Why Hasn’t Windows Phone Taken Off?

Charlie Kindel:

The carriers choose what devices get featured on those TV ads. They also choose what devices to train their RSP (retail sales professionals) to push. They choose to incent the RSPs to push one device over another.

And the carriers prefer Android because Android gives them control. So when Joe Customer walks into his local phone store and asks the sales guy which phone he should buy, he’s very likely to be shown an Android handset, and unlikely to be shown a Windows handset. So far so good. But he’s wrong about Apple:

[…] Apple has been successful (at least in terms of generating revenue) in this space by cutting the device manufacturer out. They have then used that fact to force the carriers into being even more of a fat dumb pipe. A topic for another day, but my belief is over time this strategy will start to deteriorate for Apple.

It’s a decidedly Microsoftian perspective to say that Apple “cut the device manufacturer out”. That’s just looking at the market as regards OS platforms, and misses the whole point of what Apple does. Apple is the device manufacturer.

The carriers don’t like the iPhone much, either, for the same reason they seemingly don’t like Windows Phone: control. And Apple controls more than Microsoft does. The difference is that Apple was able to create consumer demand and massive brand awareness for the iPhone. People go into stores and say “I want an iPhone”.

★ Tuesday, 27 December 2011