Nokia Failing to “Save” Windows Phone 7.5

I’ve been using my own iPhone 4 for a year, and I’ve had a HTC HD7 Windows Phone 7.x handset at work since around June.  It’s no secret that I greatly prefer the iPhone over the Windows Phone.  The hardware feel better in my hand, the OS is more friendly and natural, and iTunes beats the holy crap out of The Curse Of Zune. 

Phones that make calls and send texts are being built in the back of bicycle shops.  The trick is building something that does more.  That starts and lives with the OS and the accompanying software (iTunes/Zune).  My experience with Windows Phone 7/7.5 hasn’t been all that impressive.  Install an app … if you can find a decent one … one minute its complaining about being plugged into the PC, the next it’s complaining that it isn’t.  IT SHOULDN’T MATTER!  yesterday I tried to install some apps.  They just kept failing to download, despite being on a stable wifi network that my iPhone had no trouble with.  For example, I installed Lync on iPhone in seconds.  It took 4-5 times as long to get it to install on WP7, at the same time, on the same wifi.  It’s probably just as well that there aren’t too many decent apps, because navigating them on the folder-less list of apps on WP7 would be a nightmare – folders are just so hard to create an name … wooops, no one has problems doing that on real Windows or iOS.

Lets not forget that Android is out there leading on hardware specs and sales, even if the hardware is fragmented and that MSFT might be the biggest earner on Android s/w “sales”.  Even RIM is ahead of WP7 in the market.

Nokia was supposed to vault Windows Phone to a clear #3 or even a #2 in the market.  I’ve not seen the handsets in person but all reports say they are superbly built devices, even if they are underspecified.  Having a HTC, I can say that Windows Phone needed nicely built devices to compete with the iPhone device.  But it’s still Windows Phone.  It’s still got that stigma.  Microsoft hasn’t won over the consumer.  And sales prove it.

And let’s not forget the marketing.  Compare an iPhone TV advert (which you’ll see anywhere) with a Windows Phone TV advert. 

It’s like comparing iTunes with Zune.  One is thought out and complete, and the other is a MacGuyver job.  Even I’ve seen The Apprentice and know that the product being advertised should be in the advert.  Microsoft seem to have launched the concept of a mobile phone about 15 years too late.

PC Pro has reported on a survey by Exane BNP Paribas.   

2% of Europeans looking for a new handset would pick Nokia’s first Windows model, the Lumia 800.

 

Ouch!  Where are ITC and the rest of those groups now?  The vocal minority out there is still blogging and tweeting about the magnificence of Windows Phone 7.  If Europe, once a stronghold for Nokia, isn’t interested then there isn’t really much hope.

Windows Phone is going through more upheaval.  Once more, heads have rolled.  Maybe the code merge between the desktop and the phone will happen more quickly than was originally envisioned?

7 thoughts on “Nokia Failing to “Save” Windows Phone 7.5”

  1. Interesting point of view. I have been using my HD7 for about 14 months now and was very comfortable ditching my iPhone. I’ll admit there are a couple of apps I’m missing on my WP7 but sure they will come in future. Also Windows Phone doesn’t “need” inflated specs like many android devices it’s very, very snappy on the original v1 devices.

    I think things will continue to improve, the major hindrance to WP7 in my experience is the lack of backing from operators and retailers who obviously make more money per iphone/android sale as that’s what they are pushing.

    And finally – you prefer iTunes to Zune??? iTunes is an awful piece of software, but hey that’s why being a consumer is great. Consumer have the power to choose the right software/hardware for them – it’s about the right tool for the right job and scenario 🙂

    Reply

    1. Thanks for the comment, Andrew.

      I use my phone more as a content consumption device than as a phone. I can do that much more easily with iPhone/iTunes than I can with The Curse of Zune. For example, I don’t need to go searching for RSS URLs to subscribe to a pod cast. In iTunes, I search, find, and subscribe. Job done. App installs are equally simple and painless on the Apple platform. If I was a music buyer, then I could actually buy music on iTunes. Microsoft seem to think that music is only played in a small number of countries.

      You’ve said (and others say the same) that things will improve on the MSFT front and probably they will – but they are S-L-O-W. They’ve had a year to improve international content licensing, make content easier to find, buy/subscribe, and sync, and to sort out The Curse of Zune. What have they done? Zip. MSFT are focused on just a few large markets, and trying to compete with a package that is inferior. And still they think folders are too hard to create and name. As I said, I am far from along, and a vocal minority will defend WP7.x. They will continue to be the minority, and as it stands, they’ll be the shrinking vocal minority.

      Aidan.

      Reply

  2. I’ll agree that the lack of advertisment and “pushing” of the platform is a major failing from MS and someone, be it carriers or MS directly needs to do more.
    But with everything in life it’s not a product/platform that everyone is going to like, that’s why it’s good to have choice.

    However, for me personally, seeing my wife’s reaction to the Lumia 800 I bought her last week was brilliant.

    She originally had an Android phone, desperately wanted an iPhone as several of her friends and family had one but ended up with the Lumia I bought her. After just 2 days with it she was extolling just how great it is, how easy it is to use compared to her old phone and how well it gives her all her social updates (facebook etc) and loves the phone style/design.

    I also got my son a HTC Mozart 7 for Christmas to replace his bog standard phone and fingers crossed to replace his iPod. Well that’s been a success too! He can’t believe how much easier Zune is compared to iTunes, even more so with the Zune Pass but i’ll conceede that he still prefers the games on the iPod, but only because of the amount of choice.

    I’m with you on the folders ability, or lack of, on WP7. Once you have a large number of apps it would be better imho to have more choice to organise them. Yes you can search for them, but it’s too time consuming, and while you can click on a letter and jump to that section, I would like to organise my apps as I see fit.

    Reply

    1. Hi Steve, Are you in the UK or USA? If so, your experience of Zune is much different to what those of us experience outisde of Microsoft’s “big 12” markets.

      Reply

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