Windows Phone 7 Finally Gets Some (Very Minor) Mainstream Coverage
For those of you who are following Windows phone 7, you’re in the clear minority. And that’s coming from me…the person already waiting outside the AT&T store for them to sell me one. Aside from the fact that technology makes up less than 1.6% of the total news coverage, and Microsoft gets 1/5th the amount of coverage as Apple and half that of Twitter, Windows Phone 7 hasn’t been a mainstream media event. Check the major news sources, like NYTimes, CNN, Fox, etc and you’ll see that when WP7 was first announces back in February there was a general story about the reset and between now and then there may be a mention of it here and there, usually talking about other companies that are starting fresh. In fact, today’s CNN coverage is the first time I can find some real coverage of the platform (they covered the leaked release date and ads and were generally positive but garnered just 4 comments and 13 Facebook likes).
Why is this all important? They are launching a new operating system in 30 days and if you ask people who don’t follow internet blogs (you know, the majority of the people out there), they haven’t the foggiest idea what a Windows Phone 7 is or why it matters at all. And that’s a real problem for Microsoft. They’ve been very elusive with details and instead of working with the media they have left the media to find them and the result is that there’s no mainstream buzz about the platform. They have thirty days to get people to know their product. Getting them to stand in line to buy it? Well that may take a minor miracle. I mean, when I bought my Fuze there were only a dozen in the store and I remember the mad rush to be the first….yeah, that was about four seconds of sales relative to the iPhone. That’s not the sort of ‘rush’ MS wants this time.
Do you guys think MS can pull it off? We don’t even have an official release date nor do we have a firm date on when they will announce release dates and devices (the rumors seem to cut in more than one way). I want the platform to work even from the first generation, but this sit-back and wait attitude that they’re showing isn’t helping them at all…they’re sitting and waiting while Android is flying off the shelves and RIM releases a new OS optimized for tablets. Well I guess I’ll sit back and wait as well…
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i’m with you. if they are going to spend the type of money alluded to they’d be wise to get celebrity endorsements. heck have prime tv spots. finally, ship the phones to influential media early.
Nice editorial piece – let’s hope MS have a good plan (or read your blog!).
I think it’ll be a good idea for MS to release a Windows Tablet 7
yea they need to do something. especially since at&t is their “premier” launch partner: most of the people that go into the at&t stores will walk right to the iphone. if wp7 phones are the same price as the iphone, which i assume they will be, the majority of people will opt for the iphone.
although i will say this – last time i went into an at&t store there was a (hot) girl talking to a salesman about android phones, and i overheard her saying how the iphone is “boring and too common”. i almost asked her to marry me.
so maybe the iphone is losing some of its hypnotic powers, but one thing it has done is made the smartphone in general something everyone, not just the geeks, want.
WP7 FTW!
Totally agree with you, I was one of two at the AT&T store buying the Fuze upon its release and if MS doesn’t ramp it up very soon no one will know what WP7 is. Of course that might be exactly what MS wants if all the screen supply issues aren’t ironed out yet. I just want to see the device all the MS execs are raving about (heard that on Windows Weekly).
They will probably start advertising just after their October 11 event. Maybe they should have started sooner but I think without an end product to show that could have backfired on them. Who knows, but whatever the case MS is a company people seem to love to hate so it probably wouldnt make much difference in the end.