Windows Phone: The Hail Mary pass is now in the air

[aubreyq]

Nice article from Tech Republic: Windows Phone: The Hail Mary pass is now in the air | TechRepublic

 

[HeyCori]

Great article. Tech sites seem to love WP7. Makes me wonder why certain carriers don't want customers to experience Windows Phones.

 

[Duvi]

Great article. Tech sites seem to love WP7. Makes me wonder why certain carriers don't want customers to experience Windows Phones.

It's because the consumers don't want it. They still have a bitter taste in their mouths from their own experience on windows mobile or word of mouth experience from windows mobile.

Carriers could take initiative and give incentives to employees to sell Microsoft devices or maybe Microsoft could do that... offering free Xbox 360 consoles for top sellers of Windows phone. Or even PCs/Laptops/Slates for top sellers.

 

[Duvi]

I purposely didn't say offer free windows phone because carriers have done that and people have not wanted to sell for those devices.

 

[mprice86]

I purposely didn't say offer free windows phone because carriers have done that and people have not wanted to sell for those devices.

Microsoft are supposed to be starting to offer carrier sales reps a $10-$15 incentive for selling WP handsets, so they are improving at least

 

[oldpueblo]

I don't actually agree with some aspects of the article. Only when Verizon/Sprint get more decent devices and there's equilibrium will it be clear whether or not it failed on it's own. I know a guy that is dying for a Windows Phone, but he absolutely will not switch from Verizon because he needs the coverage for business, and he will not buy another phone and get locked into two years without LTE. So he is basically screwed. I'm sure there are plenty similar stories, I mean right now it could be argued that only ONE carrier out of four has the right amount of device selection. T-Mobile has been good in their efforts, but there's a big gap between TM and ATT in terms of being equals.

 

[Duvi]

Microsoft are supposed to be starting to offer carrier sales reps a $10-$15 incentive for selling WP handsets, so they are improving at least

If that's true, then expect a lot more sales coming... offering what Android manufacturers have to pay them per handset! Haaa.

 

[jimski]

It's because the consumers don't want it. They still have a bitter taste in their mouths from their own experience on windows mobile or word of mouth experience from windows mobile.

Carriers could take initiative and give incentives to employees to sell Microsoft devices or maybe Microsoft could do that... offering free Xbox 360 consoles for top sellers of Windows phone. Or even PCs/Laptops/Slates for top sellers.

WTH. Three years ago, the last time Windows Mobile had any level of significance, less than half of current smartphone users owned smartphones. And of those that did, maybe 10% owned WinMo phones. That's about 5% of the current market. Sound familiar. If every single WinMo owner "never" touched a Windows Phone, it would be little more than a blip in the charts. Btw, I am a long time former WinMo user who has followed the platform for 10 years. The Widows brand has nothing to do with it. Greedy reps waiting for spiffs. Now that they got them, watch things change. You buy phones, but most people are "sold" phones.

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[blehblehbleh]

WTH. Three years ago, the last time Windows Mobile had any level of significance, less than half of current smartphone users owned smartphones. And of those that did, maybe 10% owned WinMo phones. That's about 5% of the current market. Sound familiar. If every single WinMo owner "never" touched a Windows Phone, it would be little more than a blip in the charts. Btw, I am a long time former WinMo user who has followed the platform for 10 years. The Widows brand has nothing to do with it. Greedy reps waiting for spiffs. Now that they got them, watch things change. You buy phones, but most people are "sold" phones.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

Hahah exactly what I was going to sort of reply with. I mean I'm thinking about when I got a cell phone before smartphones took off and the big thing was still feature phones. Even growing up it was all about feature phones especially back in the Nokia days.

Seriously were there really that many Windows Mobile users that caused such an impact as to hinder the acceptance of Windows Phone?

I'd say it's more that iPhone got its hooks in followed by Android.

 

[Duvi]

WTH. Three years ago, the last time Windows Mobile had any level of significance, less than half of current smartphone users owned smartphones. And of those that did, maybe 10% owned WinMo phones. That's about 5% of the current market. Sound familiar. If every single WinMo owner "never" touched a Windows Phone, it would be little more than a blip in the charts. Btw, I am a long time former WinMo user who has followed the platform for 10 years. The Widows brand has nothing to do with it. Greedy reps waiting for spiffs. Now that they got them, watch things change. You buy phones, but most people are "sold" phones.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

Exactly why I stated "word of mouth experience from windows mobile" as well. For every bad experience, one person will likely tell at least 10 others.

 

[wolf1891]

Exactly why I stated "word of mouth experience from windows mobile" as well. For every bad experience, one person will likely tell at least 10 others.

I agree that dissatisfied customers tend to share their displeasure far and wide but.. other than via online forums like these I have NEVER heard any feedback (either positive OR negative) regarding the old windows mobile O/S. And this is despite being a relatively techy type myself and knowing/hanging out with/working with a fair number of tech and business types (essentially the sort of ppl who were the WM customer base) so I'm sure I know/knew more than a few WM users but... oddly enough... none of them ever felt the need to share their cellular unhappiness experiences with me (though we have certainly discussed plenty of other topics across a very wide range so, why not this one?).

My personal suspicion is that WM negative connotations are being way over-credited in the matter of the low/slow acceptance rate that WP has been seeing. It's more just a combination of weak marketing, limited selection, and store reps pushing Android and iOS over WP because it's what they "know". The WM effect is minimal at best.

 

[aubreyq]

I agree that dissatisfied customers tend to share their displeasure far and wide but.. other than via online forums like these I have NEVER heard any feedback (either positive OR negative) regarding the old windows mobile O/S. And this is despite being a relatively techy type myself and knowing/hanging out with/working with a fair number of tech and business types (essentially the sort of ppl who were the WM customer base) so I'm sure I know/knew more than a few WM users but... oddly enough... none of them ever felt the need to share their cellular unhappiness experiences with me (though we have certainly discussed plenty of other topics across a very wide range so, why not this one?).

My personal suspicion is that WM negative connotations are being way over-credited in the matter of the low/slow acceptance rate that WP has been seeing. It's more just a combination of weak marketing, limited selection, and store reps pushing Android and iOS over WP because it's what they "know". The WM effect is minimal at best.

I agree 200% (if that's possible). Before the iPhone it was mainly business users and extreme geeks that cared about smartphones. I remember the Treo and stuff, maybe at one point Palm made a WM device, I think? Anyway, I don't know who started this whole "WM left a bad taste in people's mouth" theory. Even word-of-mouth, can you imagine a smartphone owner before 2007 telling a flip phone owner: "Man, don't get Windows Mobile, it sucks!" That flip phone guy would be like "Huh? Those phones are too expensive. Why would I do with one anyway?"

I can concede that the Windows name itself got dragged through the mud, especially after Vista and the field day Apple had on those commercials. I wrote in another thread that Microsoft just sat there and didn't defend their brand. I think perhaps Microsoft was so comfortable with the money that comes from the enterprise sales that they didn't think it was worth fighting back. The way they fought back I suppose was by releasing Windows 7 rather quickly.

Bottom line, Windows Phone simply hasn't received the marketing push it deserves. The carriers not pushing it also hasn't helped. But all that is changing now. 2012 will start turning the tide.

 

[Duvi]

Actually I can imagine it. I experience it EVERY DAY! I ask customer what do they think about Windows Phone and I get the same responses. Not only have I been a tech head, but I've also been in the WIRELESS business. I can say I read blogs, tech sites, etc, but I experience time after time.

Heck, two of my good friends, both who work at AT&T, one a female and the other a male. They get all the phones and give them a try and the first thing they say when I ask them if they even try to sell Windows Phone? "Windows Mobile sucks". I can do all the explaining I want, how it's WINDOWS PHONE not WINDOWS MOBILE and how much fast and fluid the new UI is, that isn't what they're telling their customers or gearing them towards the WP platform. The female, she told me she would give WP a try and even recommend it when WP got a front facing camera and an app switcher... You think she kept the promise? She actually told me she preferred the LG Thrill and got that instead of a WP.

Their are two things that a lot of customers say... WP is slow, sucks etc. and that Verizon has the best service. Both of which are false, for me! I travel and I have had all 4 carriers. T-mobile was the worst, hands down. Verizon was the second worst. Sprint was the 2nd best and AT&T is the best FOR ME. I get no service in my home on Verizon/T-mobile, but Sprint gets about 4-5 bars, whereas AT&T (if I didn't have the microcell) would get me 2-3 bars. Work and places I travel, AT&T is better for me and Sprint is a close 2nd. If I factor in download speeds, no one is close to AT&T. So reality can be different from what is being said.

People underestimate how powerful word of mouth is... it's the strongest form of advertisement, whether good or bad.

The EVO Shift is Android's version of the Arrive. When the shift is on back-order, we can give the Arrive if the customer can't make/receive calls. I've had 2 or 3 out of over 100s of customers choose the Arrive because of word of mouth.