In one sentence: Kin was stupid. We all knew that, well everyone except Microsoft. The idea sounded good but then it actually debuted and the marketing campaign began and it all went downhill. No one actually understood what Kin was or why it didn’t do this or do that (like IM)… the result of all of it was its death, something we got over quite quickly. But lately, blogs and online news sources are claiming Windows Phone 7 is just going to be Kin Part Deux.
Why? Well before we get to that, let’s just say: they’re crazy! Okay, now let’s get into why. They–and by “they” I mean the likes of PCWorld, John Dvorak, and The San Francisco Chronicle, among others–claim that Microsoft’s fat initial marketing bill, ranging anywhere from $400 million to $1 billion, might show signs of weakness in how much they believe in the product. Aside from that, they are sure that the way Microsoft is handling licensing its software to handset manufacturers is a way of the past; Apple and RIM make their own hardware and Google’s Android is open sourced and thus free. But could a $15 initial fee cost Microsoft a shot to be back in the game?
Microsoft is asking manufacturers to pay upfront for each device that they make to use their operating system, known to us as Windows Phone 7, or in other words a licensing fee. This, in a time, when one of the biggest leaders in the market doesn’t ask for a payment and where the others don’t outsource their hardware.
…consumers almost certainly won’t pay, say, $214.99 for a Windows phone when they can get the latest iPhone or Android phone for $199.
-SFGATE.COM
So basically manufacturers will just have to bite the bullet and swallow the cost themselves. Not much incentive.
The other argument is that Microsoft might be overcompensating in marketing where they left out in actual phone. PCWorld names Kin, Office 2010, and Vista as flops that Microsoft pulled out their wallets for and paid big. But what about the success stories? Xbox is a huge product, Windows 7 has almost masked Vista in the eyes of the everyday-consumer, and Bing is rising slowly but steadily.
The one factor they all got wrong is that Windows Phone 7 is not Kin and it certainly will not have a pathetic marketing campaign like the rest of ‘em! At least we can all hope.
Will Microsoft be ignorant enough to not learn that the quirky, indie campaigns just don’t work? It didn’t work for Zune and it surely did not work for Kin. The amount that Microsoft is willing to pay doesn’t indicate anything about how much they believe in the product. Who’s to say it’s not because they love it so much and want the best for it? They have obviously learned their lesson about what qualifies as good marketing and bad marketing.
Good: Even my mom says at random times, “Did you know that Windows 7 is my idea?” OR Have you ever heard a ping sound and then someone immediately says “Bing!” in that echo-y way they say it in the ads? Because that happens to me all the time.
Bad: Wait, whoa, wha-what Kin?
The difference is that the former highlights each product’s respective features. We know that Windows 7 can snap its windows and that Bing can allow you to travel on the cheap.
I, and many of you surely, am more than positive that if whomever Microsoft is targeting gets wind of what Windows Phone 7 can do and then more people know what it can do, it will snowball into people demanding that product and after that… manufacturers will cease to care about an upfront $15 fee. And who knows, maybe Microsoft will forget caring about that fee, too, once they know that no-fee means less-expensive phones means more market share.
The two arguments go hand-in-hand. So the question isn’t just how much money is Microsoft putting into the Windows Phone 7 campaign, but what will we know about Windows Phone 7 after a minimum of $400 million?
