The hashtag #windowsphone is a promoted trend today on Twitter, but the current top tweet with that hashtag isn’t likely to be the kind of publicity Microsoft was looking for.
“Kind of sad that MS had to promote #windowsphone,” wrote Twitter user
href="http://twitter.com/#!/alpesh_shah" >@alpesh_shah. “Can’t image Apple or Google needing to pay for a hashtag promotion.”
While other Twitter users are simply glad to see the software giant’s attempted return to mobile domination marked by a bit of social media marketing (courtesy of AT&T, who paid for the promoted tweet to link to Windows Phone 7 devices on its site), many of us are wondering whether said return is ever likely to occur.
Once upon a time, Windows’ mobile offerings competed well in the marketplace. These days, however, Microsoft’s mobile OSes have dipped to around 15% market share, according to recent
href="http://mashable.com/2010/11/02/iphone-android-nielsen/">numbers from Nielsen.
But the latest Microsoft-made operating system,
href="http://mashable.com/tag/windows-phone-7">Windows Phone 7, has given some cause for hope. The design language of the OS is beautiful, and Windows Phone 7 has been one of the platforms that’s
href="http://mashable.com/2010/10/15/defining-mobile-platforms/">shaped our conversations about the mobile market since its announcement in February this year.
Nevertheless, when a few Windows Phone 7 devices
href="http://mashable.com/2010/11/08/windows-phone-7-now-available/">debuted in the U.S. this week, sales were lackluster, to say the least. Whereas Google ships
href="http://mashable.com/2010/02/17/60000-android-phones/">around 60,000 phones on a normal business day, and blockbuster devices like the iPhone 4 show first-day sales of
href="http://mashable.com/2010/06/25/apple-1-5-million-iphones-4/">a million and a half units, only
href="http://www.thestreet.com/story/10916575/1/microsoft-sells-40k-windows-7-phones.html" >40,000 Windows Phone 7 devices were reportedly sold on Monday.
Microsoft’s been pumping lots of money into its mobile-device marketing campaigns. It’s been reported the company spent around $100 million to market Windows Phone 7 (and no doubt,
href="http://mashable.com/2010/10/11/windows-phone-7-ads/">the ads are pretty cool). But the initial sales aren’t yet justifying that marketing expense.
This is reminding us of an all-too-recent, all-too-similar story.
Remember the Kin? The should-have-been-world-changing phone that Microsoft
href="http://mashable.com/2010/06/30/rip-microsoft-kin/">axed after a few weeks after its
href="http://mashable.com/2010/04/12/kin-microsoft-launches-social-networking-phones/">launch?
True, Kin’s sales were reportedly much worse — some say unit sales were in the thousands or even hundreds. And its marketing campaign was as expensive as it was
href="http://mashable.com/2010/04/18/microsoft-kin-sexting/">sleazy. But the Kin’s failure wasn’t due to bad ads alone.
While we sit back and wait for more encouraging sales reports to come in, we’re also wondering what you think: Has Microsoft lost its magic touch when it comes to mobile? Will Windows ever be the dominant figure it once was in the mobile scene? And is Windows Phone 7 the OS that will make it all happen?
Tell us what you think in the poll below, and let us know your full opinion in the comments.
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