As the new Windows Phone devices start rolling out for the various carriers, one thing to look out for is the consistency of quality in the marketing material that usually surrounds the new roll out of devices. Particularly, how well such material actually educates the customer on what they could potentially be buying.
Recently, at a South Florida T-Mobile store I was checking out the new Lumia 710, (which by the way is a very nice entry level phone). At the display for the device I saw a disheartening sight. As you can see from the picture above, the store had not placed the proper sticker to signify that the Lumia was a Windows Phone. It was tagged as an Android phone.
I checked the HTC Radar to compare and that one did have the proper sticker, making it improbable that T-Mobile does not know what a Windows Phone looks like. It’s obvious that three things could have happened:
1. They just received the device and replaced an old Android phone’s display with the Lumia and did not switch the sticker.
2. They have the sticker, but the staff doesn’t care and just let it slide as it is.
3. They only have one whole Windows Phone sticker at hand and it’s too expensive to print a second one.
Kidding aside as this is probably a crucial year for Microsoft and Nokia, everything that can be done to educate and demonstrate the awesomeness of Windows Phone to the public should be done. That includes a little sticker like the one above, something so simple can actually cause major confusion for the less than tech-educated regular folk.
We’ve seen these sorts of problems before as some carriers still call Microsoft’s new OS Windows Mobile and not is proper updated name. With the stakes as high as they are for Microsoft, a little quality from carriers about their display information should be a talking point going forward between Microsoft and T-mobile.
