One of the ongoing themes in Year 1 of Windows Phone in Australia has been the store retail experience for potential new Windows Phone customers Down Under.  Unfortunately, this experience has proved more often to be a negative one for this (still) fledgling mobile OS.  Social Media and enthusiast sites and forums have too often discussed the lack of retail sales staff knowledge of the Windows Phone OS, limited availability, pushes to Android or iOS and a host of other disappointing outcomes.  This, combined with the Microsoft decision in year 1 to soft launch (no major marketing or promotion, point-of-sale support etc etc) ensured that WP7 was relegated to at best a minor presence or even absent from many outlets.  With no Generation 2 device announcements yet for Australia (from leader to straggler) – WPDownUnder went out earlier this week to cold-call some local stores and check-in on the Windows Phone retail experience.

Microsoft, HTC, Samsung, LG, Telstra, Optus and Vodafone all remain silent on the reason for delays in Australia on announcements of new WP7 devices.  Meanwhile excitement over Nokia out of the Northern Hemisphere with the release of the Lumia devices will not translate to a local device release until Q1 2012.  Consequently the state of Windows Phone in Australia is sadly subdued.  Whilst the Mango Update places this great mobile OS as a real contender and alternative to Android and iOS – in a fast-paced retail environment with new devices from the market leader (Android) seemingly every week – retail store staff (and consumers) just cannot seem to reconcile a 13 month old handset with WP7 as being able to go head-to-head with the newest Apple and HTC/Samsung etc Android handsets. That’s before you even commence the argument of whether ” specs” alone define the User Experience of a smartphone.  Without the newer devices, both the consumer and more critically the handset distribution partners (ie Telcos) just don’t seem to have WP7 as “in their sights” at present.

This works directly against the ripples of interest that are already being felt here based on the excellent Marketing and Promotional launch in the EU by Nokia for the Lumia Windows Phone.

So – how does Windows phone fare in the retail shopping experience compared to its opposition?  The table below represents some 1st hand Market research undertaken earlier this week.  Travelling to one of the major outlying South Eastern suburbs at the edge of the Melbourne urban sprawl, WPDownUnder visited each of centrally located (>90% of outlets) retail phone stores to litmus test Sales feedback and the in-store customer experience for someone setting out to buy a GEN1 WP7 device in Australia right now.

Frankston: Regional Population ~130K+ ~40km from Melbourne CBD.

Thanks to Ryan and Travis over at WPDevPodcast – who planted the idea following their most recent podcast with a “cold-call” to a US based ATT store for a similar intent.  Make sure you check out their podcast recording of that experience!

Frankston, VIC WP7 Retail Store Cold Call

Store	Carrier/Telco	Windows Phone Units on Display	Outright Prices	Feedback - WP7	Feedback - Nokia Lumia
Harvey Norman	Telstra/ Optus	Samsung Omnia 7/ LG Optimus 7 (both boxed)	N/A / $499	No focus outright sale Moved OK on contract	No Knowledge
Officeworks	Telstra	Nil	N/A	N/A	No Knowledge
One Planet Communications	Vodafone/ Optus/ Virgin	Nil	N/A	No OEM or TELCO reps pushing the devices, no real levels of public interest/enquiry. All Android or iOS focus.	Knowledge of Nokia Lumia devices and expect to stock/sell these in 2012.
Telechoice	Optus/ Virgin	Nil	N/A	N/A	Knowledge of Nokia Lumia devices and expect to stock/sell these in 2012. Have not been happy with Meego/Nokia till now.
Crazy Johns	CrazyJohns ie Vodafone.	Nil	N/A	No interest in WP7. Android. Android. Did I mention Android?	No Knowledge
Mall 3/Vodafone Kiosk	Vodafone/ 3	HTC Trophy (off/no demo)	$449	OK sales to SEP (sale) Feel Difficult to use Some cust. returns.	No Knowledge
T-Life (Telstra)	Telstra	HTC HD7**/ HTC Mozart* * Mozart was unusable ** HD7 was pre-Nodo!	$600/ $360	OK sales Mozart $49 cap Very Few HD7 sales	No Knowledge
Vodafone Store	Vodafone/ 3	Nil	N/A	N/A	No Knowledge
JB-HiFi	Telstra	HTC HD7 only (off/no demo) Mozart deleted item/out stock.	$768	Hardly Moving units No real buyer interest No Reps pushing	Vague idea re: Nokia in 2012 with WP7. Thinks they will stock this. No news on other devices.
Dick Smith (DSE)	Telstra/ Optus/ Vodafone/ Virgin	Nil	N/A	N/A	No Knowledge
Virgin Mobile	Virgin	Nil	N/A	N/A	No Knowledge
AllPhones	Optus/ Vodafone/ Virgin	Nil	N/A	N/A	Already had customers coming in asking for Nokia WP7 devices!
Optus Store	Optus	Samsung Omnia 7/ LG Optimus 7 (both off/no demo)	$249/ $259	Have not moved many Believe UI is difficult Had some negative feedback	No Knowledge

A quick exercise in Windows Phone 7 handset shopping at a range of retail phone stores across an outer suburb of Melbourne.

•  13 stores checked (probably 90+ % of main shopping centre/mall outlets).
•  5/13 stores selling WP7 (just better than 1 in 3).
•  Only 2 of those 5 report moderate to OK sales of WP7 devices.
•  Of those 5 stores, 2 stores sold 2 models, 3 stores sold 1 model.
•  In all 13 stores, between 25-50 handsets would have been on display in each store on all platforms.
•  Only 1 store (Mall kiosk) had any form of Point of Sale information (other than handset tag info).
•  Only 4 of 13 stores spoken to demonstrated any knowledge of Nokia and WP7.

Some interesting (disheartening) observations whilst in store:

Android clearly has the strongest presence, largest range, biggest price spread and best in-store promotion and point of sale information re: their OS and devices.

 

 

The (T-Life) Telstra store had a HTC HD7 on display that was the original NOV2010 release firmware.  No NoDo and let alone Mango! Ouch

Additionally the Mozart was in emergency call lockout, and could not be demoed.

 

Vodafone made it clear who they were behind – simply by looking at the desktop backgrounds on their in-store PC’s!

 

 

Mis-labelling and other errors were not uncommon. This HTC Salsa is quite the Trophy!  This handset and store however was the ONLY retail outlet that featured ANY WP7 point-of-sale material – a small HTC blurb/handout on the device.

 

Prices being all over the place was also evident – with some retailers having no idea that the Telco retail stores were massively undercutting their own outright handset prices!

 

 

And not from Frankston, but from my own snap in another SE suburb Optus store (last week) and from local Melbourne WP7 Developer and enthusiast Garry Holden – major factual errors also exist in-store (check the OS quoted in each pic here).  The first pic even made it to WPCentral via social media!

 

So what does this all say about Windows Phone in Australia?

If you’re a glass-half full type of person, then you will focus on the significant opportunity for improvement for Windows Phone in Australia, and probably hope Nokia’s arrival in Q1 2012 here significantly builds the brand and sales figures in conjunction with the work of the new Microsoft Australian Marketing appointee for Windows Phone.  Throw in Windows 8 and the forthcoming XBOX Design update for device convergence of experience in 2012 – stream with your Zune Music Pass Yazz singing the only way is up and look to next year!

However, on the flip side – with the glass way more than half empty – Windows Phone has the proverbial mountain to climb in Australia based on this single-suburb retail experience.  Combine this with apparent Telco disinterest in the platform (website presence, promotion, store stocking, social media commentary, lack of new handset announcements etc) and if Nokia is not the White Knight to save WIndows Phone – it could well languish as a niche enthusiast handset with the best User Interface and Experience people never tried….If this is the case, then Microsoft might need to have very deep pockets indeed – and prepare for a lengthy investment with slow gains not unlike the decade spent getting the XBOX to the prime console offering position in the market…..

Sheeds.