Microsoft Unveils Windows Phone 7 Handsets

[tigress666]

And to put my .02 cents on how MS is going to do with their new phone OS... I think they will have to put one that really outshines Android and iOS simply cause they are so late in the game they have allowed not one, but two OSes to gain dominance in the field. ANd honestly, when it comes to operating systems, it really does matter how prevalent yours is. That's a huge step behind so they'd really have to have a good OS to do well. I think they really messed up by waiting this late if they want to be a major player in the cellphone arena.

I don't think having a lot of phones is the most awful mistake they made, I honestly don't really know how much the amount of phones will really affect them. I mean consider that those phones are split up amongst carriers and most people will probably just look for a phone with a carrier they like so they won't be choosing from ten phones but only from whatever phones their carrier supplies.

I think simply their biggest mistake was allowing two other companies to gain a very strong foothold while they got put in the background to be introducing a totally new OS. It will really have to outshine Android and iOS I think to be able to compete with them. And so far from what little I saw of it it looked clunky, ugly, and overly done. It's like going to a webpage that has beautiful backgrounds but the way they just threw everything together makes it look ugly and it is hard to navigate cause all the "noise" of all the colors of the background make it hard to read the text (my pet peeve. Just cause you have a lot of nifty things just throwing them together does not make a good design).

But, I'd have to see it in person to really tell (so I could actually try to use it).

 

[Thex1138]

Achilles Heal

... is too much aggregation!

These phones and OS's will aggregate everything... from every source the user points to per the demo...
And thus...

Chew the battery
Chew the download limit
Confuse the user...

Too much too fast...

 

[Hal Itosis]

What exactly is the relevance?

Are you that obtuse, or just bluffing?

Are you that desperate, grasping at straws for anything remotely resembling a connection? Oh, right, you might not have gotten your free case yet.

Free case? .. for my Sony/Ericsson? WHERE?

 

[MacKeeperFanMod]

I think Apple needs to start thinking past the iPhone.

It will be real interesting to see how Apple plans to differentiate their offering to ensure they stand apart of the sea of clones...

Releasing a new iPhone once a year on a single carrier, isn't the way to do it.

 

[Bernard SG]

It will be real interesting to see how Apple plans to differentiate their offering to ensure they stand apart of the sea of clones...

Releasing a new iPhone once a year on a single carrier, isn't the way to do it.

Except that it's the way they've done it for the last 4 years, making the iPhone arguably the most sold model of smartphone in the US (the World?)

 

[mKTank]

Except that it's the way they've done it for the last 4 years, making the iPhone arguably the most sold model of smartphone in the US (the World?)

A large amount of iPhone users are with AT&T simply because that's the only carrier that has the iPhone. When Verizon starts offering iPhones, AT&T won't stick around for long.

 

[OllyW]

The legitimate gripe many of us have is not that some people here say bad things about Apple. Not at all. The legitimate gripe many of us have is that some people here say nothing but bad things about Apple. Then they gripe about pro-Apple bias and the dreaded "Apple fanboy." On a Mac-oriented site. Rational logic would define this as trolling. Unfortunately, these incessant instigators are allowed to wreak their havoc unimpeded. Challenge them too vociferously and you end up in the timeout corner.

It's gone far beyond annoying.

That's why we've got the ignore list.

It's not worth wasting your energy arguing with them (or the rabid Apple zealots). If they keep getting on your nerves just make them disappear.

 

[k995]

Except that it's the way they've done it for the last 4 years, making the iPhone arguably the most sold model of smartphone in the US (the World?)

Why just model? He comments on the strategy of apple of only releasing 1 model and you narrow it down model vs model.

Apple has 15% of the smartphone market, Nokia about 45 %. Doesnt matter that nokia has a million different smartphones vs the 4 apple has thats just bussines strategy of the different vendors.


And when I see the latest monthly smartphone sales apple is dropping, iphone 4 gave it a brief boost but levels are still far below 2009 .


"most sold" doesnt really matter for apple btw, "most profitable" does and the iphone is without doubt the most profitable. Altough with declining market share perhaps a different strategy to maintant those profit levels is needed.

 

[OllyW]

And when I see the latest monthly smartphone sales apple is dropping, iphone 4 gave it a brief boost but levels are still far below 2009 .

iPhone sales are still going up, it's just the market share which is dropping because it's still an expanding market.

https://www.macrumors.com/2010/10/07/apple-set-to-announce-blockbuster-quarterly-iphone-sales/

 

[Bernard SG]

Why just model? He comments on the strategy of apple of only releasing 1 model and you narrow it down model vs model.

Apple has 15% of the smartphone market, Nokia about 45 %. Doesnt matter that nokia has a million different smartphones vs the 4 apple has thats just bussines strategy of the different vendors.


And when I see the latest monthly smartphone sales apple is dropping, iphone 4 gave it a brief boost but levels are still far below 2009 .


"most sold" doesnt really matter for apple btw, "most profitable" does and the iphone is without doubt the most profitable. Altough with declining market share perhaps a different strategy to maintant those profit levels is needed.

You answered the question by yourself: he was arguing that Apple's only 1 phone was not the way - in other words a faulty strategy. But as you say, it makes for a lion's share of the global smartphone profit pool going to Apple. So the strategy is good, ridiculously good. While Nokia's, which is strategy of complexity, leaves them with a piss-poor, declining profitability.
Carriers is another story, of course, although it's still related due to the GSM/CDMA issue.

 

[k995]

YES! THE BIGGER THEY ARE THE HARDER THEY FALL!

Personal grudge against a software company? Just dont use it, comes to mind.

If Microsoft totally fails in the mobile space, you could compare it to IBM dismissing the PC over Mainframes, a real changing of the guard, everyone is watching!

Marcus

The mobile space is a very very small part of MS as a whole.

Net income increased with 30+% last quarters.

Windows market share remains at 90+%

...

If you are hooping windows will be surpassed quickly, I dont think thats going to happen. By who actually? Only real competitor MS has is google. Apple isnt really focusing on the markets MS gets its profits from.

iPhone sales are still going up, it's just the market share which is dropping because it's still an expanding market.

https://www.macrumors.com/2010/10/07/apple-set-to-announce-blockbuster-quarterly-iphone-sales/

You can clearly see it dropping for 6 months. yes iphone 4 boosted it but I doubt that will hold.

The market is not only growing (wich it did from the beginning the iphone as releasd) it also changing. 1 expensive model might not be the best answer to that.

You answered the question by yourself: he was arguing that Apple's only 1 phone was not the way - in other words a faulty strategy. But as you say, it makes for a lion's share of the global smartphone profit pool going to Apple. So the strategy is good, ridiculously good. While Nokia's, which is strategy of complexity, leaves them with a piss-poor, declining profitability.

Not really , declining market share is a first for the iphone. It wouldnt be too bad for apple to at least consider other options.

Carriers is another story, of course, although it's still related due to the GSM/CDMA issue.

Not really, perhaps in the US but outside the US this doesnt come into play. Almost nobody outside of the US uses CDMA , its all GSM.

 

[OllyW]

You can clearly see it dropping for 6 months. yes iphone 4 boosted it but I doubt that will hold.

The market is not only growing (wich it did from the beginning the iphone as releasd) it also changing. 1 expensive model might not be the best answer to that.

It always drops after Xmas before it rises again when the new model is released in June/July.

You need to compare it to the same period last year. iPhone sales are still rising.

 

[k995]

It always drops after Xmas before it rises again when the new model is released in June/July.

You need to compare it to the same period last year. iPhone sales are still rising.

Of course a large part of that was the new countries they released it in. In 2008 for 3g or in 2009 for 3gs each time new countries were added where the iphone was avaible . With more avaible customers increase in sales is excpected, but now Apple is running out of countries to introduce the iphone. I dont think there is anything mayor left.

With android no doubt in most of the same countries, RIM and now MS compition is increasing.

 

[KnightWRX]

No, but it quoted the study.

And the author was using apple as an example.

The author was a self admitted Steve worshipper. Of course he's going to find a study to back up any claims his "god" might have. You can find studies to prove and disprove about anything.

Not to mention there were other articles I posted. But you know, because the guy I was arguing only wants to see his view, he'll find whatever reason he wants to decide not to pay attention (instead of maybe finding his own articles or studies that show differently).

Reading here is hobby time for me. If your first article was so biased and the author was a self-admitted Apple fan boy (he wasn't just using Apple as an example, he admitted he worshipped Steve Jobs. If that doesn't sound alarms in your head, I don't know what to tell you), then what was the point in wasting my hobby time reading the rest of your articles ? Were they less biased than the first ?

What is the point of countering you when you post pro-Apple propaganda ? I'd rather just ignore your posts like I've ignored other posters here that are obviously too far gone into the Apple reality distortion field. At least I had the decency to tell you why I ignored your post and not put you on my ignore list outright as you may not be as biased yourself as your source was in this case.

 

[4D4M]

Apple purchased Fingerworks, the innovation behind the iPhone.

"Now THIS is called innovation: to be a buyer, not follower."

True, Apple has bought, borrowed or stolen a lot of technology over the years. The real innovation is in how they've done what the original owners had no hope of doing: Turning it into billion dollar brands that people love.

 

[maflynn]

I'm watching the keynote now, and while I do hate the tile/blocky interface. I am impressed with what WP7. There are some nice things that seem to be built in that the iPhone and android doesn't have.

If the win 7 phones are to succeed they will need to have abilities that their competition does not have.

Another side thought.
So Microsoft phones are using bing - big surprise
Android phones are using google - another big surprise
Apple iPhone, will they finally start using a home grown search engine/map engine?

 

[samcraig]

YES! THE BIGGER THEY ARE THE HARDER THEY FALL!

It is not just the Windows 7 Phone(s). The Microsoft Courier was an even more vital failure. The last 30 Billion of the 60 Billion that Apple has gained over Microsoft has come when everyone was shocked that the Microsoft Courier failed to launch.

The interesting thing is that Microsoft had some really promising technology related to "Touch Computing" with Microsoft Surface. But it looks like Microsoft Surface never delivered on that either!

If Microsoft totally fails in the mobile space, you could compare it to IBM dismissing the PC over Mainframes, a real changing of the guard, everyone is watching!

Marcus

First of all - where are you getting your facts and financial date - from The Onion? Or are you just making these up on the fly. Because they are ludicrous.

IBM is incredibly successful without manufacturing PCs. I don't think they are worried in the slightest.

Everyone is watching? No. Three types of people are watching. Investors. Apple and Microsoft fanboys. The average consumer couldn't give a rat's behind or will even know if the OS is a success or failure. And I would imagine that many AVERAGE consumers don't really care about what OS they are using other than the phone/software does what they need it to do. Other than techies/gadget gurus or people that read lots of websites/articles know what OS version they have and if it's the latest - regardless of platform (android/iOS/Winmo/etc)

Based on your all caps - you would like nothing better than Microsoft to fail. And you can feel however you want. But Microsoft is probably more the underdog in this scenario vs Apple. Apple is no longer the underdog in the PHONE market. They are the one's to beat. That makes them "Bigger"

And on perhaps a more humanistic note: I wouldn't wish failure on a person or company unless they were doing evil or really wronging people. Not trying to play holier than thou. But in this economy where I have seen and know so many people out of work in all occupations - its a bit "nasty" to wish failure on a company which - if it happens - would probably end the jobs for hundreds if not thousands MORE people. Don't get me wrong - it's not a reason to CHEER a company on. But I wouldn't wish failure on them either. You might not like Microsoft. But there are thousands of good hardworking people who make their living from working for them. It's "easy" to hate a company because it has no face. But I would guess you wouldn't go up to someone who works for Microsoft in their Windows Phone 7 department and wish them failure... would you?

 

[OllyW]

Of course a large part of that was the new countries they released it in. In 2008 for 3g or in 2009 for 3gs each time new countries were added where the iphone was avaible . With more avaible customers increase in sales is excpected, but now Apple is running out of countries to introduce the iphone. I dont think there is anything mayor left.

With android no doubt in most of the same countries, RIM and now MS compition is increasing.

The iPhone 4 was only available in only 5 countries when it first went on sale and they still couldn't make enough phones to satisfy demand.

You seem determined to imply that sales are falling even though it's evident that they are in fact on the rise.

 

[kdarling]

Back on topic, I hope MS will realize that user customization is still a driver for many when choosing a phone.

For instance, here's a WP7 concept theme (in other words, it doesn't exist now) that would make the tiles look nicer by being transluent. See below.

Also, there's the leaked video of HTC's Sense UI tiles for WP7 you can watch on YouTube here. Enjoy.

 

[maflynn]

Back on topic, I hope MS will realize that user customization is still a driver for many when choosing a phone

I think MS took a page out of apple's playbook on this one, and they opted for a fairly locked down phone that isn't customizable. Android's ability to customize nearly every aspect of the phone, UI/apps/usage/services/etc is one reason why I like android over iOS.

 

[tigress666]

Reading here is hobby time for me. If your first article was so biased and the author was a self-admitted Apple fan boy (he wasn't just using Apple as an example, he admitted he worshipped Steve Jobs. If that doesn't sound alarms in your head, I don't know what to tell you), then what was the point in wasting my hobby time reading the rest of your articles ? Were they less biased than the first ?

What is the point of countering you when you post pro-Apple propaganda ? I'd rather just ignore your posts like I've ignored other posters here that are obviously too far gone into the Apple reality distortion field. At least I had the decency to tell you why I ignored your post and not put you on my ignore list outright as you may not be as biased yourself as your source was in this case.

Is that your only defense is to accuse people of being fanboys? I posted several articles, none of which were discussing Apple except one guy who really liked Apple and mentioned it but he was just using them as an example rather than the article really talking about their strategy. That literally was the only one that even mentioned Apple at all! Most were talking about how to strategize towards your consumer (I pretty much picked the first few links I found that were relevant).

I love though how you picked that out and decided to just ignore everything else, just like how you ignored my links until I reposted them and pointed out that you decidedly ignored the links. And you yet have to find anything that proves your point, which is what really? To say choice is good for the consumer? I wasn't arguing whether it was, I was arguing from the marketing standpoint it is not a good idea to have *too many* which is not even arguing that you shouldn't offer some choice which you seem to think I'm arguing. It seems you are the one with an agenda.

Secondly, my only point was to agree with some one that offering too many choices has been shown to get you less purchases! So some how that translates into Apple fanboy. I originally was just agreeing with one point some one brought up. Which seems to me says you have no real counter (and that you some how translated my arguement into something about Apple which I wasn't even discussing!!! I was discussing whether offering too many choices could be bad from the marketing standpoint).

 

[k995]

The iPhone 4 was only available in only 5 countries when it first went on sale and they still couldn't make enough phones to satisfy demand.

You seem determined to imply that sales are falling even though it's evident that they are in fact on the rise.

But all those countries still sold other iphones . While in the past they sold nothing.

And no, I am not implying sales are dropping I am merely stating that you seem to refer a lot to the past wich isnt always a correct way because the market is changing.

 

[KnightWRX]

Is that your only defense is to accuse people of being fanboys? I post...

Defense ? No, I am explaining to you your articles were biased and no, I didn't accuse the author of your article, I quoted where he self-admitted to such.

With such a comeback and a lack of reading comprehension, I will not read the rest of your post nor respond to you anymore on this subject. Next time you want to discuss, use sources that don't proclaim to the world they "worship Steve Jobs".

 

[delta function]

Are you that obtuse, or just bluffing?

An irrelevant Microsoft product is losing popularity in an unrelated field for irrelevant reasons. No. You are the one being voluntarily dense.

Free case? .. for my Sony/Ericsson? WHERE?

U r so smrt wit ur jokrs.

 

[res1233]

1 out of every 4200 is a PC. What are the numbers of Macs to PCs in the world? 1 for every 10,00-15,000? If so those are great numbers.

Your numbers are far off. Apple should have by now over 8% market share, which means 8 per hundred (2 per 25), and it has gone up since then. Although in terms of his situation, it's possible that there aren't so many Mac users where he is.