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Comment by modernerd | Hacker News Reader

Today I asked a salesman in a big high street phone store in the UK if they were selling many Windows Phone 7 phones:

"We sell a few a day," he said. "People don't come in and ask to buy one like they do with the iPhone, of course, but a handful of folks walk out with one anyway."

I asked him why he thought they went for a WP7 phone instead of an Android or iOS device:

"Honestly, a lot of them are just looking for a phone to make phone calls; they don't seem to care about the operating system. I guess you could say that they buy them by accident."

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I asked him why he thought they went for a WP7 phone instead of an Android or iOS device:

"Honestly, a lot of them are just looking for a phone to make phone calls; they don't seem to care about the operating system. I guess you could say that they buy them by accident."

That may be the case in the UK, but in the US it's not very likely. Most are tied to dataplans (at least to get the subsidized cost). They'd be steered to feature phones if they just wanted phone calls, except by possibly the least ethical salespeople.

I suspect its probably more that they don't keep up with this stuff on daily basis like us. Android, iPhone, Windows -- to them Windows is as popular as those other two brands. And then after playing with the phone some of these people walk out with it. Others Android, others iPhone.

I suspect its probably more that they don't keep up with this stuff on daily basis like us. Android, iPhone, Windows -- to them Windows is as popular as those other two brands.

I think there's a lot of truth in that. When faced with a choice of 40 devices and half a dozen operating systems, people who don't know buy what they do know, even if it's just a name.

And then after playing with the phone some of these people walk out with it.

I visited the store specifically to try one out, but they didn't even have a working WP7 demo unit on display. He said it was 'out the back somewhere, charging', which is UK phone shop code for 'my manager sold it on eBay'. Regardless, it sounds like some of their WP7 customers were willing to buy before they try.

US salespeople aren't steering anyone to feature phones -- they are directed to pitch everything a smartphone can do to sell those lucrative data plans. This does not make them unethical, that's how sales works in every industry.

See, enlightened self-interest works against that principle. If you've got a self-interest time horizon longer than 10 minutes, you'll see that it makes more sense to sell the customer something he or she won't regret buying any time soon, or you won't get repeat business and word of mouth. There may be a little bit of oversell, but with the calculated aim of the customer growing into the oversold features.

If, on the other hand, you sell mainly to passing traffic and/or tourists, or from a temporary stall, then you genuinely don't have an incentive to hold back.

I think people buy phones more on manufacturer than anything else. I really don't think your average man on the street really cares whether their phone runs Android or WP7, to them they have a Samsung, an HTC or a Motorola.

My friend got a WP7 phone without really realizing it; it was sold to his as a new HTC model (he's happy with it BTW).

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