Comparing Windows Phone sales to Android…Really?
Sometimes the sensational titles get the better of us. In this case this rings oh so true. Recently we’ve been seeing stories being ran and spread across the internet and it reads like this “Android outselling Windows Phone 7 15 to 1.” Is it really a surprise to anyone that Android is outselling Windows Phone right now? I mean Really?
We are talking about the same Android that is said to be outselling the iPhone and its legions of followers. Sometimes the blatantly obvious just escapes us. My advice is to sit back and watch everything unfold as Microsoft continues to push the new brand and OEMs show their commitment to the platform. We did hear rumblings that Samsung was set to double up on Windows Phone 7 devices in 2011 which means its going to deliver the same hardware feature set the Android platform gets.
Another thing of note is that unlike the iPhone, the Android phones keep being discounted and sold off at reduced prices. This is clearly a significant help in the matter as is the fact it is pretty much the only platform getting major marketing push by arguably two of America’s largest providers-Verizon and Sprint.
I”m curious to see how the Android sales continue once the iPhone comes to Verizon and Windows Phone continues to add in business features and connect its services (Xbox to Windows Phone, Kinect).
Again is it really newsworthy that Android with all its momentum is outselling Windows Phones. Heck, Windows Phones isn’t even on a network that’s giving them front page status. Maybe that is exactly what Windows Phones needs, a home to call its own?
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I just started up my Xbox 360 to download a demo and the very first block I see in the UI is an ad for the Blackberry Torch from AT&T.
I don’t have high hopes for Microsoft to get off their asses and push the OS if I don’t even see it mentioned on the platform it’s supposed to integrate with. Instead I see an ad for a Blackberry phone.
Wow that is just sad. They need to stop playing nice and swing that big stick they possess.
The title was “More Chatter on WP7 Sales.” Explain how that is sensational please.
And that was exactly what my article was, though I’d like to think that somewhere in the twelve paragraphs I spent more than a few minutes writing there was something more to it than just WP7 versus Android. If I had a source of actual sales numbers and not one thing relative to another, I’d have offered that.
By the way, that was just Android. Blackberries, maybe the Torch in the lead, were on this site outselling it tenfold. Also mentioned iPhones and Symbian devices — I covered all the smartphones, mentioned Android just a couple times. By how big a margin Murani do you need before you think to yourself “Damn, the sales are sucking that bad? Really? Damn.”
It was chatter about chatter about someone’s numbers which might be slightly representative of something of significance to consumers and developers surrounding WP7 and also those who are just curious how, after all that seems to have been invested into this, it’s paying off yet and if there’s a big launch or not from which to have more confidence in the future. I’m not saying it’s a Pulitzer winner but this was how I opened the article, not its crux.
Regarding some Android phones being cheap, did you know that they’re not only doing by one get one free deals but also are now offering WP7 devices for free (on contract)? If not that would lead me to think you didn’t extend a fellow contributor the courtesy of reading my damn article before giving me some Really? counterpoint bullshit. I’m with you on this front page status thing, saying Ballmer shouldn’t have let that happen and he’d better now go all out (it was an editorial kind of thing).
I’m curious too about Android and Verizon iPhones. My guess is that there will not be an explosion of iPhone sales cumulatively, definitely not enough to put it back ahead of Android.
Though neither of us can do this to your article, we could make that notion interesting: How’s fifty bucks sound that the iPhone does not dethrone Android phones in sales after at least one full quarter of the iPhone selling with Verizon has transpired?
When Android first came out with the HTC Dream, there should be a title “iPhone outsold Android 100:1”
@Doug Simmons: Oh I read and commented on your article. Fair shake was the general sentiment of my response on that front.
I wasn’t referencing your article but others i’ve read on other sites.
I just think that at the end of the day yes Microsoft could have done a much better job of promoting Windows Phone 7. Heck, I honestly feel like I could generate more sales than them if they gave me an all-expense budget. It wouldn’t even take me a million dollars to generate more interest than it is now. Seriously and thats just sad that I feel that way.
I did mix in a few other issues that could be full articles and probably will. A chief point being carrier support. AT&T when they had the Amazon deal with all smartphones sans iPhone for a penny that included the Android & BlackBerry phones. That just left no incentive for people to purchase a little known phone OS. Compare that to Verizon and Sprint with how they push Android almost exclusively. AT&T holds the iPhone in similar upper tier status. Microsoft should have singled in on a carrier and demanded support on the scale the iPhone gets. Heck, considering the expansion to Verison of the iPhone Microsoft held significant power seeing how AT&T needed a second platform to battle Verizon next year with Verizon having both the iPhone and Android platform.
First Doug, I don’t think Murani was attacking your article specifically (he may not have even read it) but instead was referring to several others out there in techno world.
Honestly, I think all of this chatter (sorry, couldn’t help it) is just a waste of energy at this point. You can’t compare every phone platform release to the iPhone. The company, time and circumstances were different. This is now. I liken this to someone calling your 3 week old prize Pit Bull a lazy pussy, because all he does is sleep all day and suck on his mother’s nipple. The next time you see him, don’t be surprised if he doesn’t tear your throat open. Just sayin.
All I suggest is that everyone who has or is interested in a smartphone, spend 15 minutes at their local mobility or big box store and give the WP7 devices a try. If you are not impressed, then all you lost is 15 minutes. I have played with iPhone, Android and Blackberry devices while walking around these stores so I at least understand the basics of each platform. I think that makes me an educated consumer. The choice is ultimately mine, and yours.
Oh, and this just in; Windows 7 is outselling OSX. What a surprise!
Actually Murani, I think WP7 needs to be covered and carried by all the big mobile carriers. If AT&T did not have WP7 devices at launch, I would still be trucking around with my Tilt2 right now. Carrier does matter to a lot of people.
Don’t have any facts to back this up, but aside from the true Apple/Mac fanboys (must buy anything with the Apple brand on it), my guess is “most” first time iPhone buyers, were first time phone/smartphone buyers. So they were not necessarially leaving one platform for another, and in many casses, not even leaving one carrier for another. People migrated to iPhone because it was easy and fun to use (sound familiar) and everybody had one.
In my opinion, the demographic that WP7 is targeting first is the; 16 to 26 crowd. Forget about business tools, texting teeny boppers and grandpa for now. Win a significant share of this group and the show is over. The momentum will follow. And with things like Zune Pass, XBox Live, SkyDrive, Facebook and the whole cloud concept, Microsoft has a very appealing product to offer. The phone and OS almost becomes secondary. It’s not what the phone can do, it’s what you can do with this phone. It starts with one, then two, then four, eight, sixteen, and so on, and so on.
I used to be embarassed at times showing people the power of my WM phone, because invariably it would freeze up at just the wrong time and require a reset before I could continue with the demonstration. But these past three weeks of showing off my WP7 device has been a delight, because I know it will perform. And every person I have shown it to (iPhone and Android users) have opened their eyes wide and I have even gotten a few, “wows”. They may not be able to buy one for another year because of contract restrictions but I bet when they are ready for an upgrade they will check out the current WP7 offering before making another drone decision.
Paul Thurrot went at it today:http://windowsphonesecrets.com/2010/11/29/about-those-windows-phone-chicken-little-stories/ Here are his words:
Please stop sending me stories about how terribly Windows Phone is supposedly doing in whatever market. I have an RSS reader too. And in case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m pretty prolific. You should note what I choose not to write about in addition to what I do write about. Not everything is a legitimate story.
What I’m trying to say is that these early reports don’t provide any credible figures. But even if sales are as bad as all get-out, you’re forgetting one thing: It almost doesn’t matter., because Microsoft is in this for the long haul. They’re going to continue pushing this system ahead, and pushing it to developers and users.
Put simply, Windows Phone is already more innovative than anything offered by Apple or Google in the smart phone space. And it’s only going to get better over time. I’m not just comfortable with my phone, I recommend it to others and prefer it over everything else out there for myself. Windows Phone is just demonstrably better. There are few products where it’s so black and white. Maybe that’s what has the other side so freaked.
And before some Apple sycophant points out that I’ve been writing about the ways in which Microsoft needs to fix Windows Phone, my response is simple: Right. I’m supporting Windows Phone users here, not cherry-coating it for the delight of some corporate overseer.
And don’t forget that AT&T just upped their early termination fees and even people who may be interested are likely to still be under contract. I know I wouldn’t want to pay a whole bunch extra just to be an early adopted (no matter what platform). Add in the fact that a lot of people wait for SP1 for MS products and I think we may see more next year. In this case, my contract was up and I was eligible to upgrade. My second line was _way_ outside of contract and ready to upgrade. I think it’s too early to really say much about unit sales at this point.
Phone is not something that people buy everyday and change it like other things. Most people wait until the end of contract and then they buy new phones. In my case we have family plan with5 line and all of them have contract for like 7,8 months.
As much as I love to get Windows Phone 7 right now because of this contract I don’t right now. But when our contract is up then hell yeah I will get 5 Windows Phone 7 without even thinking about it.
All these childish news about Android this or that, iPhone is blah blah are come from fanboys. These days Android (google) gfanobys are even worsethan apple fanboys and they are everywhere like worm.
But the truth is Microsoft is a big company and Windows Phone 7 is amazing platform and has a lot of potential. So I am sure they push it more and make it better and better and people will switch and buy more Windows Phone 7.
When first Microsoft came with XBXO everybody was like “oh too little too late” and tought Sony has it all and now look at where we are. Sony have hard time to come even close to XBOx and they lose more market to XBXO everyday.
So as someone that has knowledge about technology I ignore these silly and childish sell news and instead I will try to inform people around me and teach them more about Windows Phone 7 so they can see why it is much better that others.
Just a quick point. I know money is tight for everyone these days, but just figuring a $180 termination fee (think it’s based on months remaining so just pulled this one out of my……head) , you are talking less than .25 per day spread over a new 2 year contract. I know .25 + .25 + adds up if you are on a tight budget, but think of something you can give up today that will net you .25 per day or less than $2.00 per week. Then you don’t have to wait for some WP7 goodness. Hell, if you quit smoking you can probably buy a new phone retail in about three months. Just a thought.
@DavidK:
Oh boy… That third paragraph [“Put simply, Windows Phone is already more innovative…”] I couldn’t have said any better myself! And as I also wrote elsewhere, yes, the other side is freaked about WP7!
Another thing, I believe that MS will back up this platform full scale for a long time. There have been questions to MS about the future of Silverlight vs HTML5, but the day that HTML5 becomes a real standard, Silverlight(5,6,7?) will have features that HTML6 can only dream about.
I’m not fully sure of this (please correct me!), but I think that WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) is or will be using Silverlight as it’s UI engine. WPF will also be the UI engine of Windows 8. So when Windows 8 hits the street and is implemented in tablets, then all WP7 apps will work with almost no editing at all. It will be sort of like the iPad/iPhone compatibility, but with a full blown Windows OS under the skin. I think MS would like to have it that way.