Why Windows Phone 7 is losing

Photo: handy2day / Flickr

Charlie Kindel, a former Windows Phone GM, wrote a post explaining the reasons he believed were behind Windows Phone 7?s continued struggles in sales even though ? according to him ? it was a superior platform to Google?s mobile OS. He says it all comes down to control ? and that is what has limited WP7?s sales potential to date.

Kindel?s reasoning

Kindel explains that there are four primary sides of the mobile market ? the users, the OS providers, the device manufacturers and the mobile carriers. He explains that they all own and control different parts of the market, while in conflict in other parts. He explains that where Google gives the device manufacturer and the carrier control ? leading to more Android devices being made and carrier retail sales people punting Android phones ? Microsoft restricts this control, meaning manufacturers and carriers support it less. In turn users do not have the devices marketed to them by the carriers, hence Microsoft?s week sales position.

What this means

Charlie Kindel explains that this means that Windows Phone 7 is able to provide a superior end user experience, though it comes with a price. ?This is why, despite being a superior PRODUCT to Android, Windows Phone has not sold as well.? Spending marketing dollars on advertising Android devices is and easy decision for the carriers. Pushing RSPs to push Android is easy,? he writes.

In the long run, he believes this model ? putting users first ? could trump over Google?s ?do what you will approach?, which he says has resulted in the platform becoming extremely fragmented.

A comeback unlikely?

Tech writer turned venture capitalist MG Siegler says that, even if WP7 is marginally better than Android or iOS, it?s not enough, especially given how late to market it is. ?Two to three years in the hole, the only way Windows Phone can win the market now is to make a product that is leaps and bounds better than what?s out there. They need something that?s an iPhone-in-2007 type product. The product they have, while good, isn?t that,? Siegler writes.

The Windows Phone 7 sales problem has been on my mind for some time now. The mobile OS platform is, in my view, at least on par with Google?s Android, if not superior. What?s for certain is Android OS isn?t manifold better warranting the major sales gap between the two platforms. So what then is Microsoft to do to mitigate their current sales problem?

Kindel does a good job outlining how, in simple terms, the mobile devices market is structured. His argument for Windows Phone 7 sales issues is well articulated, but the proactive steps the WP7 team need to take to kick start sales outside of throwing money at the problem and waiting is not explained at all.

Source: http://www.mobile-computing-news.co.uk/industry-news/14971/why-windows-phone-7-is-losing.html

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