We want to help Windows Phone grow but how?

I know that MS is a giant company and employees just have to tune out allot of critics because it's just like endless religious wars but it also means that they probably aren't listening to the logical people who know what they're talking about.

I wrote something about MS WP7 marketing on another forum and was thinking. "If you're not Long Zheng or someone like that how can your voice be heard by actual MS employees?" You can suggest stuff all you want on C9 but only the regulars are listening and I doubt people in DPE are in a position to make much difference (not that you're doing a bad job, I love that C9 is such an open place).

Here's what I wrote that got me thinking about this...

The MS marketing people (who have proven to be quite inept at times) need to start bragging how well their OS works on 1.5Ghz single core processors while all the giant Android phones seem to need multi-core processors but still don't feel as snappy.
People who review phones are loving WP7.5 Mango and Nokia are making amazing new handsets but it's going to take some good educational ad campaigns to get some more momentum going so more high profile companies decide to develop apps for the OS.
They also need to start looking at every company that has TV ads that mention their iOS and sometimes even Android apps and make sure that an equivalent WP7 app is made too. It's a great way to advertise to non-technical people.

@dentaku: I think Microsoft is becoming more aware of how much marketing can change the market.  I read this article yesterday:

http://wmpoweruser.com/microsoft-to-axe-as-much-as-40-of-their-marketing-staff-in-search-of-better-value-for-money/

They are basically firing about 40% of their marketing staff and are looking for alternatives.  As much as I hate people losing their jobs in a tough economy, I see this as a positive movement for Microsoft and WP7 as a whole.

I think it is as simple as having a long term 20years display on a building somewhere in a trendy area. I see iProduct ads on those trendy area all the time. I even seen the iTune ads after like in 2009, which typical company would already stop doing it after 2005.

I do not recall seeing a WP7 ad while driving on the road, but, I see tons of iPad and Android ads. It doesn't matter MS think it is OEM's job. If OEM doesn't do it, MS has to do it. And it is not about how much it spend. It is about, how LONG it is on display.

1. Make a better product.
2. Pray.

At the moment it is difficult for Windows Phone to be heard in the current deafening roar of iPhone and Android.  But the key is tennacity - which MS has shown us before that it has when it has the right product. (eg with XBOX - many never thought that would really compete with the strength of the Playstation brand). 

I heard about that too. I hope it's a move in the rigth direction.

17 hours ago, JeremyJ wrote

@dentaku: I think Microsoft is becoming more aware of how much marketing can change the market.  I read this article yesterday:

http://wmpoweruser.com/microsoft-to-axe-as-much-as-40-of-their-marketing-staff-in-search-of-better-value-for-money/

They are basically firing about 40% of their marketing staff and are looking for alternatives.  As much as I hate people losing their jobs in a tough economy, I see this as a positive movement for Microsoft and WP7 as a whole.

MS has always been at the mercy of every other company that uses their software. MS is actually one of the least powerful giant companies ever in a way.
Hopefully the Nokia partnership will help change this.

15 hours ago, magicalclick wrote

If OEM doesn't do it, MS has to do it.

The key to a "healthy" growth in my opinion is stunning apps, stunning apps, stunning Apps! We as developers are also responsible for the success of Windows Phone as Microsoft is. I think that we need to share more Real-World-Development-Experience like, e.g., http://windowsphonegeek.com/ to enable more people to turn their app ideas into reality. I have published some days ago the complete source code of a SkyDrive browser app - MetroSky - to enable other developers to develop for the SkyDrive Platform, which's user count is growing every day. You can download the code here:http://blog.mecum.biz/2012/01/a-complete-windows-phone-7-mango-skydrive-sample-metrosky/. The next idea is to create a web-page which allows developers to write a extended profile about them, to add descriptions and links to their current apps, and to add sample code that resolves real-world-problems. An additional service will include free press-releases to be published for each developer and each app he/she has written, to spread the app all over the world. I think that many developers write wonderful apps - which no one knows about.

@ilija injac:It's good to see people getting involved like you are.

It would be nice if some WP7 experts looked at the apps being offered by certain companies that have apps for Android, WP7 and iOS and if the WP7 app is somehow substandard or looks like it was just an experiment that they made to test out the developer tools these people could offer some help to make the WP7 app better.

I've never used the official app from geocaching.com before but I see it's available for all 3 platforms so it's a good example. If the WP7 app is not quite as good as the iOS version it would be nice if there was a community of people making sure that those developers could get some help from enthusiastic WP7 developers in making the app as least as good as on the other platforms.

@dentaku:Thank you.

Yes, experts could and should offer help (I mean here the Microsoft Experts). The bad thing about WP7 development is, that you pay your developer fees to submit an app, you buy phone hardware and you buy books and eventually you buy some training. After all of this investments for a private person (I don't talk about companies here) you also have to pay for support regarding your WP7 development problems? I think that's not fair. Microsoft should open its knowlegebase to all developers who have paid the fees for app hub. On the other hand I want to say "Thank you" again to all people on the app hub forums, for answering my questions.

Regarding geocaching.com, I am sure that they have used commercial components to develop this app. Most of the apps on marketplace do so. Especially apps that work with long lists of data, or apps that use charting, etc. Telerik (I am not involved with Telerik in any way) e.g. has a "Windows Phone Showcase Gallery" where you can see some apps that use this controls:http://www.telerik.com/products/windows-phone/getting-started/showcase.aspx?Page=2 I have bought them also, because they have a good price, compared to other manufacturers. The base controls like listbox are awfully slow. For release 2.0 I will use the telerik components to give my users a better experience.

And I know, that the guys on app hub work really hard to manage the certification process - but sometimes it takes too long, This makes it hard to plan marketing activities for the published apps.

1 day ago, dentaku wrote

"If you're not Long Zheng or someone like that how can your voice be heard by actual MS employees?"

LOL WHUT.

For example... You care about design so you ended up helping the people at MS see what many users thought needed to be done to advance Windows with the "Taskforce sites". I believe your actions actually made a difference. What you and WP7Chevron guys did was a pretty bold move too and some people at Microsoft noticed. That doesn't happen very often.

You might think that you're just another guy with a blog but somehow you and your friends talking about stuff on your website gets noticed all over the world and linked to on other blogs.

BUT... most of the time a bunch of geeks talking about what they think MS should do to advance a certain product on a forum like the Coffeehouse will never be noticed by people at MS who are powerful enough to make a difference.

43 minutes ago, longzheng wrote

*snip*

LOL WHUT.

21 hours ago, dentaku wrote

For example... You care about design so you ended up helping the people at MS see what many users thought needed to be done to advance Windows with the "Taskforce sites". I believe your actions actually made a difference. What you and WP7Chevron guys did was a pretty bold move too and some people at Microsoft noticed. That doesn't happen very often.

You might think that you're just another guy with a blog but somehow you and your friends talking about stuff on your website gets noticed all over the world and linked to on other blogs.

BUT... most of the time a bunch of geeks talking about what they think MS should do to advance a certain product on a forum like the Coffeehouse will never be noticed by people at MS who are powerful enough to make a difference.

*snip*

Fair enough. I think most of the time when people actually do something (instead of just talking about), it has enough impact alone. Of course it does help if what you're doing involves other people so they're also motivated in your cause.

@denktaku

@longzheng

You are absolutely right. Yesterday I found a amazing community software called elgg

which not only includes the socializing features but also, blogs for every participant, message boards, forums and much more. Here the pages could fit in the product presentation page, the standard "friend" functions could be used for collaboration, the forums for product support, the blogs for update messages and somewhere - we can find also a place for a company or developer profile. And - every App will be published as press-release for free - does this sound good?

And I forgot to mention, that I already have bought the domain http://www.metroapps.biz/ some months ago.

You can also try the AppDeals App to promote your apps - which will also help Windows 7 to grow. http://www.windowsphone.com/de-DE/apps/e09858f0-0cf7-4b33-b754-54dd121b3c5d

Promote it on your blog, webpage or twitter and participate.

Also if your App includes a Live Tile (that lives on the web somewhere) then consider promoting it here and in this app.

@Ian2:

Looks good! I will blog also about it! Really good ideas out here, and I didn't know about them. Thank you! And when I am finished creating the community page I mentioned, we could integrate your Silverligh-Tiles into the page, if you would allow it.