WP7 Around the world...

[whatup12]

Hi all,

I have had lg quantum since the day it was released...avid user of all things msft and follow wpcentral very closely though not much of a poster.

I also travel about 300k miles per year for work though mostly across Africa. However, on multi-country Asia trip right now having just left Thailand and now in Korea soon heading to China and then Mongolia and then to South Africa. but anyway...point is that while I am used to wp7 not being anywhere to be seen across Africa, it is equally nowhere to be seen in Asia. I check in stores and hoped to see at least some Samsungs rocking WP7 but nothing--only seeing android and some iOS. Similar situation in BKK. I have seen the lumia 800 in South Africa but the salespeople have no idea how to use the phone and it is extremely expensive.

Separately, was in sweden a few weeks ago and didnt see a single person using WP7 though each person who sees my phone likes the way it looks (though they think clunky as they dont seem to get that a slider is inherently heavier). they all say the same thing--swedes like to be uniform and iOS is it. plus, they love viber and our viber remains text-only. Actually, have been in 15 European countries in last year and not ever seen a WP7 in action.

Will be interesting to see if i see a single wp7 in China--my guess is not.

And was in a ATT store a few weeks back in Alexandria, VA and they didnt even have a charged WP7 Lumia 900 to show me. the guy asked me to come back in 30 minutes so that they could charge it. Actually in visiting ATT stores over the last few years, i see more branding for WP7, but the salespeople are totally not into it (and this includes visiting a few times since operation rolling thunder or whatever it was called).

Even in Tmobile to buy my wife's 710, the woman tried to sell us on the htc one (which may have powerful hardware but is so amazingly messy of a phone).

And I do get all about stats and this being anecdotal, not generalizeable, etc...but the fact is that we really have a long way to go. though my wife now has wp7, my little brother, and a few of his friends...uptake is really limited. I figure the process will take years and MSFT is in it for the long haul...but not sure that WP8 or W8P will change this in the short term.

I know that this post presents little (to no) new info, but thought that i would share.

 

[bear_lx]

i get it, and i hate it. people are oblivious. one day hopefully people realize how great this is, and how much hard work is put into the ecosystem. and how far MS has come from the days of cheap emachines. although my emachine was a beast....

you are right when you say we have a long raod ahead of us. but the trend will proabaly start in the us, and then gradually spread worldwide. everywhere you look all you see are iphones and androids...

however , in jamiace, all you see are blackberries... everywhere, it was nice not to see iphones, lol.

 

[whatup12]

i get it, and i hate it. people are oblivious. one day hopefully people realize how great this is, and how much hard work is put into the ecosystem. and how far MS has come from the days of cheap emachines. although my emachine was a beast....

you are right when you say we have a long raod ahead of us. but the trend will proabaly start in the us, and then gradually spread worldwide. everywhere you look all you see are iphones and androids...

however , in jamiace, all you see are blackberries... everywhere, it was nice not to see iphones, lol.

Assuming Jamiace is Jamaica, yes, have seen this across Latin America and Caribbean--ie BB holds firm control since phones seem to be going strong after years of use. Actually many of the smart phones that I see across Sub-Saharan Africa are BB or Chinese BB knockoffs. However, android seems to be making in roads in West Africa with the phones being sent down from France. Dont see much iOS but that is mostly a cost issue. Even when I do have the odd friend with iOS, they have literally 0 apps. and given that iOS is basically a fancy app launcher and nothing else, this makes little sense to me.

My actual first smart phone bought in summer of 2010 was a Chinese Nokia N71 knockoff that had tv, two sim card slots, bluetooth, wifi, etc--and was completely unusable. I had held off for years since I didnt feel like I needed one, but then bought this on a whim during trip to Hong Kong and used for 3 weeks before returning to dumb phone and then buying WP7 in Nov, 2010. Useless because of terrible touchscreen and terrible OS. I went back to that market in Hong kong and all of the knock offs are now running Android--ie the chinese knock off companies no longer need to make their quarter baked OSs as Google has a half baked one for them.

 

[gwydionjhr]

One reason BB's have managed to keep significant market share in emerging markets is their very efficient use of data through compression.

IMO one of the less appreciated innovations coming to WP8 is the native data compression (did I get that right?) Networks are getting faster, apps more data intensive, and charging for data is one of the last bastions of profit for the carriers. They've all but eliminated their unlimited plans in the states, and show no signs of making it any cheaper.

Data compression, especially if it makes a significant different in speed and lowers overall usage, could be one of the things that gives WP8 an edge over the competition.

 

[whatup12]

One reason BB's have managed to keep significant market share in emerging markets is their very efficient use of data through compression.

IMO one of the less appreciated innovations coming to WP8 is the native data compression (did I get that right?) Networks are getting faster, apps more data intensive, and charging for data is one of the last bastions of profit for the carriers. They've all but eliminated their unlimited plans in the states, and show no signs of making it any cheaper.

Data compression, especially if it makes a significant different in speed and lowers overall usage, could be one of the things that gives WP8 an edge over the competition.

Hi Joel,

Thanks for info on BB as this makes great sense given the data limitations in many of these settings! My phone is unlocked and always just slip in SIM wherever I go and it drains my internet overnight as it constantly syncs my email, etc.

I do hope that data compression helps with this, but just don't see that as being the piece that sells the phones. What will sell the phones, IMHO, is them really being shown in stores and sold by people who care. Here in Korea, people seem disgusted by MSFT. In fact, as we all know, there is this worldwide impression that MSFT and their products are old, boring, and stiff and apple and google are cool and open. I guess apple and google suing the world hasnt changed this perspective.

Something just isn't working--ie they have built a great product but are having a tough time changing perceptions. I guess same issue with windows 7. Even smart people at my university dont seem to get that comparing a 2012 $2100 macbook pro to a 2007 $550 PC running XP/vista is not a fair comparison. How do they not get this???

I do think that MSFT seems to be slower in getting products to consumers--and they give the impression that they are even slower than they are by announcing products and then not releasing them for months and months. Google announces new tablets and takes orders the same day. Even if I have no interest in their product, I like that I can get it the day they announce it. I waited for WP7 for better part of a year and almost bought a different phone...but glad that I held out. We were promised skype, angry birds updates, and some obviously still have not come. So while many of us are loyal, others are not and to them our loyalty is a joke.

Ok, anyhoo, will get off soapbox, but all to say that I look forward to WP8 .
best

 

[SnailUK]

I do think that MSFT seems to be slower in getting products to consumers--and they give the impression that they are even slower than they are by announcing products and then not releasing them for months and months. Google announces new tablets and takes orders the same day.

Funny isn't it. No matter what Microsoft do, they are wrong.

People on the feature suggestions forum moan constantly that Microsoft never say anything about suggestions, theres no feedback.

Microsoft then tell developers a couple of months early about WP8. Which address loads and loads of the suggestions.

Then everyone moans that Microsoft take ages to deliver anything.

Microsoft could deliver more frequent updates, but then the telco's will refuse to ship all of them.

No matter what they do, people moan.

 

[whatup12]

Funny isn't it. No matter what Microsoft do, they are wrong.

People on the feature suggestions forum moan constantly that Microsoft never say anything about suggestions, theres no feedback.

Microsoft then tell developers a couple of months early about WP8. Which address loads and loads of the suggestions.

Then everyone moans that Microsoft take ages to deliver anything.

Microsoft could deliver more frequent updates, but then the telco's will refuse to ship all of them.

No matter what they do, people moan.

Does anyone know whether there is a forum characterizing that msft is taking the same approach with windows phone as they did with xbox? i just read an article in forbes asia about the xbox and how it now has brought in 56 billion in revenue while it also started as a dark horse "joke" of the gaming world--and now surpassed PS3 in sales. MSFT took their time with the release of xbox 360 and as we all know, continue to plan to integrate this machine in all parts of our lives. though i dont own one as am afraid that i will be as addicted as i was with my super nintendo and dreamcast--if it really has that many non-gaming uses, i will consider. especially with smartglass.

as i read the article, i kept thinking that it would be nice if the same article was published in 5 years but about WP rather than xbox.

i am totally stoked about new windows 8 laptop and windows 8 phones. I got my first convertible tablet in 2001 (gateway) and then had a toshiba tablet and then lenovo but stopped using the tablets as realized that there was not that much use to this. windows 8 will change that and i will return to convertible tablet except now with new form and new function!

 

[Winterfang]

That's good, the less people with Windows Phones, the less people getting ripped off. WP8 can't come soon enough.

 

[the_tyrant]

Windows phone is doing quite good in China I heard, especially considering how well nokia is doing over there

 

[whatup12]

Saw my first windows phone in Mongolia and it was being used by our data analyst/computer programmer here. He doesn't speak much english but we totally bonded over the windows phones. And then he turned to our student and said "windows phone much smarter than iphone".

Well said. well said.