[Russ Smith]

I work in an electronics store (so keep in mind that demographic) and I've noticed that I'm seeing a lot more smartphones in general. People are constantly checking online prices and information before they buy a motherboard, processor, or hard-drive. The odd thing is that the iPhone is present, but not in a majority. I see as many WM devices as Blackberrys as iPhones.

One of my fellow employees even remarked lately that he wishes he'd been able to afford the unlocked WM phone I got instead of his iPhone. (Expandability was the key there.)

I'd agree with the folks that say that marketing is most of the problem. Apple has had two major successes (iPod and iPhone) by catching a rising wave and marketing by implying that there's nothing like their products. I can smile when I say "Mine has done that for a few years now." but that doesn't change the fact that most consumers don't know that.

So far my "loyalty" to MS has been that, when I compare all the features I want, WM has the only devices that do it. The list of distinctives is getting smaller though. MS not only needs to get some real marketing chops, but do some more innovation if they want to stay in the game.