Microsoft CEO admits Windows Phone 7 sales are slower than expected

GIVE UP!!!!

It was on a loser before it even started.

MS should stick to what it is actually good at, namely, Xbox and stop inflicting the world with third rate malfunctioning, buggy, virus ridden 'software'.

Microsoft unfortunately cannot catch a break when it comes to helpful marketing.
It does a terrible job itself at marketing and nobody in the vendor community or the media help either. Windows 7 Mobile has been doomed from the start even though a few media reviews have given many of the Windows 7 phones praise. The problem is the potential buyer's are pretty much thinking their choices in smartphone's are either a Android or a iPhone. When you have this much non marketing power as Microsoft has shown. What else does Microsoft expect? Unless Microsoft can break the curse of their marketing failures for their products. Microsoft may well lose products to competition for just that reason alone.

so bulmer admits poor market response?
he stopped short of admitting he is incapable of changing public opinion of microsoft and their products though!
sounds like his priority is to please his wage-payer first and customers are further down the list

anyhow the problem is all the Anti MS hate damaged the reputation before it was even released, I dont know how to combat that, we obviously cant force the issue, but perhaps these "people" should realise that the best outcome for all of us is to have compertition.

It took a long time of acting like a corporate douchebag to generate so much hatred. Isn't it kind of obvious how to combat that?

Nah, the only ones who expected it to sell well are Microsoft and the analysts they paid to say the same.

Everyone else KNEW it was going to suck, just like their desktop OS's. Lightning can and does strike multiple times in the same place!

I don't think it will take off properly until Windows 8 is launched and a smooth linear OS experience between desktop/tablet/phone can be presented.

“[WP7] only has 10 models of wp7 android has over 100 android phones on the market”.

Well, if WP7 could even manage a proportionate 1/10th of the sales of Android, Ballmer could claim that as a success. But it’s not achieving even that.

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I agree with the previous comments that Microsoft have an image problem. Their reputation is very bad.

@Darren, I think one thing to do to fix the issue is to vote the CEO out, force Microsoft to sell a few assets and appoint fresh blood at the head of the company. The new CEO would be someone who will say: "Ok this company has to change the way it communicates with customers, the way it does business, the way it deals with competitors and IP issues, etc"

Windows Phone 7 sales is nothing to do with the phone, it is a great phone, it does take a bit of getting used to if you are an ex heavy WM or android user but once you use it for any length of time and trully set it up for everything you suddenly realise that, you know what, i dont want to mod the crap out of my phone, i want it to work, which it does just now.

anyhow the problem is all the Anti MS hate damaged the reputation before it was even released, I dont know how to combat that, we obviously cant force the issue, but perhaps these "people" should realise that the best outcome for all of us is to have compertition.

You think your "insert OS of choice in here" is the best ever and will always be the best ever, good for you, go crawl back under your rock and stop spreading FUD, the only person who losses out in such cases is you and the people you infect with your bile. The rest of us will look at all the options out there any choose the best one available regardless of Brand.

Steve should focus on the many advantages to the INNOVATIVE LoseDoze Fone7. Like how it is the only Operating System (O/S) that allows the users to install the internet and browse the web and point and click and cut and paste and multitask and do all of the things that are so DIFFICULT if not outright IMPOSSIBLE with any other O/S.

I've had win phone 7 on my HTC Trophy and couldn`t be happier. Mscrsft finally got it right. while my primary use is business, I use many features. Returned my android phone that I was unhappy with to take a chance on this about 4 mo ago.Simply outstanding system and product.

What balmer is saying is that the phone hasnt sold what they expected the OS is under a year old, it only has 10 models of wp7 android has over 100 android phones on the market. 2 years ago Android had 3% of the marketshare now its over 40%, the point is WP7 needs to release more phone and better marketing cause the WP7 OS is amazing it just needs to get into consumers hands watch when mango drops by this time next year wp7 will be a huge success as predicted by the IDC. here a couple reasons why, wp7 makes Android and Iphone feel old and outdated. Its ovious that none of you here have ever tried WP7.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP9HlGB7Sy8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpI8252TieM&feature=channel_video_title

I don't know if you have seen the news on IDF 2011..windows 8 is up and running on dual core ARM on many tablets right now, every regular Fudzilla reader has seen it on youtube.

No one at Microsoft is busy right now to make Windows phone Mango 7.5 a success, everyone is hyped on how well Windows 8 runs on a Tablet. Hell, even I want a Qualcomm S4 processor in my first Tablet I'm going to buy THE DAY IT COMES OUT, and I didn't even knew I wanted One just a year ago.....

Expect all faces facing Windows mobile 8, instead of trying to release the burden on the allready aging WM6.5 platform.

then surely this release should be called "mangled".

Although the Mango internally identified itself as version 7.1 during pre-beta 2 releases, it is marketed as version 7.5 in all published materials intended for end-users.

If Microsoft wants to sell more WP7 phones, why not target the non-contract phone arena. The phones that Verizon, Sprint, and others offer in this area are deprived of features that consumers really want and to date only Android has a phone in this market (1 to 2 phones at most).

What did he expect then?

The only people buying Windows phones are people who are being told to buy a Windows phone.

Look, the sorry Windows 7 interface, soon to be the Sorry Windows 8 interface, is just not appealing to people with money and taste.

Part of the sales problem with many of Microsoft products is that they announce stuff a year or two out in hopes of getting their customers to wait for the Microsoft release and not buy a competitors product.

"It will be here soon", "Do not buy that working and available product from them" "Delay our buying because ours is going to be better someday if we can ever deliver it with all the features we hinted it might have."

Balmer has to remember that he burned a lot of us back in the 90's on the delaying tactics. We have since learned to purchase what is available today that works and not sit on our money and wait for a pipe dream to appear.

No, go back to you home under a rock. When you have a working and good useful product ready to sell then tell us the day it is available.

By telling us it will be here in six months you allow someone else to sell me a product that is actually available tomorrow.