LG and Windows Phone 7: High Expectations, Low Sales
By Ed Oswald | Friday, January 14, 2011 at 11:06 am
Microsoft may have a problem on its hands if its partners feel free to publicly criticize its phone efforts like this. LG’s marketing and planning chief James Choi has gone on record with Pocket-lint saying that Windows Phone 7 sales have been disappointing for the company.
Choi claims that the company had high hopes for the new mobile OS at the beginning. While he stressed that LG had been working with Microsoft “since the beginning” and WP7 is “absolutely perfect” for some mobile users out there, he lamented that “the first push wasn’t what everyone expected.”
While Choi seems to walk the fine line between saying that the launch really failed to grab consumers’ attention and playing the role of the loyal partner, it just seems odd that this early out of the gate that Microsoft’s partners feel free enough to say something like this. It certainly does not help the Redmond company’s cause at all.
I have said in the past that I thought WP7 was a solid step forward for Microsoft, and have been impressed with the company’s willingness to think differently as of late. The problem is that the company’s still fighting a stigma of not being “cool” — unlike Android and Apple at the moment — and it’s getting lost in the sea of the dozens of other new smartphones we’ve seen over the past few months.
Choi did say that a possible factor limiting growth is WP7’s relegation to the higher-priced tier of smartphones at the moment. That very well could be true. However at the same time, if not many people are willing to pay a premium for a phone that takes advantage of WP7’s full strengths, what makes you think they’d be more interested in a less feature-rich device at a lower price?
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January 14th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
Apps! Apps! Apps!
Its becoming all about these bite sized pieces of software to be consumed on the go. In the early daysof using winmobile, app jealousy was rampant when the iphone came out. Remeber how exciting it was when Microsoft made their own facebook app for windows mobile? I do. I remember how dissapointed it was when the WinMo had its marketplace because it signaled apps were coming. That never really panned out.
So I saw the original Droid and was impressed because this felt like where things were going. Daily new android apps came, and not just fart apps but big name apps you saw flashing across your tv screen in commercials on the iphone. These were apps that did things I wanted to do and now I could do them on android phone. Now popular innovative apps appear on both iphone and android at around the same time. There appears to be a aparity forming with the two platforms. Apps that are useful and popular on one soon find a version on the other.
Android had the leg up because it had the "I can't get an iphone or I do not want an iphone so ill get android" avenue. Wp7 doesn't have that going for it, so it needs more to stand out to consumers.
But where are those apps coming to wp7? Sure, microsoft did seed developer money to jumpstart the market, and go after popular app developers to also develop a wp7 version. This method only has a "us to" pattern and not one where apps began and other platforms are envious of.
With the exception of xbox live integrated games and zune, virtually all the other services and apps appear on the other platforms. If you aren't in the MS ecosystem with zune and xbox (I am in both…) the wp7 platform is not that compelling,and even if you are, those features can be dismissed as not enough benefit to switch platforms.
For the enterprise user, for the average consumer, for the techie, wp7 is still a "me too" trying to play catch up. It's a 1.0, and MS can afford a few iterations to make it stick. The problem is will the developers and partners have the stomach to ride out the storm?
When you start seeing innovative apps appear on wp7 first and trickle to the other platforms, then they have something. Until then, it has a long way to go.
January 14th, 2011 at 1:37 pm
"Stigma of not being cool"? Come one. Cool is a tired song sung by people who use "reality distortion field" when the subject of Apple comes up.
Try the stigma of not being compelling. Name a single reason why anyone should use Windows Phone 7 over iPhone or Android. It doesn't appear to offer anything compelling. Even the commercials pretty much admits to this.
"I like Metro." is not a reason.
January 14th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
Then please tell me the compelling reasons to use an Android phone over an iPhone then?
January 15th, 2011 at 9:36 am
Maybe you should ask people who load Android on their iPhone 3 or 4… I think main reasons are significantly better selection of free apps, better ability to customize and control how desktop looks, what and how things are running/set up on your phone. Android user flow is different and for many people (including myself) it's much more convenient than iPhone's user flow. For example, compare how you switch between apps on iPhone and Android, how do you come back to previous view on both phones, how settings are managed, etc. Also Android is free from pure Apple annoyances (e.g. the need to use iTunes). And the phones themselves: I may want a physical keyboard, a better camera, or a smaller/bigger screen… so apple's "one size fits all" approach does not really fit.
January 14th, 2011 at 2:54 pm
I think it is interesting how people get so upset over a phone. I personally like the Windows Phone 7 better than the IPhone and Android. I never bought an IPhone because I did not like the UI same for Android.
But you know what? These are just phones my life was fine before the smart phone and will be the same when something else comes along.
January 14th, 2011 at 8:07 pm
What's truly astounding here is LG's complete denial. LG's sales aren't poor due to WM7, they are poor because their phone is poor. Nothing else.
June 28th, 2011 at 6:45 am
Mr. Choi should know that older phones have features WP7 doesn't. The lack of features and the hi price will keep WP7 to the bottom, not only the price. I agree to pay for something new, but also to be able to use it, to have the stuff I've had on my old phone, but when a WM 6.5 phone has more features than a WP7 what do you expect?? people to embrace this new device just because it has new good looking UI?? Sorry but the number of disappointed WP7 users is growing fast and this is not good for MS and the phone manufacturers who work with WP7.
December 21st, 2011 at 10:40 am
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