Why Does T-Mobile Hate Microsoft? Or is it Vice Versa?

[Ron Hostetter]

<p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//wpt/auto/1315510899.usr684.png" style="border: 0;" />&nbsp;</p><p>I&rsquo;ve always been a Microsoft fan. Years ago, I worked for a consulting firm that was a Microsoft Partner, so I spent a lot of my time implementing various Microsoft technologies. A good portion of my salary was derived from the success of the Redmond company.</p><p>A few years ago, Microsoft released the Zune, and I jumped on board. It, of course, has become somewhat of a disappointment. I love the Zune Pass service, but the Zune music player device has already died. When Microsoft released their plans for a new Windows phone last year, I was excited. When I saw the early demos of the interface, I was thrilled. I thought that finally, Microsoft could put a dent in the iPhone universe. <MORE /></p><p>My family mobile phone service is with T-Mobile. We&rsquo;ve been with T-Mobile for years. They&rsquo;ve always had the best prices, and a decent selection of phones. Last year, when my teenage son was ready to buy his own phone, I talked him into waiting for the new Windows 7 phone to launch before buying. He wanted to buy a jail-broken iPhone to use on T-Mobile.</p><p>He agreed with me, and purchased the T-Mobile HTC HD7 on launch day. I was little concerned that the HD7 was the only Windows 7 phone available on T-Mobile. It&rsquo;s a good phone, but it&rsquo;s not for everybody.</p><p>Here we are a year later, and T-Mobile never did offer any other Windows 7 phone. We went to the store last weekend to look at a new phone for my teenage daughter. There were no Windows 7 phones available. None. Not a one. She bought a Droid. (There were dozens of Droid phones available, by the way).</p><p>Why is this? Does T-Mobile hate Microsoft? Does Microsoft hate T-Mobile? Why can&rsquo;t Microsoft promote its own products? Think about the last time you watched television. How many iPhone or Droid commercials did you see? And how many Windows Phone 7 ads? Pathetic!</p><p>Is Microsoft just determined to undermine every cool new consumer technology they come up with? You would think every carrier would have a selection of at least two or three different phones &ndash; slide out keyboards, smaller or larger screens, etc.</p><p>I asked the sales person, and he told me that he thought a new Windows 7 Phone would be released &ldquo;soon,&rdquo; but of course, he had no information about the phone or when it might be released.</p><p>C&rsquo;mon, Microsoft&hellip; I&rsquo;m trying to cheer you on, but you are making it so hard.</p>

[benjimen]

It's more of a hobbyist phone...

[djdj]

It isn't just T-Mobile. It's at least Sprint as well... but if you go to a Verizon or AT&T store asking for a Windows Phone most salespeople will try to talk you into an Android or iPhone instead, even if they have a WP model in stock.

I have a friend who was convinced she wanted a Windows Phone. Then she went to the Sprint store to get it. The salesperson spent 10 minutes trying to talk her out of it. Then once she convinced the salesperson that WP was really what she wanted, they didn't have any in stock. Since she was replacing a phone that had just taken a swim in a pool and needed an immediate replacement, she went home with an Evo instead. And she hates it.

All of the carriers are at least partially to blame for low Windows Phone sales. They're next to impossible to get in any retail location. It's hard to sell them if they don't keep them in stock.

[virain]

It isn't just T-Mobile. It's at least Sprint as well... but if you go to a Verizon or AT&T store asking for a Windows Phone most salespeople will try to talk you into an Android or iPhone instead, even if they have a WP model in stock.
I was actually a witness of a sales person talking in a customer from a windows phone into blackberry at AT&T store. The funny part was that customer asked for the phone that she could use Hotmail and Office, that were her two objectives. IMHO WP would fit her perfectly, but not what the salesperson thought. I suspect sales stuff get extra commission or bonuses from pushing Androids and Crackberries. Why they sell iPhone? It sells itself, pluss little chance of it being returned in a week or so.

[liljohn]

Interesting point about the TV ads. Of course all the Iphone ads are paid for by Apple, Android ads though are usually paid for by the phone manufacturer. I believe Microsoft could have the best of both these worlds Microsoft ads and manufacturer ads but yet I have never seen an ad by a phone manufacturer for the Windows Phone. Why don't cellular/hardware/os work together to promote there phones and service?

[Ron Hostetter]

While I agree the carriers have some blame, I also think Microsoft isn't doing its part. I would imagine if they (and the hardware manufacturers) threw enough muscle (money) behind this, they could "convince" the carriers to sell those phones.

It's frustrating that even those who know they want this phone can't seem to get it.

[whydidnt]

The marketing problem is primarily Microsoft's. They have never viewed the end-user as their customer, so very little effort (read $) is spent on attracting our attention. I think they have recently realized that at the very least they need to spend some $ on carrier relationships, but I doubt they have progressed very far. But let's face it the current offerings of WP7 are blah... they are neutered iPhones with less power, less storage and less "cool factor". They can't compete with Android on features, even if they might be easier to use. They really don't have a niche today. Now perhaps Mango can change that, perhaps one of the OEMs will hit a home run from a hardware standpoint, but I still see OEM's (other than Nokia) treating this as a secondary device and that doesn't bode well for WP. We have yet to see what Nokia will do, but their rumored first offering is more blah...

A the end of the day, from a financial standpoint, if MS can earn $5.00 from most Android phones, sold -- for doing NOTHING - why would they invest more than a couple dollars per WP device sold, since they are only getting a little more than that for each license. Sometime, over the last decade and a half, they have progressed from a software driven company to a financials driven company and most decisions are made based upon what is best for this quarter's financials.

[cbf]

Well, if Microsoft doesn't view the end-user as the customer, then who do they think the customer is? Surely not the carriers -- none but AT&T carry even two Win Phones. The OEMs? Only HTC (so far), seems to have made a semi-serious effort at producing some Win Phone 7 models. By the time Nokia gets something to the US market, the game may already be over.

I'm in the same position -- the whole family is up for new phones and there are really no viable Win Phone contenders on Sprint (current carrier), T-Mobile, or Verizon. Even AT&T's three models are a year old..

[whydidnt]

I think Microsoft still views the OEMs as their customers. Now to be fair, it's quite possible that they, the OEMs and carriers all realized that the first release of WP7 wasn't very competitive, so decided rather than put a lot of resources into a losing effort, they were best served waiting for the "real" first release - Mango. I think it looks like WP7 was originally released just so MS could say they released something, more than it was to actually compete in the market.

[Sven Johannsen]

But let's face it the current offerings of WP7 are blah... they are neutered iPhones with less power, less storage and less "cool factor". They can't compete with Android on features, even if they might be easier to use.
Not sure I entirely agree with that. I'm sure there may be more, but the only significant shortcoming in WP7 capability is tethering, IMHO. It's been shown the OS is capable of it, so it seems it is a carrier hesitation. Even iPhone just got it recently.

Power and storage are a bit relative to usage. I don't see that the power my WP7s make them any less responsive than any Android phone I've played with, and with a great deal of dat being cloud based, somewhat limited storage isn't that big a deal. I may be off base, but this is my phone, not my media player, so not having my entire music and video collection isn't that big an issue. Don't really have time to listen or watch that much, when I'm limited to my phone anyway. I have more than enough room for the favorites.

"Cool" is marketing, pure and simple. If HTC could license iOS they would stuff it, Android and WP7 in essentially the same chassis, and somehow the iOS and Android would be cooler than the WP7. The Android would probably rise out of the sea and cook your breakfast in the ads, and iOS...well...its iOS, it even gets free air time on Conan. When you get right down to it, all the phones these days are pretty much a slab with some buttons, and maybe a keyboard.

It may be unfortunate that WP7 devices are a year old, but my iPhone 4 is a year old too. It hasn't gotten any more additional features than my WP7. Difference is that people know iPhone 5 is coming. What's a Mango? And who has heard of it outside the geek and phone community that tends to lean toward the 'open source' (read hackable) droid.

MS has hostorically just created a better mousetrap, and waited for folks to beat a path to their door. Not gonna work when the other guys market door to door.

[whydidnt]

Not sure I entirely agree with that. I'm sure there may be more, but the only significant shortcoming in WP7 capability is tethering, IMHO. I think you're overestimating WP7 - at launch:
No File Manager
No BT File Transfers
No USB Mass Storage
No Non-Native Multi-Tasking (this is huge if you want to run third party media or navigagtion)
No video calls
No Custom Ringtones
No Copy/Paste
No Turn by Turn Navigation (only recently available)

Now granted the iPhone doesn't offer a file system, however, for the target, mass consumer market, things like custom ring tones, video calls and multi-tasking are pretty big deals. The others are more relevant to power users.

Power and storage are a bit relative to usage.
This is true, but for those who want to use their smartphone as an all-in-one device, WP7 is limited. One of the benefits of WP7 was supposed to be some device diversity, we saw very little of that in first generation devices. For every person that prefers to carry a dedicated media player, I guess there are 2-3 that say I have a phone that can do this, why would I want a second device? I see people listening to music & watching movies on their phones all the time, but don't see a lot of people with a 2nd device anymore.

And who has heard of it outside the geek and phone community that tends to lean toward the 'open source' (read hackable) droid.

Which is certainly true, but judging by market share numbers, a lot more than geek are interested in Android and the iPhone. MS is the new guy on this block, and should have strived to at least match features with the incumbents, they chose to release an OS that they admitted was feature short to get out the door. I don't blame the carriers/OEMs for considering it 2nd fiddle, at release it was basically a powerful feature phone OS priced like Smartphone's on the market.

{QUOTE}MS has hostorically just created a better mousetrap, and waited for folks to beat a path to their door. Not gonna work when the other guys market door to door.[/QUOTE]

Except in this case they haven't even built the better mousetrap (yet). And you're right, they are too far behind as far as hearts and minds of consumers to try and deploy this strategy. MS has also historically exploited weak competitors, and again, this time they are dealing with 2 very strong, very well financed competitors. If they want to become relevant they will have to compete differently than in the past.

[Fritzly]

Not sure I entirely agree with that. I'm sure there may be more, but the only significant shortcoming in WP7 capability is tethering, IMHO. It's been shown the OS is capable of it, so it seems it is a carrier hesitation. Even iPhone just got it recently.



Just as example:

http://answers.microsoft.com/thread/7834506f-c60d-4eb6-b04a-9829131922ee

Do not get me wrong I like WP7 GUI but as far as functionalities go it has a long way to go just to get at the same level of WM 6.5.X

[whydidnt]

A couple of days old, but pretty relevant link at BGR:
http://www.bgr.com/2011/09/07/microsofts-to-finally-educate-retail-partners-on-windows-phone/

[Jason Dunn]

Great post Ron! Another issue I've found is that it's extremely hard to get any real hands-on time with Windows Phones in Canada. Every single store I've ever walked into - whether that's Best Buy or a Telus/Rogers/Bell store - only have dummy phones. You can't easily see Windows Phone 7 in action, and because it's not promoted as heavily as the iPhone is, not many consumers know how it looks/works. That makes it hard to sell the phones...

[holtwm]

Sorry just needed to come out of hiding and comment on this post.

My question is if you know that you really want a Windows Phone 7 device from T-Mobile why not buy it online at AmazonWireless or even T-Mobile.com? Even calling T-Mobile directly would make more sense than relying on a store near you to have the device. Going to a particular store near you to get a particular device is just not going to work most of the time. You will also get a much better price and selection of deals online as well. Amazon often has a phone for free (with contract) while you would pay $100 or $200 at the retail store on that same exact day.

Every phone I have bought since my Motorola MPx200 in 2003 has been bought online or by calling the carrier and upgrading. Since so few people buy electronics by driving to a physical store near them any more, maybe Microsoft is trying to fight the battle online by focusing on tech reviewers, tech blogs, online merchants, etc. rather than focusing on retail stores.

Of course if you don't like the phone you can always return it. The only downside is you will need to wait a couple of days for it to be FedEx'ed to you but that is a small price to pay for all of the advantages you get from buying it online.

Finally relying on a phone store employee to make recommendations on which phone to buy is not a recipe for success either. Most of the time they don't know what they are talking about and even if they did they are more swayed by stock levels, quotas, incentives, etc. than actually helping you make a good choice. You need to do the homework yourself online by reading reviews and choose what is best for you based on your needs. Noone else can do that for you.

[jimtravis]

The day after the HD7 was released, I went to a large T-mobile store in Boston. I am a gadget addict, and have several devices on all platforms. I was a huge fan of classic WM because it was the only mobile OS that allowed me to do the tasks I need when mobile. I was disappointed when MS abandoned the power user, but still wanted to add a WP7 device to my electronic toy box.

There were no WP7 devices on display, and again, this was a large store near many college campuses the day after the device was released. When I asked to see a HD7, the sales rep stated he thought there was one charging in the back. After about 10 minutes, he brought one out. His knowledge of WP7 could fit in a thimble with lots of room left over. I did purchase the HD7 because that was my goal when I entered the store, but my T-Mobile experience was WP7 unfriendly bordering on hostile. if MS wants to sell more phones, they will have to change the attitude of the carriers about WP7 devices.

[Fritzly]

The day after the HD7 was released, I went to a large T-mobile store in Boston. I am a gadget addict, and have several devices on all platforms. I was a huge fan of classic WM because it was the only mobile OS that allowed me to do the tasks I need when mobile. I was disappointed when MS abandoned the power user, but still wanted to add a WP7 device to my electronic toy box.

There were no WP7 devices on display, and again, this was a large store near many college campuses the day after the device was released. When I asked to see a HD7, the sales rep stated he thought there was one charging in the back. After about 10 minutes, he brought one out. His knowledge of WP7 could fit in a thimble with lots of room left over. I did purchase the HD7 because that was my goal when I entered the store, but my T-Mobile experience was WP7 unfriendly bordering on hostile. if MS wants to sell more phones, they will have to change the attitude of the carriers about WP7 devices.

Interesting, the day WP7 devices were released I did the same thing in Miami. T-Mobile store had all the devices (Omnia 7, HD7 etc.) on display and available to play with. Not sure if I was lucky or what.....

[karen]

Great post Ron! Another issue I've found is that it's extremely hard to get any real hands-on time with Windows Phones in Canada. Every single store I've ever walked into - whether that's Best Buy or a Telus/Rogers/Bell store - only have dummy phones. You can't easily see Windows Phone 7 in action, and because it's not promoted as heavily as the iPhone is, not many consumers know how it looks/works. That makes it hard to sell the phones...

Same experience here in Toronto (and I've been writing about that since the PocketPC days, too.) When WP7 was first out, I did see a few live one in BestBuy stores in the Toronto area. But now they are all slabs. I'm tired of all the Canadian stores pushing RIM devices. It's just silly. If I wanted a Blackberry, I'd have one already.

[Sven Johannsen]

I think you're overestimating WP7 - at launch:
No File Manager
No BT File Transfers
No USB Mass Storage
No Non-Native Multi-Tasking (this is huge if you want to run third party media or navigagtion)
No video calls
No Custom Ringtones
No Copy/Paste
No Turn by Turn Navigation (only recently available)

Now granted the iPhone doesn't offer a file system, however, for the target, mass consumer market, things like custom ring tones, video calls and multi-tasking are pretty big deals. The others are more relevant to power users.

No argument that these were missing, and I can't fathom why, except software takes time and throwing more $ or developers at it doesn't always help. (can make it worse). Note that it took iPhone a good bit of time to do those things as well. Some still aren't available on iPhone. The majority though will be there with Mango. At least on a reasonable parity with iPhone.

Guess I'm just saying, for the most part, for me, it did what I needed it to do. And the interface was nice, easy to navigate, unique, and the potential was there. I had some faith that they architected the OS so that features, such as those above, could be integrated in to the system, not tacked on.

Personally I don't get the appeal of Android, given the dismal acceptance of Windows Mobile. Looks to me like a little desktop experience with a way to launch apps. Isn't that what we had with WM? I can't imagine if MS had tried to extend Vista/Windows 7 Gadgets to WM. Folks would have said they were nuts...but call them widgets and hey, gotta have them. In reality live, info displaying features on the WM start screen were numerous. Between SPB and SBSH there was little you couldn't do without ever going past home.

Well, whatever. I just find it interesting at times what passes as essential. My wife probably wouldn't buy a car without heated seats, and some people just have to hear 30 seconds of their favorite tune to announce a phone call.I personally would gladly give up that last item, if it meant everyone else had to. That's probably just me though.

[Fritzly]

No argument that these were missing, and I can't fathom why, except software takes time and throwing more $ or developers at it doesn't always help. (can make it worse). Note that it took iPhone a good bit of time to do those things as well. Some still aren't available on iPhone. The majority though will be there with Mango. At least on a reasonable parity with iPhone.

Guess I'm just saying, for the most part, for me, it did what I needed it to do. And the interface was nice, easy to navigate, unique, and the potential was there. I had some faith that they architected the OS so that features, such as those above, could be integrated in to the system, not tacked on.



You pointed out a very true thing: peopele have different priorities and post about what is, for them a significant capability of an OS or lack of it but "Significance" is very subjective:

for example I could not care less for Xbox and FB integration, for other people the same could be of high relevance. Therefore comments like "WP7 with Mango does everything I need".... or the opposite.

I have Mango RTM on my device (HD7) and unfortunately the list of very important, again in my agenda, features still missing is quite long:

Unable to make a backup of what I want to backup, when I want to do it.

Appointments entered in Outlook show up in WP7 calendar for around two weeks only; no way to change it.

No way, even using third party apps, to backup SMS


I totally disregard the emphasys of Cloud sync; I need desktop sync. Besides many, obvious practical resons I do not see why I have to sponsor carriers.

No removable storage.

After one year from OS release even Mango does not allow the use of alphanumeric PW.

When entering your PW the numbers you push on the keyboard are highlighted; the Tablet XP OS had this issue when first released but it was fixed witin three months. Yes Gates and not bean counters were in charge of MS at the time.

Lack of ability to quickly and easily transfer a document from my desktop to the phone. Worksaround exist but the are awkward and should not be needed.

No support for "Category" in appointments and tasks.

I could keep going but my point here is not to make another cahiers de doléances about missing features but just give an example of what I was saying about personal priorities.

More and more I believe that WP7 was a "patch" OS that MS needed while getting reeady to launch Windows 8 and related mobile OS which hopefully will bring back what has always been the winning peculiarity of Windows: being an OS that fullfills the need of everybody.

[Sven Johannsen]

More and more I believe that WP7 was a "patch" OS that MS needed while getting reeady to launch Windows 8 and related mobile OS which hopefully will bring back what has always been the winning peculiarity of Windows: being an OS that fullfills the need of everybody.
Your points are all very well taken. I certainly see the significance of many to a considerable market, but my guess is that would be a more 'professional' market. Just my view. Seems though that MS didn't have that same professional/business market in mind when they made their shift. Office Hub not withstanding. I personally find the requirements for the server side of Sharepoint extreme, and the implementation limiting (Mango final Beta and Office 365), and am not terribly impresed by the Office apps, comparing to Office in WM and SoftMaker. Even Exchange tasks aren't supported. So business Office/MS users are not well or widely served, IMHO.

Your last few words "an OS that fullfills the need of everybody," seems kind of a pipe dream, doesn't it? Even sort of heretical in our competition focused society. ;) Even if someone took the best of everything right now, it might sell, but they certainly would be sued. :D