Have you ever loaned someone money and as soon as you gave it to them you thought “well I will never see that back”. I have to wonder if Steve Ballmer is thinking that very thing right now. His company, Microsoft, has just written a very big check to Nokia and a few other EU based phone makers for a huge marketing push on Windows Phone 7.5 (aka Mango). We wonder if this is too little too late. So far Windows Phone 7 has not managed to even capture 2% of the market share. Much of this is due mistakes made in the way Windows Mobile 6.5 was coded. Yes, I am saying that Microsoft started losing market share as far back as Windows Mobile 6.x.  From there they had a good chance to build on the relative success of the ZuneHD but failed to read the market queues properly and ended up making two of the worst received mobile phones ever. These were the Kin phones which had a product lifespan of only six weeks.

After that things began to decline rapidly and Windows Mobile never really took off again. We have talked about some of the reasons for this in recent articles and it really does boil down to Microsoft’s in ability to understand the market and the competition. However, for once they are going to try and do some marketing. We honestly do not feel that any amount of marketing done by Microsoft can save the Windows Phone division (unless they hire the entire Apple PR team. Still we do think they have to try.

The reality is that Microsoft and its partners must change the image of Windows Phone, they have to offer better hardware, faster response and more content than either Apple or Android can, the problem is that Microsoft just does not have the apps to match either of these two companies. In my opinion they do have a much better music service, but you cannot produce a winning phone with just that.

Steve Ballmer will need to keep his check book handy as 2011 runs into 2012 because I have a feeling they will need it just to get on the map for the Holiday Season. To give you an example of what I mean; I asked a few people what they thought of Microsoft’s mobile OS and all I got was a blank look. They did not even know there was such a thing. Like I said, this is going to be an uphill battle and all the trash talking and cash is not going to replace the lack of handsets and market knowledge about the product.

Source Mobile Today

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