;ast couple of weeks since the intro of gen 2 devices on facebook appear to support an increase of about 600,000 new WP7 devices That sounds likje progress to me and market traction. As Oddball said to Moriarity in Kelley's Heroes "Stop with the negative waves"

 

[Joelist]

Facebook user hits isn't even a remotely reputable metric for market share. To try to use it as evidence smacks of desperation. I also do not need to have watched all channels to see that the ads are not that prevalent and those that are on are too vague. They need to direct consumers to specific devices on specific carriers.

 

[Major]

Well I did say it was indirect evidence.....

The Lumia is sold out all over Europe and the Titan is sold out here. Granted, they probably didn't make them in iPhone volumes, but it's safe to say that the demand has exceeded all expectations.

You tried to make your point, and maybe more people would have agreed with you a few months ago, but today is a different day. To ignore the impressions both on these boards and on the tech blogs all around the internet suggesting that WP7 is turning it around smacks of desperation.

 

[Fleon]

Facebook user hits isn't even a remotely reputable metric for market share. To try to use it as evidence smacks of desperation. I also do not need to have watched all channels to see that the ads are not that prevalent and those that are on are too vague. They need to direct consumers to specific devices on specific carriers.

I do agree with some of your points, but wonder about a lot more. I would question your reason for not using the Facebook user hits- with the high level of integration of WP7 with FB, it has historically been an accurate method of X activations of FB WP7 to Y sales of WP7 phones. The rationale is sound, at least for the united states. It's not a comparative metric that's being held up here, it's an absolute.

I think you are strongly discounting MS' difficulty in this market when you suggest they target specific devices. Yes, being able to do that generally equals higher product recognition, but how do you think Sprint would take MS' spending $50 million on highlighting the Titan and directing customers to AT&T? Or how would AT&T like MS showing off the keyboard on the Arrive? Your points are valid to some extent, but do not take into account the reality of the economic and marketing realities.

 

[Joelist]

I know MS would face issues with OEMs and carriers if they got more specific in their ads. That is part of where perhaps some outside the box thinking is needed. Perhaps they go to the carriers and OEMs and offer them matching ad dollars - for each dollar (up to a specified amount) that the carrier/OEM spends promoting specific WP7 devices MS will pay them a dollar. Thus in effect the carriers/OEMs would be advertising WP7 for free.

As to Facebook, I hope you are right but it is just as likely that a spike could be WP7 users coming on Facebook who already had the phone a while but only now went to Facebook - remember Facebook has had some troubles of late revolving around bad security.

 

[jeremyshaw]

Few of the workplaces I have visited, allow facebook on corp phones. Admittedly, not a lot of those allow WP7 to begin with. I don't even have a facebook, and with one exception, none of ~2200 coworkers do, either (less than 20 WP7 phones amonst us, however).

So there's that for the "opposing" view. IMO, facebook is not a clean metric, plenty of people could os just simply decided to wait until after Mango punched out (I really don't know much of WP7 pre-Mango ) for facebook, either because they never knew it existed, or just because whatever facebook application/interface worked/sucked before then.

 

[Major]

HTC Radar 4G Ad Airs During Modern Family On ABC In US | WMPoweruser

and

Samsung Focus Flash Windows Phone commercial - YouTube

That's two device-specific TV spots for current generation WP7 phones, out of four total devices. I haven't seen a Titan of Focus S commercial, though they may be forthcoming. You can bet the farm that Nokia will advertise their product(s) extensively once they hit the US.