What Windows Phones need to stay afloat.
I won't write an article about they need to truly succeed and become a legitimate player as I've already said many times over that they need to do something meaningful that their competitors don't. Each platform does things different, but at the moment, they are all to the average user, roughly the same aside from store content and cost.
But, that being said, depending on which report you follow, Microsoft may still be gaining market share at a snail's pace. And, undoubtedly they want to continue to make progress, even if it is painfully slow. There are a number of things that they can do to help the situation thankfully, and that is what this article is about.
Now that they are a phone OEM themselves, they need to stop making the massive mistake Nokia made. Carrier exclusivity. I'm frankly not sure why carriers even want it here, unless their goal is to hurt Windows Phone. The devices don't really draw significant enough numbers to make exclusivity beneficial for them. Either way, this needs to stop. If a phone can run on a given network then Microsoft should be busting their butts to get the phone sold on that network. This has been an ongoing rant for many. They actually want a particular and can't get it on their carrier. Seen many, many posts citing this as a reason for switching to Android or iOS rather than switching carriers.
Supplementary to that is that they need to make sure that the phones either support a wider array of networks or offer more variants that support those networks. Once again, many posts of people not switching to or abandoning the platform came from people on smaller networks who couldn't even get the phone they wanted in a model which even worked on their network.
Again, supplementary to both of the above is selling unlocked models through their own store. Some people don't want phones on contracts, don't want to deal with their carrier more than they need to, or simply want a clean experience on an unbranded phone. But most Lumia's were never made available unlocked or only came available unlocked several months after launch. This has to be the dumbest reason to lose sales. People wanting to spend hundreds of dollars on an unsubsidized phone is a great thing.
Funny eh? The first 3 reasons are ALL around availability. I can vouch for this. I probably would have impulse bought 1-2 more Lumia's if all models were available here in Canada from sources I wanted to use. I actually would have re-signed on another 2 year contract to get a 930 even. But I can't. Telus and Microsoft lose.
And, oddly while this was a problem with Nokia prior to the acquisition, Microsoft is largely terrible at this with their own products too. I don't believe they even sell their Band in Canada and stories are that it is very difficult to get in the US even. And that is far from the only such product of theirs I've had issue with, just the most recent.
After availability would have to be doing whatever it is Android OEM's are doing (likely kick backs) to help get sales agents actually considering selling these devices. And based on the stories there is definitely some incentive to selling particular Android phones because it is otherwise piss poor sales to try and talk people out of a device they walked in asking you to sell them which is what many report. Truth is, the average person doesn't buy a cell phone, they are sold one. This move would likely have the biggest impact on sales out of any thing... but it is also more nebulous to me.
Lastly would have to be my point from the other day. They need a regular release cycle on a high end model. Not because they will sell like hot cakes, but because the only way to draw up excitement about a hardware platform is with exciting hardware. Budget phones aren't exciting. Simply having a new and exciting high end phone should help with low end phone sales as well.
This is just empty speculation, but if Microsoft were able to make all of these changes tomorrow, I would think that they might actually crack double digit market share in North America within 2 years time. And I don't frankly think that this is overly optimistic results. These changes of course obviously won't happen tomorrow, and probably won't happen any time soon if at all.
But I think availability is probably a bigger issue than people imagine. I can walk into ANY carrier and get an iPhone or a wide array of Android devices. At any given time there is no guarantee that a physical location has any Windows Phone devices or even that the carrier has any at all. That should both terrify and encourage Microsoft. They should be scared for obvious reasons, but happy they have a user base at all.
But, that being said, depending on which report you follow, Microsoft may still be gaining market share at a snail's pace. And, undoubtedly they want to continue to make progress, even if it is painfully slow. There are a number of things that they can do to help the situation thankfully, and that is what this article is about.
Now that they are a phone OEM themselves, they need to stop making the massive mistake Nokia made. Carrier exclusivity. I'm frankly not sure why carriers even want it here, unless their goal is to hurt Windows Phone. The devices don't really draw significant enough numbers to make exclusivity beneficial for them. Either way, this needs to stop. If a phone can run on a given network then Microsoft should be busting their butts to get the phone sold on that network. This has been an ongoing rant for many. They actually want a particular and can't get it on their carrier. Seen many, many posts citing this as a reason for switching to Android or iOS rather than switching carriers.
Supplementary to that is that they need to make sure that the phones either support a wider array of networks or offer more variants that support those networks. Once again, many posts of people not switching to or abandoning the platform came from people on smaller networks who couldn't even get the phone they wanted in a model which even worked on their network.
Again, supplementary to both of the above is selling unlocked models through their own store. Some people don't want phones on contracts, don't want to deal with their carrier more than they need to, or simply want a clean experience on an unbranded phone. But most Lumia's were never made available unlocked or only came available unlocked several months after launch. This has to be the dumbest reason to lose sales. People wanting to spend hundreds of dollars on an unsubsidized phone is a great thing.
Funny eh? The first 3 reasons are ALL around availability. I can vouch for this. I probably would have impulse bought 1-2 more Lumia's if all models were available here in Canada from sources I wanted to use. I actually would have re-signed on another 2 year contract to get a 930 even. But I can't. Telus and Microsoft lose.
And, oddly while this was a problem with Nokia prior to the acquisition, Microsoft is largely terrible at this with their own products too. I don't believe they even sell their Band in Canada and stories are that it is very difficult to get in the US even. And that is far from the only such product of theirs I've had issue with, just the most recent.
After availability would have to be doing whatever it is Android OEM's are doing (likely kick backs) to help get sales agents actually considering selling these devices. And based on the stories there is definitely some incentive to selling particular Android phones because it is otherwise piss poor sales to try and talk people out of a device they walked in asking you to sell them which is what many report. Truth is, the average person doesn't buy a cell phone, they are sold one. This move would likely have the biggest impact on sales out of any thing... but it is also more nebulous to me.
Lastly would have to be my point from the other day. They need a regular release cycle on a high end model. Not because they will sell like hot cakes, but because the only way to draw up excitement about a hardware platform is with exciting hardware. Budget phones aren't exciting. Simply having a new and exciting high end phone should help with low end phone sales as well.
This is just empty speculation, but if Microsoft were able to make all of these changes tomorrow, I would think that they might actually crack double digit market share in North America within 2 years time. And I don't frankly think that this is overly optimistic results. These changes of course obviously won't happen tomorrow, and probably won't happen any time soon if at all.
But I think availability is probably a bigger issue than people imagine. I can walk into ANY carrier and get an iPhone or a wide array of Android devices. At any given time there is no guarantee that a physical location has any Windows Phone devices or even that the carrier has any at all. That should both terrify and encourage Microsoft. They should be scared for obvious reasons, but happy they have a user base at all.
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