On November 9th, Microsoft released the “highly anticipated” Windows Phone 7 to the market. Unfortunately, when it finally did hit the stores, sales have been disappointing at 40,000 units sold on launch date. This figure was announced by a market research source who tracks phone sales (TheStreet.com).
In comparison, In comparison, Apple’s iPhone 4 sold 600,000 units in pre-orders alone while Google’s Android devices were able to activate over 200,000 phones per day.
So why, the disappointing sales figures? Well it depends who you talk to, Microsoft seem to think this as a “ringing success”. But the truth of the matter is, Microsoft is having a hard time targeting to the right consumers and differentiating their product from Apple and Google’s offerings. Apart from that, Windows Phone 7 entered into the smart phone market too late while all the big players such as Apple and Google have already had a strong establishment and foundation. In fact, the situation that Microsoft is facing with their Windows Phone 7 is similar to Google’s first Android Phone G1 for T-Mobile which entered the smartphone market dominated by Blackberries and Iphones. However, over time, through the right marketing mix and through effective STP (Segmenting, Targeting, and Promotion), Google’s Android has established itself as a main player in the smart phone market through it’s flexible and customizable user interface.
It’ll be interesting to see how Microsoft plans to market their Windows Phone 7 in the future in order to establish a similar success that Google have accomplished.
On a similar note, I have read over and commented on my classmate, Sean Fleming’s, blog relating to Windows Phone 7’s advertisement simplicity. Check it out here: https://blogs.ubc.ca/scipio63/2010/10/25/windows-phone/comment-page-1/#comment-5
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