Trademarked:
Without sounding condescending to the general public, dumbing down and talking down actually works wonders. Smart phones seem so bloody complicated to most people. Its a problem Windows Mobile Phones suffer from. From the outside, they seem so hard to use and unfriendly. They are really capable of so much, and for many people, the gap between a dumb phone and a Windows Mobile phone is pretty huge. What Apple has done, is to try to dumb it down as easy as possible. People actually look at those commercials and think "Hey that doesn't look hard at all! Even I could do that!".
More or less what Apple has done is bridge the gap between dumb phone buyers and smart phone buyers. Lets face it, the majority of cell phone users, are still using simple basic phones. Apple created a smart phone, for the mass general public. The iPhone is "the smart phone that anyone can use", or at least thats what Apples marketing would want you to believe. The money and sales aren't going to be found in the hardcore smart phone base. The type of people who read tech news sites, or post on tech forums is just a niche compared to the average joe. What Windows Mobile needs to do, (and what I believe 6.5 is a great step to) is to really branch off towards the mass market. Keep the power and performance of Windows Mobile, but streamline and simplify it a bit. Make smart phones seem... a little less scary. Of course, proper marketing helps. People need to see how easy and useful Windows Mobile can be.
Look! My phone syncs up with email and office! Not only that, but my music from Windows Media Player syncs too. With live search, I can easily find places to go. And with Microsoft My Phone, theres no worries if its ever lost or stolen. Like phones with keyboards? We got those! How about with a big touch screen? We got those too! Whatever style phone you like, you can find it, with Windows Mobile.
Very well put. Unfortunately the confused consumer is often even more confused by lousy salespeople- picking the right sales professional makes a world of difference, particularly when making a choice that will contractually obligate you for a couple of years. I was at a Sam's Club Warehouse store earlier this evening, and was browsing the cell phone kiosk as I pathetically always do when shopping for some reason. (I owned a cell phone store for about six years and still miss it!) A nice young lady wanted to upgrade her two family plan Sprint dumbphones to smartphones. She assumed all QWERTYs were smartphones, and the well-meaning, but obviously untrained salesman was trying to set her straight. From the best of my recollection, here was the exchange:
Lady, holding Sanyo 2700 (IIRC) QWERTY: Is this a Blackberry?
Salesman: No. That phone has a keyboard a lot like a Blackberry, but it's not a smartphone.
Lady: This can't get the internet?
Salesman: Oh, it'll do internet, but it's not a smartphone.
Lady: So what's the difference?
Salesman: Smartphones can do more.
Lady: Like what?
Salesman: More than that phone does...
Every fiber of my being wanted me to scream, step in, and give a real demo, but after having spent nearly two decades in retail management and ownership, I've adopted a strict Prime Directive of non-interference, much like the crew of the Starship Enterprise, if only to protect my sanity, and prevent being confronted by store security. So, instead, I just winced, grabbed the 36-roll bundle of paper towels and 2-Gallon bottle of dishwasher detergent I came in for a little bit tighter and headed to the checkout lines as he showed her a Samsung Instinct which he was describing as "almost exactly like a smartphone..."