Windows Phone 7 Sales Continue To Struggle

rtfa-troll writes "Even with the pre-Christmas buying rush, Microsoft is already desperately offering a new buy one get one free offer similar to the ones they gave for the KIN. According to the article, 'Windows Phone 7 devices can't even manage two per cent of the fortnight's sales.' These aren't official Microsoft figures; they come from online shopping sites. But since Microsoft official sales figures seem subject to manipulation, this is perhaps one of the better guesses we will get at the success of Windows Phone 7 until well into next year. This also strongly backs up other reports of deeply disappointing phone sales. Even Microsoft supporters have been wondering for a while whether it's time for Ballmer to go. If the sales reports are true, then he may be pushed before he jumps."

Comments

Less editorialization please

[saleenS281]

BOGO offers are in no way a sign of desperation. WTF is wrong with the submitter, and Soulskill? Android has been doing BOGO's or outright free phones for months/years now. Is it "desperate" or "in trouble" or running with "disappointing sales"? Hey, let's all hate on Microsoft without a shred of evidence, it's slashdot!

Re:Less editorialization please

[tomhudson]

Which is funny because if you look at the web stats of Slashdot, 90% of visitors are using Windows computers. LOL, bunch of poseur wannabes

[citation needed]

Yes, a large portion of the visitors to slashdot use Windows. Then again, when compared to the general population, a large portion don't.

That so many Windows users see value in, and frequent, a site that is definitely pro-linux/bsd/open source, and what is arguably, even with all the "web 2.0" junk, the most influential tech forum on the net, says that Ballmer is right when Microsoft tells the SEC that linux and open source are the biggest threat to Microsoft.

Think about it - even with less than 1% of the desktop, and being distributed for free, it's more of a threat than Apple, who are worth more than Microsoft.

I don't call them poseur wannabes - I call them fresh blood :-)

The alternative would be an echo chamber.

Re:Less editorialization please

[Anonymous Coward]

Comparing a brand-new phone to ones that already have market-momentum is brain-dead, as has already been discussed on this forum.

And, this is Windows Phone version SEVEN, as clearly described in the name of the product. This might be a brand-new phone to mobile application developers, but for the other 99.9% of the people this is just a new revision of the same old horrible Windows phone operating systems.

It doesn't help at all that this phone is being advertised as "the smartphone for people who don't want a smartphone." Good job finding that marketing niche, Microsoft. What next? Microsoft Fruit Basket 7.0, for people who hate fruit? Microsoft Electric Car 7.0, for people who hate driving?

It also doesn't help that Microsoft's idea of "synergy" doesn't even bother to include embrace, extend, and extinguish anymore. Instead of eating the competition, the divisions at Microsoft are just eating each other. They didn't make a mobile version of XBox live that works on lots of devices, but works better on Microsoft phones. They didn't make a mobile version of the Windows Media Extender that works on lots of devices, but works better on Microsoft phones. Every time Microsoft comes out with something truly cool or innovative, they never let it stand alone. They bundle it to a flailing product, and then act surprised when it all fails together.

Re:Less editorialization please

[bell.colin]

Because they are all using their corporation approved desktop's instead of working.

Users not posting on /. from work? You must be new here...

Re:Less editorialization please

[Mordok-DestroyerOfWo]

It's an operating system, not a religion. I'm using Windows 7 right now as I'm perusing /. while avoiding doing some photo touchups in Photoshop. In a few hours I'll boot into my Debian system and continue working on a project in Python. I feel no shame when I use Windows, it's a tool...it's there to aid in completing a job.

Re:Less editorialization please

[Crudely_Indecent]

I read /. at work, where I'm not allowed to have a Linux workstation. The servers I work on are Linux though, so it's not like the organisation is anti-Linux, they're just frightened they might be asked to support Linux workstations (not mine of course, but others). Just because someone uses Windows to browse /., doesn't mean they have a choice.

Re:Less editorialization please

[ScrewMaster]

Apple isn't nearly as much of a threat.

More to the point, Apple isn't trying to be a threat. Not really, in spite of their ad campaigns. Apple is a hardware company that caters to a specific clientele, and to their credit they're happy with that. That clientele also happens to not be the same people that Microsoft is after.

Apple really has spent very little effort wooing the corporate world, because once you do that, you will be expected to provide a level of support that is far beyond that offered to schools or individuals. In addition, you'll have to supply and maintain an entire ecosystem of corporate connectivity products. I doubt that Jobs & Co. really wants the headaches, and should they? They're already making billions from the Mac, the iPhone and the iPod/iTunes combo, and if they go corporate they'll be competing with commodity operators like Dell and HP/Compaq. Big companies buy from the lowest bidder, and it's pretty obvious by now that Apple has no intention of ever being the lowest bidder.

To recap...

[giuseppemag]

...no official figures, no official declarations, no after-holiday-season data, no actual news.

I understand this is slashdot, but come on. Criticism sticks better if it is documented, otherwise it's just another form of shilling.

It's time to rebrand

[Forrest Kyle]

They shouldn't have attached the "Windows" brand to their phone. Windows is a desktop operating system. It has a popularized reputation (warranted or not) for being unwieldy, crashing, being expensive, and mostly dedicated to the accomplishment of boring or undesirable tasks like work, writing papers, using Office, etc. They should have created a new brand for the phone.

Having a "Windows Phone" from Microsoft is sort of like IBM coming out with a social networking site called "The IBM Human Interaction System" and then marketing it to young people as hip and cool. There is an emotional and/or psychological disconnect between the nature of the product and the mental conception people have of the brand.

Even though it's stupid, when I see the Android ads I think "oh cool, an ANDROID! I wonder what it can do? It looks futuristic. I kind of want one." (note: I don't have a smart phone because I think they are stupid.) However, when I hear the word "Windows Phone", it makes me feel like getting one would be like keeping a chunk of my job in pocket. No thanks.

Re:Microsoft releases actual cow turd as phone

[westyvw]

If there is one thing I have learned using MIcrosoft products (and subsequently banning them from my home and business truth be told) is that in the end Microsoft software will bite you hard at some point. Sometimes its a policy change, sometimes a compatibility change, sometimes a virus, but in the end it will hurt. They will continue to promise a rosy picture of the future, and continue to dazzle in the short term, but then the pain will happen again, and the only way off the crazy train that is Microsoft is look behind the curtain and get out while you still can.

The Emperor's Invisible Slip is Showing

[serutan]

When people use Windows 7 sales numbers to show how successful and popular Windows 7 is, I keep reminding them that the numbers primarily reflect PC sales. Windows 7 just happens to be there. Sales of new cars automatically implies sales of new tires, not that the tires themselves are a hit with consumers. What we're seeing in Windows phone sales is an example of the dismal performance of most Microsoft products when they actually have to compete on an equal footing.