“I wanted to make sure that our figures weren’t anomalous, so I went to a few local high street mobile phone retailers, both network owned and independent and although they couldn’t give me numbers the story was the same, Windows Phone 7 Handsets are not selling,” Pusey reports. “The retailers I spoke to said that demand for iPhone, Blackberry and HTC handsets was strong in the smartphone sector. Perhaps surprisingly, our local Carphone Warehouse did not have any Windows Phone 7 handsets on display, and when I asked they said that they ‘might have one in the back.’ I’m sure this isn’t indicative of all retailers’ position on Windows Phone 7 but it’s still interesting.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote on October 30, 2010: Sadly, over what will certainly be a major hit to the humor quotient, we don’t believe that even Microsoft’s investors are in deep enough comas to allow this buffoon to survive as CEO after Windows Phone ’07 fails to set the world on fire in 2011. To have a realistic shot at catching a whiff of Apple’s fumes, Microsoft needed Windows Phone ’15 in 2011, not Windows Phone ’07. They’re already eight years behind. Ballmer chances of remaining CEO after this plays out are not good.
T-Mobile in the Minneapolis area is pushing the G2 4G phone and telling people to avoid the W7 phone.
I saw a couple of commercials for one of the W7 phonies yesterday. They appear to target preteens with cute little cycloptic microbial creatures that faint at keyboards, and fall in love with chunky block graphics.
Ballmer is probably not going to be the only one to go. I predict wholesale rebellion.
The under-achieving sales reports are just rounding errors!
Look for Ballmer to sell 5/6 of his stock ASAP.
” they ‘might have one in the back.'”
Why MS has to struggle desperately for phones? Why dont they just stick around to their own core competence/market? I dont get it.
“Always delightful and wonderfully mine.” Am I the only one who thinks it’s not just awful-sounding but even awkward by Microsoft standards?
I watched Ballmer’s keynote with an honest, non-partisan, open-minded approach and found it unbelievably distracting that the whole thing seemed forced by a desperate salesman on either his last sale or trying to convince an audience not buying into the hype. When all was said and done, it boiled down to being a reluctant attempt of Ballmer trying to be charismatic like Jobs, but avoiding any similar terminology, thus ending up with something ridiculous as “always delightful and wonderfully mine.”
I was a big fan of Microsoft up until Vista hit the shelves, so it’s a bit sad to see it go down in flames like this. Their Xbox 360 is great, but it just goes to show that their company is so fragmented that it really should be a bunch of smaller companies.
I wish he’d have a minor hit just so they’d keep him on for his critical major misses. Darn.
“…it boiled down to being a reluctant attempt of Ballmer trying to be charismatic like Jobs.”
Jobs has more Charisma in a hang nail than Ballmer does in his entire bloated body.
Window Phone 7 will either be the savior or the demise of Steve Ballmer. By the look of things it seems the latter applies. If Steve Ballmer still survives after the terrible crash, this will be a very clear indication of the misdirection of Micro$oft shareholders to plug the leaking holes of the sinking Titanic in the tech ocean.
“$500? FULLY SUBSIDIZED WITH A PLAN? I SAID THAT IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE PHONE IN THE WORLD, AND IT DOESN’T APPEAL TO BUSINESS CUSTOMERS BECAUSE IT DOESN’T HAVE A KEYBOARD WHICH MAKES IT NOT A VERY GOOD EMAIL MACHINE!”
Steve Ballmer, 2007.
How’s that strategy workin’ out for ya, Ballmer?
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Always delightful to hear astroturfers trash WP7. As a matter of fact we’ve moved gazillions of those babies. Read my lips: absolutely gazillions!
@BeyondtheTech
I think you hit on it. Steve Ballmer is really Willy Loman.
Microsoft is a dying behemoth. Last chance is breakup…
Now that M$ is toast Apple needs to pay off ATnT with a few billion dollars to break the iPhone exclusivity contract. Then roll out the iPhones to Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. Let Apple go head to head agains google and let’s see what happens.
I like how MDN calls it “WP ’07”.
Very appropriate.
Even with a “decent” product, M$ has lost a great piece of consumer confidence. It would take more than a “decent” product to get it back. Unfortunately, they have hit bottom for the past decade for “great” products.
“might have one in the back.”
So refreshing to hear something of MSPHFT given distant back shelf status with retailers and pretty much zero mind share. I remember when it was so for Mac users in the days of the classic OS. Mac stuff was “in the back,” neglected, BUT, no longer! Ignore Apple now at your peril.
All of us have MS fan friends who try desperately to justify their misguided purchases and preferences from Redmond. But the Emperor has no clothes. Not to mention brains or wherewithal.
The commercials are so bad. When you start to form the question, where is the unique consumer benefit in this message, you realize they don’t have one.
You can’t believe what this guy reports.
He’s, he’s a Pusey, I tell you, a Pusey!
AT&T now has BOGO offers for WP7, that did not take long. I checked one out at a AT&T store, the salesperson said the iPhone is the one he wanted. That said a lot. MS has lost the phone market, and the last gasp of the Zune (the market).
Interesting.
This report is from the UK, right?
And maybe I’m wrong, but isn’t computing in the UK still overwhelmingly Windows based (very little Apple penetration)?
And if so, shouldn’t consumers be going with what they know, as long as they like what they know and are not hating and thus rebelling against Windows at the first chance they get to use something, anything, different?
If I’m correct, I’d say this is a clear indication that the only reason people have been using Microsoft products is because they’ve been forced to. (Yeah, brilliant observation on my part, eh?)
The future looks very poor indeed, for Microsoft.
The future looks very bright for computer users.
WP ’07 phones aren’t selling well?
REALLY?
Sorry, had to make that joke.
what’s funny is someone at MS actually thinks people ‘love’ the Windows brand…
Ballmer: “We have a 95% marketshare, SOMEONE must love it!!”
Nerdling: “Er… well, its fallen a b–“
Ballmer: “WHO SAID YOU COULD TALK!! CHAIR!???”
@NHL
Your perception of UK computer users is quite wrong. The majority of UK computer users arent Windows users. In the UK they prefer Amiga & Sinclair Z81 computers, just like they prefer bad teeth & malodorous unwashed bodies.