The Problem with Windows Phone from the outside looking in.

I’m an Android user so I will speak on this from the outside looking in. I am a heavy Windows Desktop user as I never really saw the point of using a Mac for my needs so desktop runs Windows while the mobile stuff is Android. Now unlike many folks I don’t think Windows Phone had a feature or hardware problem…I think the problem was more of a problem with the Windows Phone ecosystem. Windows Phone represented a move from the standard icon grid many people were sick of and most of the issues which I hear are built around the ecosystem.

First, Microsoft should of done a better job with the integration with their cloud services. People should have to automatically use their Outlook.com to sign in to the phone, if they don’t have one make them create one. Just like Amazon, Apple and Google force you to create some account for Kindle, iOS and Android. Using this account should enable services you have turned on across the board with single sign-on to each.

Which brings me to my next point. Windows Phone has a poor streamlined cloud services experience among all product lines. Microsoft already has majority of it’s services on the web to all users, something Apple does not have, but everything looks disjointed. Why does the calendar still look like crap. In addition I should be able to log into Outlook.com access all connected services, So I should be able to go to Bing Maps, Music, the Market Place, Office 365, and all other content offered under that umbrella. This will help to promote the Windows ecosystem because it is all available in one place.

Next is marketing…..bad job on marketing. People’s experience is more geared toward the ecosystem that they use. Android is all about Google….Apple is all about iCloud. Microsoft focused more on the feature set and forget to market their ecosystem. If you don’t want users to depend on something else you have to give them a way out. For example Google Music gave users a way out of iTunes by providing syncing directly from iTunes making the switch simple. Apple dropped Google Maps and provided their own offering (Even though it kind of sucked). The key here they where marketed heavy to get users on board.

Microsoft should have marketed the features of Bing Maps and how it does what Google Maps does but better. They should have of marketed their content offerings much better, and maybe use deeper skype integration as a leverage for customers.

I think MS went about this all the wrong way and should have never went negative with Google or anyone else, regardless of what Google did or didn’t do, MS should have focused on their product and showing how great their product is. Windows Phone is a great phone being managed by the wrong people, and that is unfortunate because they had a strong chance of wiping blackberry away.