Getting Microsoft to reveal anything about the Windows Phone 7 market performance has been like pulling teeth. But in an interview with PocketLint, LG admits the phone’s consumer impact has been disappointing. “From an industry perspective we had a high expectation, but from a consumer point of view the visibility is less than we expected,” said marketing strategy and planning team director at LG James Choi.
Choi praises the phone for being more “intuitive” than Android devices, but also admits that “for tech guys,” the simple OS might be boring. He was quick to remind us that with the introduction of lower-end Windows Phone 7 models, sales should pick up. “We strongly feel that it has a strong potential even though the first push wasn’t what everyone expected.” LG believes that less expensive devices with fewer features will drive the smartphone’s appeal. While this might increase Windows Phone 7 sales numbers, it’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for the brand’s future as an iOS and Android competitor. Choi would not reveal a timeline for the next generation of an LG Windows Phone.
One analyst believes Windows Phone 7 could find success under another manufacturer. Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley told Forbes this morning he’d like to see Nokia take the fledgling phone under its own wing and phase out its Symbian and MeeGo operating systems. In addition to thinking a Nokia-Microsoft partnership would be a good “cultural fit,” Walkley believes “these two companies need each other to succeed in the mobile market longer term.” It could give Windows Phone 7 a stronger chance competing with Android, and maybe even give it that coveted title of “third viable OS” option.
Microsoft has yet to explicitly state how many Windows Phone 7 units have made it into consumers’ hands, choosing only to reveal that 1.5 million phones have been sold to retailers.
it’s because it cost a lot, and people think it doesn’t worth their money…
Could it be that LG put crappy devices on the table so people didn’t buy them Look at the sales of the Focus and HTC HD7 LG?
Really??? Refreshing to hear that …. with all the ads on TV suggesting other smart phone users are not very smart consumers …with their “Really???”
In 1999 phone rising star Sendo was created – the brainchild of veterans of Motorola and Philips, who brought with them considerable understanding of phone engineering and existing relationships with phone builders and carriers. In 2000 Microsoft invested $12M and Microsoft employee Marc Brown took a seat on Sendo's board of directors as part of a corporate partnership deal with Microsoft to make a phone and OS, "Stinger". According to Sendo, "Microsoft had been unable to successfully access the wireless market because the handset manufacturers would not use their software." This statement is credible given the Redmond software giant's failed phone deal with Orange in the years just prior.
It didn't work out well for Sendo. Beset by delays shipping the software, Sendo went under. The agreement that they signed with Microsoft, the "SDMA" included a clause that gave Microsoft an irrevocable license to their phone intellectual property in perpetuity in the event of their corporate demise: "Under the SDMA, in the event of a Sendo bankruptcy, Microsoft would obtain an irrevocable, royalty free license to use Sendo's Z100 intellectual property, including rights to make, use, or copy the Sendo Smartphone to create other to create other Smartphones and to, most importantly for Microsoft, sublicense those rights to third parties." – http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/01/06/microsoft… The description of the events in the article is quite informative, biased though they may be.
The deal did work out for Marc Brown though. According to his LinkedIn profile, since January 2000 he's the Managing Director – Corporate Development at Microsoft Corporation. http://www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/sample/DOMIS… I guess he profited well from his time on the Sendo board and his other Microsoft achievements, whatever they may be.
Stephen Elop came to be CEO of Nokia directly from Microsoft: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Lucovsky
Nokia, or any key technology player, would be well advised to know the history and understand the risks before engaging in any bet-the-company Microsoft partnership strategies with recent Microsoft alumni in key positions in their organizations. They should also use due diligence and read the fine print on those contracts, because it won't do to do a deal with somebody when the terms of the deal motivate their partner to feast on their corpse. Also a Vader-like partner that brings negotiating tactics like "I'm altering the deal – pray I don't alter it further" to the table isn't quite as sexy as one that invites: "Let's make great stuff together!"
Personally I'm not a big fan of even entering negotiations with a potential partner that has a history like that – I wouldn't even want to work with somebody who had been on that team – but maybe I'm just a pansy. This is the big leagues, and in the big leagues they play hardball.
And the interface is terrible – it was designed for the people with a mental capacity of a sock.
… and Windows Phone 7 didn’t even meet customers expectations. At least mine.
By The Way – If Nokia should enter into a "new and wonderful Microsoft partnership" then in my opinion NYSE:NOK short is easy money. Full disclosure: I don't hold a position in either one.