What does everyone think MS needs to do to stand out?  I've talked to a few people that say the whole new "black and silver, sleek and slim" look is getting old real quick.

 What is everyone else's thought?  What one or two things you'd like to see conveyed better?

They could make great headway with an ad showing two guys joining eachother. One holding an older WM device the other carring an iphone. The guy with the iphone says hey when are you going to jump into the 21st century and get rid of that old phone? Look what I can do with this ap. The WM guy replies that I have been doing that for years. Then anouncer says I guess not only on the iphone.

They could do a whole series of comercials like this and totally discredit the iphone ads. Also ad that the consumer gets a choice as to what type of phone WM is on.

My biggest complaint on devices is how far behind the USA is at getting the fresh product.

That's not a bad idea.

Marketing that people actually understand would help also. The Bill Gates and Seinfeld commercials left me feeling like "And the point was???". The WinMo advertising is about the same to me. No direct market, just a bunch of confusion.

Welcome to The Connection, Ryan and thanks so much for asking such a great question.

I would love to see a series of ads showing exactly what the WM device can do. A bit like the PC versus the MAC ads out there .....but better ! There was a series of short videos online showing what you can do with a WM device - not too sure why they didn't appear on TV as they were really good. They showed different aspects of different people's lives with a WM device.

I have a slideshow of my pictures in a gadget on my desktop. I have some pictures from San Francisco airport from a trip to Hawaii. This was about 18 months ago and just yesterday I noticed the large Windows Mobile ad in one of the photos. It amused me as I  never noticed it at the time and it has taken me 18 months to spot it in the photo. I wonder if it is still at the airport.

I really like your ad idea, Doug. That would be a really clear and simple message that I think would appeal to a lot of people...

Also agree about the devices - I'm always amazed at the incredible array of WM stuff in the stores in Europe and Asia. If we had that here, the marketplace would look very, very different.

Hello,

  I have to admit that here in france we have many WM stuff... BUT : maybe too many! sometimes is hard to compare two devices... and this does not always deserve windows mobile phones : too many devices, what makes windows mobile better than others ? it's on many devices like some competitors, it's not new (yeah some people like new stuff on mobile with their new mobile), it has a bad image (too slow for many many people even if they never get any winmo device in hand!!)...
  Looking at competitors we have some "unique phone" (iPhone), "almost unique or really small choices" (BB), "plenty of phones that tries to feet your needs" (the others). I'm happy that next phones will have a "windows mobile inside" logo, this way they will start to be some "visible" differences for those phones (many people love to have something others don't have yet). And this will help to clearly identify winmo phones in store (they are lost in other mobiles, where iphone and BB are really separated!!)

 The thing is, some people love the iphone hardware and some don't, but Apple markets what the iphone can do and how good it is at it. Not the hardware. If MS can do this with WM the multitude of hardware platforms will look after themself in my opinion. 

There's an interesting related discussion going on at PocketPC Thoughts, where editor Jon Westfall asked, "What's missing in Windows Mobile?" Some responses from users include:

• Ability to edit the call log as standard on all phones
• Categories and filters for syncing Calendar and e-mail
• More extensive profile control
• Better direct-to-device updates
• Out of the box multilingual support
• Native location-based automatic behaviors (call forwarding, profiles, etc.)
• Multiple Calendars
• Automatic Wi-Fi profiles
• Faster booting
• Cross-app access to all on-board hardware

 It's an interesting question but I think it's one of those "where do you draw the line" questions. I'd like to have every bit of software out there preloaded on my device but it's not practical from a technical or usability perspective. I think you have to get a balance that gives the average user what they need. All the items listed above are either available from third parties or are what I'd call niche features, i.e. not things that would be used by the majority of people. Obviously the exceptions are the Faster booting and Better direct-to-device updates. I always think faster booting is only required if your device is unstable. Personal I soft reset my Zest every couple of weeks, so the fact it takes 2-3 minutes doesn't bother me. As for "better direct-to-device updates", since WM6 all WM devices have had Windows Update in the system folder. I've used Windows Update on my device to download and install complete ROMs and I can say it works very well. The problem is that Windows Update like some other aspects of Windows Mobile is a feature that the carriers have to pay to use. The reason you don't get updates direct to your device? That's right, the carriers don't want to pay for it. They'd rather have you use AS or WMDC because that's free for them.  

Dave Parker MVP:

(...) They'd rather have you use AS or WMDC because that's free for them. 

And this makes less people doing updates : you know lot's of people checking on their carrier website for updates ? (it's not hidden but sometime really hard to find!!)...This way when people got mad of a bug or slow device they buy a new phone instead of update (and carrier support send users to new phones instead of sending them to updates)...

AutoUpdate = carrier pay, AS/WMDC update = most users will change phone = carrier get money!

Windows Mobile is a great product that is very easy to use for a majority of people using a computer.  The problem is that most people dont know that.  When I first started in the wireless industry, I took a vow never to touch a smartphone because it would make me look like an idiot.  then I looked like an idiot because I didnt know anything about them...I picked one up and started using it...I walked out the door with it that night.  I even had to pay retail on it...$500 to fill a curiosity!.  A few months ago, somebody suggested that our team take away all of our smartphones, and give us basic phones to use for 1 WHOLE WEEK...I then vowed to stab the next person who tried to touch my smartphone with a fork!  I wasnt going to go without my baby for a week! 

Anyways, what Im getting at is that they really just need to show how user friendly it is.  They could do commercials advertising how easy it is to go between a microsoft server, desktop, laptop, wm device, and microsoft sync...without ever missing a single moment of your day!

My other complaint is actually a huge customer complaint in my area, which is color of the devices  the whole 'black and silver, slim and sleek' thing...but that is not a windows mobile issue, that is a manufacturer issue.  Motorola got it right when the brought out the q9m in black and red, and then the q9c in lime green.  Blackberry has cool colors...now htc, motorola, samsung, and everybody else needs to jump on that bandwagon!

AHager:

They could do commercials advertising how easy it is to go between a microsoft server, desktop, laptop, wm device, and microsoft sync...without ever missing a single moment of your day!

Great concept - I really like it.

The colour thing is something I think the manufacturers need to address in order to get at Joe Public. I'm amazed we haven't seen a WM Smartphone with swappable covers. At the risk of being stereotyping and sexist, most women (and some guys) like that sort of thing. I know for a fact my wife would go for it in a big way.

 Just to mention at the moment my wife uses a Pink Qtek 8500........