Coaster in new Microsoft "Really" ad?

I'm a Zune user. Have been since the 30 GB brown one, and I sold that to my buddy and moved on to a Zune HD. I'm a huge fan, if only because of the unlimited downloads, and keeping 10 songs a month. When my Zune stops working, or the Zune Pass goes away, all my music is going on to my Android phone, anyway.

Forget first adopter... I'm a last adopter. My phones tend to last me about 5 years, so I'm still good to go for the next 3 or 4 years.

Rick_UK said:
Is it true that you can't copy/paste on them? And no Silverlight in the web browser?

Sadly, yes. I get their whole "let's only bite off what we can chew" development plan, but copy and paste should be a "must have" at this point.

But it's coming in "early 2011".

Raven-Phile said:
I'm a huge fan, if only because of the unlimited downloads, and keeping 10 songs a month. When my Zune stops working, or the Zune Pass goes away, all my music is going on to my Android phone, anyway.

MS is offering Zune Pass for 3 months free with a WP7 pre-order. If I weren't under contract, I'd be all over that.

Meh, I thought cut-and-paste was a big deal, until I realized I didn't have it on the iPhone for the first year or whatever. I've probably used it twice since then.

I've been seeing this thing for about six months, so naturally there are fewer questions in my mind about its viability. I saw it go from 10 to 60 fps in the animations, so my view is definitely colored a bit. Android caught on in a big way, and it's very me-too, yet not as solid as the Apple OS. Take something that innovates beyond the app icon grid, give it super easy development tools, and I think you've got a winner. People will dig it.

No in-browser Silverlight yet... but I will say that it's not like they stopped developing when the first version of the OS was released. They're being fast and iterative... you'll see. ;)

Jeff said:
Yeah, that's a totally rational reason.

Advertising firms spend hundreds of millions trying to get consumers to buy their clients' products based on emotional connections. If consumers are turned off by the product's spokesperson, they will be turned off by the product.

Almost no one, on a mass consumer scale (aka not geeks), could even pick Ballmer out of a lineup, I suspect.

But being a Geek, if one decides not to buy it because of Ballmer, then his comment still stands, no?

Seriously, though, I think WP7 looks great because it's different. It doesn't in any way make me want one, I just signed on for 2 more years of iPhone bliss with the 4, and I love it. WP7 and/or Android would have to do something totally amazing that the iPhone doesn't do, either via the Hardware or 3rd Party apps, for me to even think of giving it up at this point.

My biggest complaint about the iPhone when I got it was no cut & paste, and I am glad they fixed that because I use it all the time. Not just to copy/paste, which I do, but also to mass delete if I need to.

I'm glad Microsoft got it's stuff together (seemingly) for the mobile world, but I'm still not interested in one of their phones. But competition is a good thing, and I think Android has really pushed Apple to better their products, so hopefully the big M will do the same.

Tekwardo said:
But being a Geek, if one decides not to buy it because of Ballmer, then his comment still stands, no?

His implication was that public opinion of Ballmer is detrimental to WP7's success. I think that's way, way off the mark. By & large, the only people who even know who that guy is (or care) are geeks/enthusiasts.

If geeks were the only people buying iPhones, the entire project would have been scrapped years ago. We're talking about a consumer electronics product designed for the masses, not a special collector's edition of D&D.

Let's just say they should shy away from doing commercials like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGvHNNOLnCk

I saw this several times on regular TV yesterday, so it's not like you have to be a "geek" to know who this guy is.

WP7 looks cool....but the selling point for the iPhone for me is that I can have my music, phone and camera in one device. I-tunes has become so big that they are even using it a barometer for music sales.

On a separate note, I have a few friends with "droid rage"....meaning they are so against Apple products that they defect to the Android counterparts. Sounds dumb, but there are a lot of people out there like that.

That was awesome. You should see him at the company meeting. Now that's a treat. It's no coincidence that we put "developers developers developers" on the MSDN home page. ;)

I still think your opinion is silly. People don't buy products based on the CEO. Not even Apple products.

I'll be able to get reimbursed for my phone, but I'm still waiting until my current contract is up so I don't get nailed with the early fee. And who knows, maybe some day there will be some kind of CoasterBuzz app on it (wouldn't rule it out for the iPhone either, but at this point it's more of a science project idea).

The iTunes issue is only a barrier if you're buying DRM'd music, or still have some. I paid the tax and bought the "upgrade" to all of the DRM'd nonsense, so my music is all in the clear for use on any device.

People don't buy products based on the CEO. Not even Apple products.

I don't agree with that. I agree with what you're saying on the surface, but Apple products wouldn't be Apple products, nor would the company be what it is if it weren't for the fact that Steve is Steve and far more non-geeks know who Steve Jobs is.

But I do agree that Ballmer isn't known except to geeks.

Agreed, people don't buy products based on the CEO. But for those cutomers that are on the fence, a CEO acting like a moron, one bad TV spot, etc. might be enough for them to choose another brand. So just to be on the safe side, wouldn't it be better if the CEO wasn't acting like a moron. Granted, whose few folks on the fence aren't going to make or break the company. But isn't ever single customer important?

I still tend to agree with the previous post about Steve Ballmer not exactly being a household name. I doubt most people know that Bill Gates hasn't been here for several years now, let alone gave up the CEO role ten years ago.

I consider myself pretty tech savvy and generally aware of the goings on (at least technology-wise) in the computer/mobile industry. I had no idea who Steve Ballmer was until I read this thread.

I (and most tech nerds worth their salt) could give a flying (insert word) about who's pitching the product or who the CEO is. We care about functionality; we care about performance. Do we buy iPhones because Jobs says they're awesome? Absolutely not. We buy iPhones because they do what we want them to, and they do it well. Do we buy Droids because we think Jobs is a smarmy, self-important prick and we'll take any chance to give him a microscopically small middle finger that he'll never see behind all the zeros at the end of the iPhone sales figures? Absolutely not. We buy Droids because they do what we want them to, and they do it well.

By the very same token, if WP7 can do what we want it to (aka meet or exceed the functionality and speed standards set by the iPhone and Droids), and can do it in a way that's more pleasing to use, it'll sell, period.

Sure there are camps of Apple fanboys and camps of Apple haters, just as there are MS fanboys and MS haters, but smartphones are at a price-point where, for most people, it's worth doing the research before you actually decide on one.

Jeff said:
Meh, I thought cut-and-paste was a big deal, until I realized I didn't have it on the iPhone for the first year or whatever.

I think the difference is that Apple were first onto the scene and introduced a new product to a new audience. Microsoft are trying to introduce a new product to an established audience who already have certain expectations based on earlier devices. JMO.

If WP7 does a good job of integrating with Exchange (and other mail systems), then I would give it a serious look. I got a Google phone (Samsung Moment) a couple of months ago to test for possible wide spread use at our company. The built-in Exchange mail app is weak and cann't even display HTML emails. I purchased a 3rd party app that does a good job, but at an extra cost of $20 per phone, thats not a great solution.

On all these new smartphones, can you actually make a (clear) phone call, or is the human voice considered obsolete?

Hey, you were there when I made a call from the Cosmotron line on mine (Samsung Captivate running Android 2.1, still awaiting 2.2). Thanks to the noise suppression, I was able to communicate just fine in the middle of a crowded, noisy area.

It still works as a phone, though I'm more of a data-oriented guy, myself.