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Comment by barista | Hacker News Reader

Windows phone unfortunately has become the "Zune" of MP3 players. It was better than iPod, the software was killer. The Zune pass was more conveniet than clunky old itunes but nobody cared. The brand associated with it was not cool and hence a superior product died a premature death.

As the article says, Windows phone is in the same boat. The interface is innovative and functional. The app library has most of the essential apps. Performance is pretty good and the reviews are great but the users don't crave it.

Microsoft's marketing and partner efforts have clearly failed here.

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I agree - I'm a proud owner of a Windows phone, but it was hard to even find a store that sold one. I wonder if having the Metro UI in Windows 8 will help Microsoft out with a little cross-pollination.

There is an element to the Microsoft brand which not only lacks "coolness" but is also actively "uncool". I'd trace this phenomenon back to the antitrust lawsuits and the overall craptastic experience of Windows prior to XP.

XBox was brilliant because it avoided associations with the uncool Microsoft and Windows brands. Sure you knew deep down it was a Microsoft product, but you never said to your friends "Come over and play Halo with me on my Microsoft Xbox". Wouldn't you feel almost apologetic about showing off your Windows Phone 7 Phone?

This is the thing I don't understand - my wife owns a Windows Phone, and it's a pretty great phone. It's fast, it has a decent selection of apps, it's quite pleasant to use. Yet, you look in the stores and it's completely marginalized.

People want to express themselves with the device they use. Branding is extremely important. Even well after a few cycles of the iPhone, people held onto their Blackberries, because of what it meant to have one (even when people would consider their software miles behind everything else in the market).

Windows and RIM could easily come back into the game if they focused on the whole corporate-I-like-to-look-busier-than-I-am crowd, but instead, everybody's playing catch up with Apple in a demographic they no longer have much of a footing in.

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