01-15-2011, 07:50 AM

LG: WP7 falls short as carriers tire of "too much Android"
LG: WP7 falls short as carriers tire of "too much Android" - AppleInsider

LG reports disappointment with sales of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 while its carriers complain of "too much Android" as the third largest mobile maker seeks bolster smartphone sales even as it loses overall mobile market share.

I read the comments to the article and most of them echo the same thing.

"sure Android now and maybe W7phone might get more market share then the iphone. But there are so many different Android and W7 phones out there. The Hardware manufactures need to have different cases or looks or hardware specs to get your business.

Even as the article says. LG is committing to developing 50 new Windows Mobile phones by the end of 2012. 50 different W7 phones? That's insanity. So many Android and W7 phones makes it harder to get the OS to work well with them. Plus the hardware manufactures have to wait for the OS to be ready. So it's all bad news.

Sure Android has more total market share. But each individual brand of Android phone has little share. So that's big profits but split among a lot of companies to equal little dollars to each company.

Apple on the other hand, I'm not saying they are perfect. They are not. But you know the iOS market share is 100% Apple. And cause of the iEcosystem you know if you buy the latest iOS device you'll get the latest version of the OS. That's not a guaranteed with Android or W7 Phones.

In short it's a simple case of hardware fragmentation hurting the Android and W7 markets. That's the bad but the good is if one android phone is crap you can choose another one that gets it right.

iOS has no choice. No confusion. It's only Apple. But the downside is if Apple ever screw up their hardware, there no other iOS phone to turn to. But Apple have dodged this bullet so far by making their phones very good.

01-15-2011, 08:10 AM

Not surprising really I was looking at the WP7 when I was looking for a new phone, ended up getting the HTC Desire HD as I too thought the WP looked a bit "boring"

- Simon

01-15-2011, 06:45 PM

I am not surprised LG have taken this stance. How many names, logos, adverts is it going to take for Microsoft to realize they have an inferior product. Inferior today, inferior back with Windows Mobile, and still inferior back in 2000!
They have failed, yet this is another attempt. I don't know why they are wasting their money, as the handsets at the moment are firstly very expensive and as said here, very boring.

01-16-2011, 08:57 AM

If LG thinks the carriers are tired of Android now, wait till they see how tired they get of Windows Phone when LG tries to dump 50 versions on them in a couple years, on top of the dozens from everyone else.

01-16-2011, 10:16 AM

This is why I won't ditch my iphone any time soon. And with all these dumb names...I'm just waiting for them to come out with a new android called the "Ferry," before I truly go ballistic on them.

However, I did get to use my friends W7P...it's. not. that. bad.

01-17-2011, 04:42 PM

Microsoft just needs to get something that defines the windows phones and sets it apart from the android... But to be fair, if the windows phone came out before android did, you would see the same thing being said about the android phone being the same as the windows phone.
something I'd like to add though, is that every phone, every product has a rough launch.
remember the first iphone?

01-17-2011, 05:01 PM

Here's the problem with Android and WP7 manufacturers. They made a high end device and a low end device for each carrier, so that's eight models right there. Then they release new model every six months, so that's twelve models. Then they have multiple variations on the high end and low end, some with keyboards, some without, and a plethora of different screen sizes. It's easy to see how a single company can pump out 25 models in a single year (the article says 50 models by the end of 2012, so it's safe to assume 25 a year). Now multiply this by the number of manufacturers.

That's a lot of phones to sift through for consumers, even after they've narrowed down their carrier of choice. On the one hand, choice is a great thing, especially since it leads to more competition. Unfortunately, it also leads to confusion and frustration as most typical consumers don't know diddly squat about specs or version numbers, so they have a hard time really differentiating between the various models other than by simple things such as screen size and whether or not it has a physical keyboard. With the iPhone, it's simple, just decide how much memory you want.

What manufacturers need to do is consolidate and focus on a handful of products rather than their current shotgun approach of throwing every possible incarnation of a phone at the consumer. Look at the Motorola Droid, it was the only Android phone in its class that Motorola made. It did spectacularly well as people wanted a high end smartphone on Verizon. But in its second round, it did the shotgun approach and threw a plethora of new models out there, the Droid X, the Droid 2, the Droid Pro, etc. So many models, the consumers can't keep up and so they pick something that may or may not be the best device for them or getting something they don't need pushed onto them by the sales person. If manufacturers just focused on a couple of models throughout the year, it would make life easier not only for consumers, but also for the manufacturers as their manufacturing process and advertising is much simpler with fewer devices than with many.

01-17-2011, 05:14 PM

Originally Posted by Kash

On the one hand, choice is a great thing, especially since it leads to more competition. Unfortunately, it also leads to confusion and frustration as most typical consumers don't know diddly squat about specs or version numbers, so they have a hard time really differentiating between the various models other than by simple things such as screen size and whether or not it has a physical keyboard. With the iPhone, it's simple, just decide how much memory you want.

Frankly, too much choice is as bad as too little choice, maybe even worse.

01-17-2011, 05:20 PM

Exactly. There's a sweet spot when it comes to choice, and frankly, Android is waaay outside that spot.

01-17-2011, 05:26 PM

Kind of most computer manufacturers...

01-19-2011, 12:33 AM

Originally Posted by ZachUSAman

Microsoft just needs to get something that defines the windows phones and sets it apart from the android... But to be fair, if the windows phone came out before android did, you would see the same thing being said about the android phone being the same as the windows phone.
something I'd like to add though, is that every phone, every product has a rough launch.
remember the first iphone?

I remember the first iPhone. I got one a few weeks after launch. What was so rough about that? From what I recall, it changed the world.