Orange CEO not the greatest fan of Windows Phone, thinks it lacks the “wow factor”

Orange CEO Stephane Richard  is not the biggest fan of Windows Phone.  Speaking to AllthingsD about competition for the iPhone/Android duopoly, he said:

“There is probably not room for everyone, but all of us hope that among those initiatives, at least one will be able to emerge as a third ecosystem.”

He continued, saying said that Windows Phone has a “very difficult” road to truly compete with iOS and Android. Richard said devices running the Microsoft-developed operating system are neither better designed nor cheaper, nor do they offer a better application experience than iOS or Android.

“The Nokia family in my opinion is nice, but there is no ‘wow’ effect,” Richard said. “When you have a market with very steady players like Apple and Samsung, you need to have a ‘wow’ effect.”

Oddly he was a bigger fan of Blackberry,  praising the work of CEO Thorsten Heins and the new leadership there, though he still expected them to have a tough road.

“He is doing a great job, but I am not sure they will be successful,” Richard said. “At least they have a basis of very faithful users, which is not the case of Nokia.”

Underlining his obviously poor impression of Windows Phone, he noted operators were selling Windows Phones for the same price as more popular devices, implying presumably that the OS was only good for cut-price handsets.

Unfortunately Richard’s view is shared by many who just do not get that Windows Phone was specifically designed to be minimalist and elegant, rather than brash and loud like Android. Given the steady headway the OS has made, underlined by recent Kantar numbers, it seems however that the message is getting though to at least some segments of the buying public.

Do our readers think Windows Phone is suffering from lacking a flashy UI with a “wow” factor, like Android and Blackberry 10? Let us know below.