Ballmer: WP7 Market Share Currently "Very Small"

[Richard Chao]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.cio.com.au/article/393153/ballmer_windows_phone_7_successful_yet/' target='_blank'>http://www.cio.com.au/article/39315...successful_yet/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"While Microsoft has enjoyed many successes over the past year, Windows Phone 7 hasn't been among them, admitted Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer during the opening keynote Monday at the 2011 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, being held this week in Los Angeles."</em></p><p><em><img height="399" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/wpt/auto/1310430933.usr117680.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" width="600" /></em></p><p><em>Image courtesy of expensiva.com</em></p><p>At this year's Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, Steve Ballmer admitted that the Windows Phone 7 OS was not the success he had expected and that the OS still holds only a very small share of the handset market. &nbsp;Despite the current "very small" market share, Steve believes the OS will soon pick up steam. &nbsp;</p><p>The developer interest seems to be there, now if the masses would just follow.</p>

[txa1265]

Developer interest is one thing ... support is another. The OS and most apps are inept at handling slider keyboards. It is totally inconsistent in both the OS and many apps. It is embarrassingly incompetent design to have something open and be holding your head sideways to see what you are typing.

And pretty much every app is inferior to on other platforms. Facebook is very good, but Slacker is the worst of any platform I have used.

People won't come until that sort of stuff presents a good first impression.

[Richard Chao]

Developer interest is one thing ... support is another. The OS and most apps are inept at handling slider keyboards. It is totally inconsistent in both the OS and many apps. It is embarrassingly incompetent design to have something open and be holding your head sideways to see what you are typing.

And pretty much every app is inferior to on other platforms. Facebook is very good, but Slacker is the worst of any platform I have used.

People won't come until that sort of stuff presents a good first impression.

Hopefully Mango will be able to address some of your points. Unfortunately December seems so far away. Especially when you consider iPhone 5 will be out then.

[landslide]

Microsoft is just moving to slowly... I think much of it has to do with the 'not made here' culture in the organisation.

They should have embraced technologies like webkit, and not forced developers int managed code.

[nobody]

I totally don't understand the reasons to switch to managed code. iPhone is still using Objective C.

The problem is not with what code or .net or silverlight you are using, but what the end product will look like.

[txa1265]

Hopefully Mango will be able to address some of your points. Unfortunately December seems so far away. Especially when you consider iPhone 5 will be out then.

I certainly hope so for the sake of the platform and of competition. Because let's face it - RIM is circling the drain and with the recent HP-backed string of failures Palm/webOS is pretty much doomed as well. Apple and Google need competition

One non-MS problem I see is the 'chicken and egg' problem with Apps. I have a Slacker Premium account, and with the new On Demand feature it is an excellent service. Sadly the WP7 version is severely anemic, only supporting a sunset of features - I actually checked that I was properly logged in because there was so much stuff missing!

What everyone says is 'grow the platform and developers will come' and others say 'without apps no one will come'. But there is a third one - if there are a load of crappy apps, no one will come. So I am sure that people will say that Slacker will improve the app when Mango gives them multitasking and so on ... but will there still be people left around at that point?

[MadSci]

Hmmm Launched in October without support for the most basic of functions. And mango - necessary to bring the OS up to the last Gen of competing OS's - going to take until at least a year after that (assuming the Carriers get their asses in gear) well you can't catch a fast moving target with a slow moving train!

add to that the complete disrespect for their Customer Base (No support for local Outlook, killing all support for WinMo Customers within a year of launching, firing the MVPs who frankly have done more to build the Customer Bases for both WinMo and WinPhone than Microsoft's Marketing Department has!) and you have to be delusional to think WP is going to take a large hunk out of the Market.

Don't get me wrong, I'm really enjoying my HD7S, and there is clearly a lot of goodness under the hood, but PuhLease! get the OS up to par with the competition, treat your Customers (the ones who buy the handsets, NOT the Carriers - when will MSoft figure that one out!) with respect and for God's sake DON'T piss off the dedicated Experts who help the rest of your Customers figure out how to get the best from their phones.

Honestly, MSoft treats the Users like sh#($, they couldn't market their way out of a paper bag and they expect to sell to people!

The world is changing and all around the place MSoft continues to show they can't see which way the wind is blowing. They need to fire their Marketing Team, and bring in some heavyweight Talent with the mandate and resources to engage their Customers, treat them well, and make OUR priorities, Microsoft's priorities!