Windows Phone 7 is Struggling Says Steve Balmer

[famousringo]

Zlejedi said:

famousringo said:
Yep, the problem is that Android got there with a modular OS solution first. 

As OS vendors, Google and Microsoft aren't exactly selling to customers, they're selling to handset manufacturers and the carriers who contract them. Android offers a more established ecosystem, an OS which can be customized with UIs and pre-loaded software for differentiation, and does it at the low price of free (though usually the manufacturer chooses to pay for licensed Google apps). Even if a manufacturer were looking at each platform fresh, Android looks more attractive, and then you consider that most of them have already invested a lot of R&D working on Android handsets.

Other than the Nokia deal, the only other big asset Microsoft has is that the price of Android keeps creeping up as Android vendors keep losing lawsuits. Sometimes free isn't so free, and it's easy to see how a manufacturer might decide to take shelter under Microsoft's umbrella rather than paying to fight Google's legal battles.

Guys don't forget that:

1. You can only buy iOS with expensive phone

2. W7P also has not so small minimal requirments

3. Android runs on almost everything which means their phones are cheapest

The price of a smartphone pales in comparison to the price of a data contract, even in regions that don't subsidize the phone. Apple offers a cheaper iPhone, and it serves some buyers well, but most customers skip right past it and pay marginally more for the latest and greatest model. Hell, you can get a Blackberry for a little over a hundred bucks, but it isn't doing RIM much good right now. Until the cost of phone data falls a lot lower, I don't think price will be as important a competitive factor as features and ecosystem.

I'm also not sure how valuable the customers who buy cheap are. I'm not just talking about the initial handset revenue. Judging by browser usage and app sales, a lot of people are using their smartphones as kickass feature phones. A sale is a sale, but people who don't download software are people with few reasons not to switch to another brand the next time their contract comes up.