Microsoft – Under the rug

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Microsoft continues to hide its light under a bushel.

  • The reviews of Windows Phone 8.1 are starting to come in and they are pretty positive all round.
  • Those that have lived with the new software for several days are finding that the updates have created a significant improvement in the user experience.
  • New features such as Cortana, Action Center, WiFi/Data Sense and the UI changes have all been pretty well received.
  • Windows Phone still lacks a lot of apps. but this problem is being addressed albeit much more slowly than I had hoped.
  • Furthermore it looks like there is a whole host of Windows Phones being developed for launch this year.
  • Hence the summer and autumn should see something like 8 new devices launched all with the updated user experience.
  • This is exactly the kind of activity that is needed to make the Windows ecosystem a success but a critical piece is still missing.
  • User awareness of Windows Phone and the ecosystem remains almost non-existent and until Microsoft educates the users, many of these improvements will go unnoticed.
  • The majority of Windows Phone devices at retail which potential buyers get to play with have no data on them.
  • This effectively means that they get no real idea of what it will be like to live their Digital Lives with Windows Phone
  • iPhone and Android are brands in their own right but Windows Phone does not have this luxury and so it must tell everyone explicitly why it is great.
  • Microsoft’s marketing to date has been focused on announcing the presence of Windows 8 but has yet to explain to anyone why they should buy it.
  • Until this changes, market share is going to remain far below its potential and the good work of its device and software engineers will go unnoticed.
  • It is encouraging to see improvements at the product end but now the message must be spread far and wide.
  • I am still hopeful that Microsoft can make a real go of its ecosystem as investments in products should logically be matched with investments in marketing.
  • Microsoft has vast resources and I am hopeful that Microsoft is aware of the shortcomings in its message.
  • Microsoft along with Yahoo! and Google are my favoured ways to look at the mobile ecosystem. 

RICHARD WINDSOR

Richard is founder, owner of research company, Radio Free Mobile. He has 16 years of experience working in sell side equity research. During his 11 year tenure at Nomura Securities, he focused on the equity coverage of the Global Technology sector.

Blog Comments

I am for years a user of MS XP and now 7 and MS phone and like them (do not like Apple for personal reasons) ; have read your blog comments for sometime your observations/recommendations on all the ecosystems, manufactureres etc.are clear, concise and very much on tartget, in my opinion .

MS for some reason has forgotten what is said about marketing, i.e from Wikipedia “Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers, for the purpose of selling that product or service”. They have done worse than a poor job of marketing all their stuff, hopefully that is changing.

I even sent a lettre to Balmer last year and ended it as follows “It is time for a strategic change redirection, a major overhaul if you please. Apple had problems when Steve Jobs left years ago and look at them today, you can not ride on the coat tails of past success because who wears them today?”

At a recent wedding I attended there were several mid level MS executives (I respect you opinions and gave them your web address) I expressd my personal focus group of one and your comments (without to much drink), they agreed and said changes were afoot. Hopefully the C level MS bosses are listening will do something.

Regards
Larry

Hi Larry…Thanks for your comment. I hope that is changing…fingers crossed and I hope that the exec is not as dumb as its public persona would have us believe. Cheers