In thinking about how Android has turned the U.S. smartphone market on its head over the past eighteen months, the musical anthem that most readily comes to mind is James Brown’s “This is a Man’s World.” This really is an Android world . . . an Android-Android-Android world . . . at least from a smartphone OS penetration perspective. At least half of all smartphone purchases in the past three quarters have been Android-based. Read more »
Tags: Android, Connected Intelligence, Google, Microsoft, smartphone, WP7
Connected Intelligence, Consumer Technology, Wireless | Linda Barrabee, Research Director, NPD Connected Intelligence | 
September 22, 2011 10:28 am | 
Comments (0)
When Microsoft announced its acquisition of Skype, I blogged about the value that the Skype user base had to Microsoft, particularly as it looked to bolster the suite of constituencies that the OS vendor sought to draw to Windows Phone 7. That Facebook has now decided to integrate Skype and make it the default engine for video chat inside the service is not a surprise. Facebook has collaborated with Skype in the past and has a strong relationship with the company’s new parent Microsoft. According to Mark Zuckerberg, the Skype integration project was under way before Microsoft acquired Skype, which makes sense given the suddenness with which Microsoft moved to acquire the once IPO-bound IP communications provider.
Read more »
When NPD’s Mobile Phone Track became the first to report on Windows Phone 7’s U.S. market share in the fourth quarter, I noted that while Microsoft had done a good job of communicating the integration of Microsoft products and services, they were not all created equal, and that the company still had a long road ahead in terms of catching up in features and differentiating on hardware. For example, without support for 4G networks, none of the original Windows Phone 7 handsets had front-facing cameras.
Read more »
I was in Southern California a couple of weeks ago and had a chance to attend the grand opening of the 8th Microsoft store in South Coast Plaza, one of Southern California’s premier retail destinations. While I have been in several of the stores since the Oct. 2009 opening of Microsoft’s first store in Scottsdale, Arizona, and had the good fortune to talk to the GM on the phone a few times, this marked the first time I was able to experience the energy and excitement of an opening.
Read more »
Hot on the heels of the opening of the 8th Microsoft store comes news that Sony has opened a new concept Sony Style location in the Century City mall in Los Angeles. While, unfortunately, I haven’t been able to visit yet, Sony offers this nice walkthrough on its blog site.
Read more »
Microsoft released the consumer version of Office 2010 to retail a few weeks ago, and according to NPD’s Weekly Tracking Service the results are mixed. Units and dollars are down from Office 2007’s initial two weeks of sales but are in line, and in fact slightly ahead of, sales trends of Office 2007 so far this year. This fact highlights the challenges for Microsoft going forward for Office. A strong product launched into a saturated market faces considerable headwinds. Even so, sales of Office 2010 in general have to be characterized as a bit disappointing during the first two weeks.
Read more »
In last week’s frenzy of iPad news it is entirely likely many folks missed the revelation that Microsoft is looking for employees for two new stores to open later this year. New stores do not mean that the concept has proven totally successful, just that Microsoft has seen enough to warrant further experimentation. If you’ve ever been involved in the rollout of retail stores you know that it is hard to keep changing the in-store experience on the fly so, to Microsoft’s credit, they have gone slow in expansion, and of course they can go slow since this is not their primary business, likely gathering up all they learned from their first stores and hoping to improve on the experience in the next two.
Read more »
As Windows 7 begins its assault on the consumer retail marketplace today, so far, despite a few questionable decisions, the marketing, merchandising, and retail preparation appear to be clicking on all cylinders. Since I’m not a product reviewer I can’t comment on how “insanely great” Windows 7 might be, but I can give Microsoft kudos for the preparation and first spate of advertising. Let’s look at 3 buckets.
Read more »
Ok so I butchered the title, I know those are two different movies but both are relevant when thinking about Microsoft’s series of Laptop Hunter ads. Clearly this ad has created a new hope among the Windows faithful/ecosystem that Microsoft is capable of defending itself against the encroachments in perception, recognition and market share that Apple has made in the past few years.
Read more »
Yesterday’s surprise announcement that Microsoft hired a retailing professional to help create and manage a chain of Microsoft-focused stores probably isn’t such a surprise. A number of recent activities in Redmond, from the opening of the Windows Experience store to the placement of Windows Gurus within U.S. retail stores, and even the Windows Velocity program’s, PCs tuned by Microsoft, were signposts on a road to more consumer-level engagement.
Read more »
Subscribe
