A lesson worth learning

If Windows Phone 7 is so good, how come no one is hearing about it? (And why are so few people buying it?) Because for whatever reason, the important people in the mobile industry aren’t really talking about it much.

That is a quote from Dan Frommer in his article analyzing the Changwave survey on Windows Phone 7 customer satisfaction results. It dovetails with the sentiments of my recent post and a majority of our readers as well.

The point is (not to beat over a dead horse) that Windows Phone has great potential just waiting to be unleashed. The following headline illustrates a huge contrast between the two tech giants, Microsoft’s and Apple’s marketing strategies. From Boy Genius Report

Apple recruiting additional staff for fall iPhone 5 launch

It goes on to say

Apple is recruiting additional staff at U.S. Apple Store locations ahead of the launch of its highly anticipated fifth-generation iPhone. MacRumors reports that Apple is contacting former employees and asking them to come back as part time workers from August 15th through September 15th. In emails reportedly sent from Apple to the former retail staff, Apple says it is looking for part time employees to assist with the “holidays, new product launches and back to school time.”

From a second BGR article

AT&T has begun informing employees across the company, and those who work in retail locations, to finish any sort of employee training as soon as possible. AT&T is asking managers to finish training in order to have employees available for the influx of foot traffic expected in September

Even though the iPhone can basically sell itself, Apple is still acting as if this is their first product launch pulling all the stops to make sure that its highly anticipated iPhone 5 succeeds. They are essentially beefing up the “ground troops. ”  CNET has this story

According to PriceGrabber, which conducted a study earlier this month with 2,852 U.S. respondents, 35 percent of consumers plan to buy the iPhone 5 when it’s released. Moreover, the online-shopping service found that 51 percent of consumers will buy Apple’s reportedly upcoming smartphone in its first year of availability, while 31 percent will pick it up before the end of 2011.

I think this raises the bar for Microsoft to do the same, no, three times as much as  because Windows Phone Mango is expected to be out around the same time competing with an established and popular OS. If you recall the Windows phone’s launch  last year, it was quite a lackluster affair and ZDNet’s Ed Bott, wrote about it so eloquently in his article, When does Windows Phone 7 get its grand opening? Microsoft will have to come up with a marketing strategy that will clearly contrast the difference between the two (well three, Android has to be included because of its rapid market share gain) Not only that, there better be enough stock for anyone who wants a Windows Phone device unlike last year when phones were hard to come by. Considering that if customers choose the iPhone, that means a losing them as potential costumers for two or more years (average phone contract length) the stakes could not be any higher! I’m sorry if some of my posts seem repetitive. My hope is that  at least one of them will light a spark inside Microsoft to go all out with Windows Phone Mango this time around. Not that I hold any kind of influence inside or outside Microsoft!

This leaves Microsoft with a critical decision to make, if  employees at AT&T  and other retail locations are being prepped  to sell iPhones and to some extent the new Android phones, will there be anyone left to sell Windows Phones?

I will conclude by quoting Mr. Frommer again…

Windows Phone 7 is not a junk platform. Now it’s up to Microsoft and its partners to sell it.

The question is will they?