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Here's Why Microsoft Should Kill The Windows Phone Brand (Rename it to something fun, like Mango)
Business Insider ^ | 09/17/2011 | Matt Rosoff

Posted on 09/18/2011 8:41:13 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Yesterday, I had an experience that shows why Microsoft should kill the Windows Phone brand and name its new phones something fun like Mango.

I went to Radio Shack to buy a cheap audio cable. The clerk was excited because it had just become an official Verizon outlet as well -- the front of the store had a special Verizon awning, and there was Verizon advertising all over the place.

As I paid, the clerk and I began talking about phones. He said he used to work at the Apple Store, and was well-informed about the upcoming iPhone 5 and iCloud service. But he carried a Blackberry and was still a fan too.

When customers come in looking for new phone, here's how he decides what to sell them.

If customers want a lot of games and video, he recommends an iPhone. If they mainly want an affordable phone to make calls and do a little Web surfing, he sells them an Android. And if they are on their phone all the time for email but don't really care about apps and games, he still sells them a Blackberry, although as he said "they're basically going away."

"We only carry high-end smartphones." Image: Matt Rosoff Business Insider So I asked him, "What about Windows Phone?"

"We haven't seen those in a long time. Palm went with their own Web OS, although that's kind of gone now." (He was talking about the Palm Treo, which was sort of popular before the iPhone came out in 2007.)

But aren't there some new ones coming out with Nokia or something?"

"Well...we only carry the high-end smartphones. Windows is really old."

Ouch.

This is just one story, but Windows Phones have absolutely been getting buried at retail stores because of these kinds of interactions.

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Society
KEYWORDS: cellphones; mango; microsoft; phones; smartphones; windowsphone7
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To: SeekAndFind

Mango...oh! My first thought was Mongo from “Blazing Saddles”...

“Mongo only pawn... in game of life”


21 posted on 09/18/2011 10:32:45 AM PDT by anotherdubya
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To: FromTheSidelines

Apple is and will continue to be an american only phenomenon...mostly guilty white liberal environmentalist socialist atheists who aspire to be superior to others despite their low intellect regarding things technology related. This applies to ALL apple products, not just the iphone. Rush Limbaugh is an anomaly...or is he? He isn’t very bright when it comes to mathematics or basic scientific concepts.

I have been saying for months that I predict MS will be number one in cell phone operating systems by the time windows phone 8 is released.


22 posted on 09/18/2011 10:46:10 AM PDT by mamelukesabre
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To: BuddhaBrown

It’s not iOS new, it’s a complete rewrite to do the same thing the line has been doing for a quarter century. All that baggage is still there, just new ways of dealing with it. That’s not the kind of “new” users are looking for in 2011.


23 posted on 09/18/2011 10:47:31 AM PDT by ctdonath2 ($1 meals: http://abuckaplate.blogspot.com/)
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To: mamelukesabre
Rush Limbaugh is an anomaly...or is he?

He's in the RDF of Apple...;) On Friday, he was interrupted a few times by Snerdley talking about iTunes crashing - and Rush just said "well restart it". I think it happened 3 times in the course of an hour... I think he's blinded by just how unstable much of the Apple world really is - but he likes his shiny toys! :)

He isn’t very bright when it comes to mathematics or basic scientific concepts.

Correct. I cringe every time I hear him try to speak on either subject - including environmental issues. He's masterful on political diatribes and positioning and reading the populace, but on math and science - he's woefully lacking.

I have been saying for months that I predict MS will be number one in cell phone operating systems by the time windows phone 8 is released.

People forget that Symbian is still the number one mobile OS in the world (mobile OS for ALL mobile devices - phones and tablets). And Symbian was basically Nokia alone. Microsoft has a HUGE platform to work from - the Nokia platform. Android has climbed really well to capture second place, pushing iOS down to 3rd. Microsoft has a real shot at bouncing up to at least the Android level, if not beyond and pushing into Symbian dominance.

They'll be a big force and a major player in the phone space, just based upon their partnership with Nokia alone. Symbian is 55% of the Asian mobile OS market; it's 39% of China and 68% of India. Capture just those two markets and Microsoft is over 20% for the world - and ahead of iOS.

24 posted on 09/18/2011 10:56:09 AM PDT by FromTheSidelines ("everything that deceives, also enchants" - Plato)
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To: ctdonath2
It’s not iOS new, it’s a complete rewrite to do the same thing the line has been doing for a quarter century.

What? Have you seen Windows Phone 7? The UI, the way you interact with the OS, the way the OS and apps interact with you and the cloud is totally new and unique. It's not the 20 year old paradigm of a grid of icons (like iOS).

All that baggage is still there, just new ways of dealing with it.

If by "baggage" you mean basic OS features like installing apps, then NO ONE is new; even the "App Store" is old hat (see apt-get from the Linux world)...

That’s not the kind of “new” users are looking for in 2011.

I'd be curious to hear what you mean by "new", if Windows Phone 7 isn't new... Clearly iOS and Android are even less "new" in just about any metric or view you'd like to proffer.

25 posted on 09/18/2011 10:59:18 AM PDT by FromTheSidelines ("everything that deceives, also enchants" - Plato)
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To: SeekAndFind
Microsoft Phone Operating System.
Uniting their glorious past reputation with their current reputation...
26 posted on 09/18/2011 11:01:38 AM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: FromTheSidelines

symbian is a dead man walking. They already fired all the employees at symbian...at least that’s what I heard. So no more symbian releases.


27 posted on 09/18/2011 11:04:21 AM PDT by mamelukesabre
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To: SeekAndFind
I went through three Windows phones in a week, they would crash every morning after charging.
I ended up with an Android and rarely have trouble.
28 posted on 09/18/2011 11:14:29 AM PDT by MaxMax
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To: mamelukesabre

Symbian is still the number one mobile OS in the world. It is not quite dead - it was bought by Accenture. It’ll slide away to the single digits, however, over the next 5-10 years. Half the smart mobile devices (phones and tablets) in the world run Symbian - that’s going to take a LONG time to bleed from the market!

Microsoft partnering with Nokia positions Windows Phone 7 as the heir apparent to the Symbian throne. Symbian owned - and continued to own (for example, it’s held stable in OS share over the last year - hasn’t lost anything) - the mobile OS market. Nokia tapping WP7 as the successor will definitely give Microsoft a huge market opportunity.


29 posted on 09/18/2011 11:17:22 AM PDT by FromTheSidelines ("everything that deceives, also enchants" - Plato)
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To: SeekAndFind

The sales man should be fired or retrained.

seriously the only people who are going for the windows phone 7 are those who want it.

the IDIOT cloud storage makes many phones a no deal for client confidentiality. (see recent cloud hacks)

in addition windows slit their own throat by intentionally excluding a chip slot in their phone.

finally one word, zune. include zune kill your phone sales.

and to the author know it all, mango is a moronic name.


30 posted on 09/19/2011 9:16:00 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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