Only 40K Windows Phone 7 devices sold on launch day?

News · 10 Nov 2010 · MTW Editorial Team

Let’s assume that what The Streets is saying is true and that only 40 000 Windows Phone 7 devices have been sold in the US yesterday (the source of this number is “a market research source who tracks phone sales” or a rectum..who knows…). Is this a good or bad number? Compared to the iPhone’s sales it’s abyssal but no one was expecting WP7 to rival Apple on launch day. On the other hand, 40K is quite good given the obvious lack of stock (it’s still impossible to buy devices unlocked at regular retail stores in Europe 3 weeks after launch…and some carriers didn’t even start to sell WP7 devices yet!). But the number of phones sold isn’t the problem (especially when we don’t have any official confirmation) The issue is marketing. Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 ad campaign (or for any MS product besides Xbox) is shitty at best… in my opinion. The ads don’t make any sense to the regular Joe compared to Apple’s ads where you actually see the product in action (even the BlackBerry Torch TV ads that have been running here are 10x better). Frankly this has to stop. Every single person that I have seen playing with a Windows Phone 7 device is surprised by how good it is. Every review/hands-on/ etc has mentioned that experiencing the real thing is miles better than seeing screenshot or video of it. So what does MS do? Well they don’t even show the damn thing action at all (a 3 seconds shot of the home screen doesn’t count)and tries be cool but fails. One has to wonder if Microsoft thinks that having the word “Windows” in the product’s name is a guarantee of success….hey wonder why the Xbox is a success? Because Microsoft’s brand is no where to bee seen and because the regular Joe / Jane doesn’t even know that it’s a Microsoft product. Stop trying hard to surf on the “Windows” brand name and sell the actual product.

Developers have been working hard on WP7 apps with and without Microsoft’s help because they think that the platform is worth it so the least that Microsoft can do is to correctly market it’s product. Nobody gives a flying hoot if you are giving away 90K WP7 devices to your employees if potential buyers can’t even buy your products because there’s no stock. Maybe it’s time to put some pressure on the OEMs and carriers a bit, no? Samsung had no problem selling 5 million Galaxy S devices since it’s launch a few months ago so don’t come and tell me that they can’t manufacture WP7 handsets in large quantities if there’s money to be made. If Microsoft is serious about it then everything can be done. Anyway this is only the begging and word of mouth is pretty good so far, because it’s a good product and definitely not because of Microsoft’s marketing skills.

One More thing, more than half of the Xbox Live WP7 games announced for launch are nowhere to be seen. What’s up with that? The vast majority of the applications on the marketplace also have shoddy quality (even some developed by Microsoft..). Time to straighten up all this before it’s too late Microsoft.