“Nokia’s Windows-Phone-based Ace smartphone will benefit from a $100 million marketing push to be shared among Microsoft’s partners, with AT&T rumored to have received ‘hero’ status from the software giant in order to promote the device, according to a new report,” Josh Ong reports for AppleInsider. “‘AT&T itself will promote the device in its advertising, through its retail channels and direct store associates to push the device within its stores,’ the report read.”
“Sources have confirmed with BetaNews that the Ace will arrive in late March accompanied by a major marketing push during the second quarter of 2012,” Ong reports. “The Ace, which will reportedly be known as the Lumia 900 outside of the U.S., will be the new flagship device for Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform.”
Ong reports, “Though insiders pegged the campaign as costing roughly $100 million, they were unable to specify how the funds would be divided among AT&T, Microsoft and Nokia.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: With the glacial pace of legal proceedings, not to mention the questionable ability of the various legal systems around the world to make proper determinations regarding IP, it’s unclear if Nokia will make to to the point where Windows Phone vendors begin to benefit from the increased costs of Android due to royalty payments to Apple, Oracle, Microsoft, etc.
Microsoft might need to acquire Nokia to get them to the starting line, if they really want to have a Nokia brand if and when Windows Phone begins to really compete with Android among the pretend iPhone makers.
Beyond ad-sellers and ad-based media (of which we are one), this $100 million will be largely wasted if its intent is to revive Nokia’s fortunes or significantly increase Windows Phone’s share of the mobile OS market. If its intent is merely to keep Windows Phone treading water until the tide finally turns in its favor, then it may be a fairly useful expenditure.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jax44” for the heads up.]
Their “Ace in the hole” as in toilet. $100 mil poorly spent. Fools and their ad dollars will soon be parted. A lot of trouble to go for something that will probably never exceed a couple percentage points of market share. In customers minds WimP7 is DOA and off their consumer radar. I know of one radical PC loving friend of mine who has one but othe than that no one else and NEVER seen ONE in the wild.
I don’t know. There are an awful lot of people dumb enough to by an Android phone. You’ve got to figure they’re dumb enough to buy a WinPhone, especially when pushed by the AT&T sales lackeys. Besides, they’ll have heard of Microsoft, think that is the big name in computers, so this is the phone to buy.
No one ever went broke underestimating the American (and others) public.
One hundred million advertising campaign; you’d think the CEO was a salesman or something.
Microsoft/Nokia has to be the worst partnership in recent memory. The first Nokia Windows Phone should have been ready to go, BEFORE the partnership (with $1 billion “bribe” from Microsoft to Nokia) was announced. They should have been working on the first Nokia Windows Phone in secret.
Instead, all they had during the “big” announcement were Photoshop mockups and a “coming soon” promise, and it took about ONE YEAR before actual phones were released. By then, no one cared…
And now, I expect hardly anyone will care (again).
“…they were unable to specify how the funds would be divided among AT&T, Microsoft and Nokia.”
It’s much easier to calculate how the profits will be divided!
It would have made more sense for Microsoft and Nokia to partner with T-Mobile since that provider does not offer iPhone.
And that would have been one more reason for NOT choosing T-Mobile… 🙂
T-Mobile doesn’t have the clout or money to run such an advertising campaign. Plus, AT&T needs to have something selling besides the iPhone or it will become nothing more than Apple’s bitch (not that that would be a bad thing, but not something AT&T wants).
Nokia and Microsoft have no other choice. Nokia can’t develop software to save its a**, and Microsoft can’t do hardware.
Sources have confirmed with BetaNews that the Ace will arrive in late March…
Allowing yet another 20 million iPhones, 15 million iPads and 5 million iPods to be set loose in the mobile space with no answer from MS.
MS inability to execute is quite dazzling–two years after the iPad, five years after the iPhone, 11 years after the iPod. Now, they have a huge ecosystem they are competing against. The devices are almost secondary.
Didn’t they spend $250M on the Kin advertising campaign?
That went well….
In 2004, Creative Labs spent $100 million marketing the Zen MP3 players.
That went well too.
And that was back when $100 million was worth more.
That campaign was nearly as creepy as the Zune “social” series.
I suspect this $100 mill will also be flushed on an ineffectual, unfocused, yet widely offensive series of ads that will leave sellers doing BOGO offers.
How much was spent on Zune and it was a completely utter failure. Even thought the MS Drones/Pawns were running around amuck on the net telling everyone how awesome that POS was.
I wish them luck. Seriously. I’d rather see Apple competing against Microsoft in this space than against Google and their rip-off OS.
——RM
And to think I (an AT&T customer) am paying for that campaign.
Yes, I’m the one troll here. You iPhan’s are a funny lot. So snarky and cynical toward anything other than the iWhatever. Your knee-jerk reaction to instantly attack anything that might pose a challenge to Apple superiority is fascinating to watch. The way you look down on the non-Apple pions surrounding you with pity and disgust reeks of elitist holier-than-though Apple worship. You actually think the little Apple bumper sticker on the back of your Prius will impress someone. You want the world to know that you have an Apple product. Big deal. All that little sticker does is tell people that you want to feel “special”, and that you are a part of a weird culture that resembles a religious cult more and more with every passing day. And isn’t it very curious how you go to such great lengths defending a huge uncaring multinational corporation whos sole singluar goal is to make money off of you. What a waste. Its one thing to like something like the iPhone, but its entirely another to defend it at the expense of your integrity.