
Survey reveals bias against Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 - ghurlman
http://www.bostonherald.com/jobfind/news/technology/view/2011_0613survey_reveals_bias_against_microsofts_windows_phone_7_survey_reveals_bias_against_windows_phone_7/srvc=home&position=also
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Legion
I used Windows Mobile 5 and 6. The hill (of their own making) that Microsoft
has to climb to get me to even remotely think of them as the provider of a
modern smartphone platform is monumental.

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bad_user

        “It’s time for a phone to save us from our phones,”
    

I haven't seen WinMo 7 commercials, but is this really their motto? Really?

I own an iPhone 3GS and a Galaxy S and for the first time in 10 years I'm
actually excited about my phones - and Microsoft is telling me I need to be
saved? Even though I worked really hard escaping the lock-in they've had on me
with Windows and I still have to explain my choice of software to people that
still send me files that can only be opened with Windows-software?

I can't believe the nerve of some people.

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dorian-graph
> I haven't seen WinMo 7 commercials

Really? Well, here's a simple starting place. The videos + commentary will
should help explain their slogan.

<http://mashable.com/2010/10/11/windows-phone-7-ads/> (And the SGS is an
awesome phone)

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bad_user
OK, that kind of makes some sense - apparently that quote needs some context.

Still, Microsoft's commercials are awful as always.

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spauka
While I agree that the shit-pile Microsoft faces is of their own making, I do
think that it is bias, and a really clear bias.

I'm an android/linux user, and it is quite clear that a lot of the IT
community who don't use Microsoft products have a fair amount of contempt for
the Microsoft OS, and their products.

The products really should be judged on their merits and innovations rather
than the history/marketing of the company. In that respect, for once,
Microsoft seems to have done a good job, with a new interface which genuinely
seems to be trying to do something new.

It is unfair to immediately dismiss anything, without seeing how it pans out,
which I saw a hell of a lot of both when Nokia sided with Microsoft and when
Microsoft acquired Skype. The bias is clearly there, and it is not justified.

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shaggyfrog
I think bias might be a little too strong a word. While there's always going
to be some bias, my guess is the reluctance to promote WP7 is half lack of
training (have the MS reps been by for a morning training session, did they
bring marketing materials, and did they leave their contact info?) and half
skepticism that the device is probably a lame duck.

If MS is really selling the thing for 1 cent online, that also creates a
perception that the phone has little value (if they're just _giving_ it
away!), and reinforces its small market share.

They've been thoroughly beaten to the punch in every way by their competitors
and no amount of playing catch up is likely going to help them.In the words of
Sun Tzu, "Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated
warriors go to war first and then seek to win."

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mgkimsal
Instead of millions of dollars on tv commercials (or in addition to), I don't
understand why MS doesn't use $ to place real working devices in major stores.
Apple's done this very well. Pretty much every best buy has working iphones
that you can touch and play with to see how it _really_ feels, instead of a
cardboard cutout 'screen' slapped on an empty case. This would give them at
least as much ROI as the Seinfeld and WP7 commercials. It might even allow the
sales reps to, gasp, touch a working model on the floor.

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inoop
Asking around shops in downtown Boston hardly classifies as a 'survey', more
like 'crappy journalism'.

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mgkimsal
It's not a survey, correct, but I'd hardly call it crappy. Reporting on
firsthand experiences in multiple shops, and noticing that _each one_ tried to
talk her out of a Windows phone and in to something else indicates
_something's_ at play. Diff commission structure biased against WP7 devices.
Cultural bias?

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coolgeek
There's a big fat ad in the middle of the page visually and verbally
trumpeting the Boston Herald's availability on Blackberry, Android and iPhone.

But not Windows Phone 7.

(In fairness, "Your phone not listed?" is displayed at the bottom of the ad.)

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dorian-graph
Reminds me of the Mojave experiment Microsoft conducted.

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vinced
Sounds like a "sponsored" piece of journalism.

