Good for Microsoft, they've clearly done some great things with WP7

Discussion on:

Is your phone faster than a Windows Phone?

View entire thread

Message 11 of 1

Next » « Prev

1 Vote

+ -

toddybottom_z 27th Jan

Yet they are stuck at a miniscule marketshare which is falling by the day. Why?

There are many reasons but it ultimately comes down to the same reason that Windows PC absolutely annihilates Macs in the marketplace. People don't buy based on a single technical merit in the product. Many other factors come into play that aren't technical at all.

- How easy is it to buy? I've heard that it is very difficult to buy a WP7 phone because salespeople will actively discourage you from doing so, preferring to sell you an iPhone.
- What is the ecosystem like? The Zune brand name is non existent and from what I understand, the Zune service isn't even available in most countries. Web sites don't advertise that they have a WP7 app for that. When I walk into a Best Buy, I see a ton of iPhone docks. No WP7 docks.
- What will others think? "I have an iPhone" leads to a positive emotional reaction in a significant portion of the population. "I have a WP7 phone" leads to "What?". Teenagers (and adults with teenage minds) can't show off their WP7 phones like they can their iPhones.
- Apple conducts the right type of advertising. While they also spend money on national advertising campaigns, Apple is a master at astro turfing. The John Grubers, the Walt Mossbergs, the David Morgensterns are all part of Apple's advertising arm. Hearing from your local blogger that iPhone is great and WP7 is terrible is more effective than seeing an NBC ad from MS that WP7 is great and iPhone is terrible. Of course MS is going to say that. The naive public however will believe that Gruber, Mossberg, and Morgenstern are independent bloggers / journalists.

iPhone will have 95% marketshare just like iPad does today. People ask me why I think it is a sick market, why we all lose. We all lose because if WP7 does have some fantastic design elements and truly would let people get their work done faster, we lose when that product is killed by a monopolist.