With Cortana as a HERO FEATURE Does Windows Phone Really NEED a Flagship Device to Create MindShare?

[Villain]

limiting flagship devices to exclusive carriers, limiting features to one country for the first year... MS kills/prevents it's own growth in mindshare (Same can be said about pricing the X1 above the PS4 and other things)

 

[stephen_az]

No offense but you don't have much experience with polls do you? Talk about choices that are as overly specific as they are obscure. You might as well post a presidential preference poll and have the choices be "I prefer Hillary Clinton because she reminds me of Margaret Thatcher with better clothes sense;" "I prefer Rand Paul because he has an odd name;" and "no, I am a vegan." As presented, this allows for no options other than two very limited and idiosyncratic choices for which few have an opinion or interest.

As it stands I also don't see how this has much to do with the accepted operational definition of mindshare. Seems to be just grabbing a buzz word and applying to a product line where it s really not realistic and for which there is already a definitive (and textbook) example: the reference among a broad userbase and casual non-users to all smartphones as iPhones. Same goes with referring to all searches as "Googling." There is nothing about any WP device that will (or can) ever create mindshare since they are products in a sector for which it already exists. That does not mean they need to be unsuccessful but like Pepsi, they exist in a market defined and referred to by another name - in that case the ubiquitous reference to coke.

 

[smoledman]

Just now Foursquare integration turned on. It seems like every week Cortana is gaining in functions, yet the complaining never stops.

 

[hotphil]

On the plus side, when the "some point in 2015" date for Australian Cortana eventually arrives, (s)he should be a more mature system.
That's assuming WP is still around in 2015.

 

[Jason Ward]

No offense but you don't have much experience with polls do you? Talk about choices that are as overly specific as they are obscure. You might as well post a presidential preference poll and have the choices be "I prefer Hillary Clinton because she reminds me of Margaret Thatcher with better clothes sense;" "I prefer Rand Paul because he has an odd name;" and "no, I am a vegan." As presented, this allows for no options other than two very limited and idiosyncratic choices for which few have an opinion or interest.

As it stands I also don't see how this has much to do with the accepted operational definition of mindshare. Seems to be just grabbing a buzz word and applying to a product line where it s really not realistic and for which there is already a definitive (and textbook) example: the reference among a broad userbase and casual non-users to all smartphones as iPhones. Same goes with referring to all searches as "Googling." There is nothing about any WP device that will (or can) ever create mindshare since they are products in a sector for which it already exists. That does not mean they need to be unsuccessful but like Pepsi, they exist in a market defined and referred to by another name - in that case the ubiquitous reference to coke.

No you're right, I don't have a lot of experience with polls, but I'm open to any well meaning constructive advisement. rly:

"As presented, this allows for no options other than two very limited and idiosyncratic choices for which few have an opinion or interest."
In reference to the very specific choices I simply provided the two alternatives which were the focus of the forum topic as evidenced in the title.
Two points of view in the title, two choices in the poll. If that's not the best way again I'm open.

Second in regards to the limited amount of individuals who would have an opinion or interest, the title clearly indicates the topic, if one proceeded reading I assume they likely had an interest and likely an opinion. This forum is inundated with a VAST array of topics, if this title or social media medium drew one in to read and possibly comment then even that small representative sample of the population had an interest and/or opinion. Thanks for the feedback Stephen.:smile:

By the way, do you think Cortana can help create that "halo effect" to produce greater mindshare for windows phone? :smile:
MindShare being defined as:
a controlling or predominant hold of one's attention that is gained especially by marketing ploys <gain with both media and consumers 2.The amount consumer awareness or popularity surrounding a particular product. It refers to consumer's perception of particular brands or products compared to their rivals. One of the primary goals of advertising is to make consumers think of certain brand names more than others.

 

[Moiz Mian]

How is Cortana a Hero feature at all? It does nothing Siri can't do aside from reminders when someone calls or texts you. That's not a hero feature. It's great to have as a feature to maintain parity with other OS's, but it's not really that special until it can work harmoniously with Xbox and Windows

 

[Jason Ward]

Hi Moiz:
Thanks for contributing!
There are actually some dramatic differences between between Cortana and Siri. It actually begins with the fundamental neural net technology she's built on combined with having her own search engine neither of which Siri have. I found this link REALLY informative!

Microsoft Research - Anticipating More from Cortana
Microsoft Research - Anticipating More from Cortana

Here's another that might add a little more info to contemplate!
Siri Will Soon Understand You a Whole Lot Better
Siri Will Soon Understand You a Whole Lot Better | Enterprise | WIRED

Thanks again for participating. Share this link if you'd like!

 

[Jason Ward]

How is Cortana a Hero feature at all? It does nothing Siri can't do aside from reminders when someone calls or texts you. That's not a hero feature. It's great to have as a feature to maintain parity with other OS's, but it's not really that special until it can work harmoniously with Xbox and Windows

Hi Moiz:
Thanks for contributing!:smile:
There are actually some dramatic differences between between Cortana and Siri. It actually begins with the fundamental neural net technology she's built on combined with having her own search engine neither of which Siri have. I found this link REALLY informative!:smile:

Microsoft Research - Anticipating More from Cortana
Microsoft Research - Anticipating More from Cortana


Here's another that might add a little more info to contemplate! :angel:Siri Will Soon Understand You a Whole Lot Better
Siri Will Soon Understand You a Whole Lot Better | Enterprise | WIRED

Thanks again for participating. Share this link if you'd like!:smile:

 

[Moiz Mian]

Hi Moiz:
Thanks for contributing!:smile:
There are actually some dramatic differences between between Cortana and Siri. It actually begins with the fundamental neural net technology she's built on combined with having her own search engine neither of which Siri have. I found this link REALLY informative!:smile:

Microsoft Research - Anticipating More from Cortana
Microsoft Research - Anticipating More from Cortana


Here's another that might add a little more info to contemplate! :angel:Siri Will Soon Understand You a Whole Lot Better
Siri Will Soon Understand You a Whole Lot Better | Enterprise | WIRED

Thanks again for participating. Share this link if you'd like!:smile:

I understand that Microsoft likes to throw around the idea that Cortana is built with scale in mind, and that's great, but unfortunately that means that Cortana may show advantages later in the future. As everyone with a Windows Phone knows, Microsoft is known for "soon" statements, and this is one of them. Right now, if some one goes into a store looking to buy a phone, Cortana provides no real advantage over Siri or Google Now (at this time). Hence my statement...Cortana is not a halo feature. Microsoft needs new Halo devices and some real cool features that other operating systems don't have.

 

[Jason Ward]

I understand that Microsoft likes to throw around the idea that Cortana is built with scale in mind, and that's great, but unfortunately that means that Cortana may show advantages later in the future. As everyone with a Windows Phone knows, Microsoft is known for "soon" statements, and this is one of them. Right now, if some one goes into a store looking to buy a phone, Cortana provides no real advantage over Siri or Google Now (at this time). Hence my statement...Cortana is not a halo feature. Microsoft needs new Halo devices and some real cool features that other operating systems don't have.

Thanks a lot Moiz for the input.:smile: You make a great point about Microsoft's "soon" statements. I think they really heard the voice of users in that regard thus their more frequent update cycles for the range of their products/services.
I think another point which you didn't mention but is valid is that Microsoft historically has not always done a great job marketing the advantages of their products. Sometime's it seemed that they released a product into the wild and hoped that it would catch on.:smile:

This Ad comparing Cortana to Siri does a good job touching on some of Cortana's advantages in 31 seconds. Microsoft Launches New Cortana vs. Siri Ad Showing Off Context-Aware Reminders - Mac Rumors

Microsoft hopefully will continue this barrage of highlighting Cortana's advantages over Siri in a series of Ad/or Ad Campaign.
Hopefully they will show what they have already shown and more of what Cortana CANbut Siri CAN'T Do like:

• General Location Based Reminders (Next time I'm near A(any -not limited to specific location like Siri)flower shop remind me....
• People Based Reminders
• A Notebook that Controls Privacy and curates interests and other settings.
• An Interface that presents your Day at the start of the Day, like a real assistant (News, weather, traffic)
• An interface that presents ALL of your selected interests
• Proactive localized suggestions of places to eat, or to visit. (using Foursquare)
• Localized App Suggestions
• Presentation of localized News (I live in one town and work in another, I get the local news based on where I am)
• The ability to interact via text OR voice. This comes in VERY handy. Much more usefu than one may initial think.
• The Ability to have a close Inner Circle of friends/family
• A Chit Chat function that offers better follow up conversation
• Because of the Neural Net Tech shes built on the ability to Learn/Remember(This is exactly why Apple is now investing in Neural Net tech, they know that it has advantages that Microsoft and Google are benefiting from)
• Better and Faster Understanding of Speech
• Proactive Alert to Leave for an Appointment
• Much more personal

These are some of the advantages that Microsoft can highlight that Cortana has NOW that makes it better than Siri, and some of these benefits also apply to Google Now. Hopefully we will see more Ad's like the one above that hit's on the range of Cortana's advantages. Maybe Microsoft will even throw in a head to head against GoogleNow!