The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others - Nietzche
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Microsoft captures just one per cent of US smartphone sales with Windows Phone 7
SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Microsoft has managed to get just one per cent of the US smartphone market in the quarter ended May 2011 with its Windows Phone 7 (WP7) operating system.
Nielsen has published its US smartphone sales figures that show Apple's IOS continues to grow, Google's Android, albeit having an overall market share lead, remaining stagnant, and Microsoft's WP7 operating system managing just one per cent of handset sales. Microsoft's dead Windows Mobile operating system still has nine per cent market share, however that is unlikely to comfort Microsoft as it wants consumers to move to WP7.
Microsoft hasn't had much luck with WP7 if Nielsen's figures are anything to go by. It seems that Microsoft's $450m marketing push paid off in February 2011 when Nielsen's figures showed a slight spike in the percentage of new phones sold with WP7 but overall the analyst firm reported that Microsoft's latest and perhaps not so greatest mobile operating system isn't taking more than a single percentage point of new smartphone sales.
There's no surprise that Google's Android remains the top dog, appearing on 38 per cent of all smartphones sold in the US, however Apple has increased its market share in mobile phone sales, with smartphones running IOS accounting for 27 per cent of sales. Research in Motion's Blackberry OS is found on 21 per cent of all smartphones.
Microsoft will not like the fact that nine times as many Windows Mobile handsets are sold than WP7. Not only is Windows Mobile outselling WP7 but both HP's WebOS and Symbian have greater shares of the mobile phone pie, with two per cent each.
Given that in the US Microsoft had a buy-one-get-one-free offer with major mobile operators, the figures are especially disappointing. Perhaps Microsoft is hoping that Windows Phone 7.5, codenamed Mango, will help it finally break out beyond a measly one percentage point in US smartphone sales. µ
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Seriously? Compared to Android? The only OS on a par in the appearance stakes with WP7 is WebOS, IOS and Android (in whatever suit it happens to be wearing) just aren't as pleasing to look at and certainly aren't as pleasing to use.
Before it comes, calling someone an Astroturfer doesn't make it so!
I have had all the main OS's from WP6.1 (which I despised) through Android and WebOS with the exception of iOS but I have had plenty of opportunity to use it. And I wouldn't go back to any except WebOS and WP7, I wouldn't touch an iOS device if you paid me tbh.
I am looking forward to Mango, it deserves to do better, it needs a better push from retailers and networks and, the simple fact is that those who try it tend to love it, and more people need to be given the opportunity to try it to get it out there.
the Astroturfers even think windows mobile is terrible.
I've been burned too many times with windows before on hardware specific devices. I don't need a cellphone that crashes too.
Microsoft's big mistake was calling it's new mobile OS Windows Phone 7. "Windows" is a rather jinxed name. Windows got bad street cred after Vista, and Windows 7 hasn't exactly fixed this, because it's just "good enough" and not exceptional. Something "good enough" can't offset something that was pretty terrible (vista). So the word "Windows" still has a pretty bad connotation in people's minds.
No one really wants "Windows". People buy Windows 7 because they don't want to pay a metric ton of cash for a Mac, not because they want it. But in the smartphone space, where there are all those sweet Androids with their cute UIs, WP7 doesn't stand a chance.
Also, the UI of WP7 is rather unappealing. It doesn't matter how practical it is, it just doesn't look as cool as the Android UIs (all 576 of them) or iPhone. People often buy on the first impression.
Also, what's with the patent lawsuits and royalties. It's Microsoft admitting they are a litigation zombie in the mobile space, so developers are running away from the platform as if it has the plague.
Since this is the weekend, it looks like the Microsoft astroturfers are late getting here to tell us how wonderful their new Windows Phone 7 smartphones are.
Watch as Microsoft also abandons WP7 to make yet another mobile OS.
so Microsoft has to buy it... says a lot when the only way Microsoft can get market share is to buy up companies to push it...
Ah, yeah, mango, that'll do it; dribble, dribble, hick!