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1st Windows Phone ads blame other phones for stop-and-stare

updated 10:25 am EDT, Sun September 26, 2010

ATT WP7 ads emerge with HTC Mondrian, more

Early forms of the first Windows Phone 7 ads have surfaced (video below) through a leak this morning that show how Microsoft plans to pitch its mobile OS against its rivals. The two unfinished spots accuse devices like the BlackBerry and iPhone of promoting a culture of staring at smartphones instead of dealing with life itself. Windows Phone 7's at-a-glance home screen tiles help find info faster and help focus on family and friends, the ads discovered by WMPowerUser claim.

Both ads also make clear reference to an AT&T version of the HTC Mondrian (also known as Schubert and possibly the HD7) and indicate that it will be one of the launch devices. The full-touch phone should be strictly on par with competitors through a 4.3-inch but 800x480 touchscreen, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a five-megapixel camera with 720p recording and 8GB of non-removable storage.

An official appearance for WP7 devices isn't expected until an October 11 open house in New York City; they may beat the November release in the US with an appearance as early as October 21.

The existence of multiple commercials shows Microsoft's determination to regain as much of its lost standing in smartphones as possible. It's believed to be spending as much as $500 million on marketing just in the fall alone to get attention for WP7 right as Apple, Google and RIM may reach their peaks for the year. Microsoft has lost most of its influence on the world stage as it's almost entirely excluded out of the top five smartphone designers but has also been knocked down in the US, a country once considered Microsoft's most secure territory. Many of its once-loyal partners have since shifted most or all of their attention to Android.

By Electronista Staff


  1. macnnoel

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Feb 2005


    because microsoft knows best--


    Comment buried. Show
  1. zooachtiv

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2004


    Pretty good

    Those are pretty much spot on... Kudos to the creatives for actually pointing out a better feature and showing me..

  1. Pilsner6910

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Mar 2010



    I dont get you have to scroll thru a 100 apps to find what you want to see? does it come with the RRoD too?

  1. Spacemoose

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Feb 2004


    So, looking at your phone a lot is a bad thing?

    Only Microsoft could try to spin wanting to spend a lot of your time using other phones as a bad thing.

  1. facebook_Thomas

    Via Facebook

    Joined: Sep 2010


    I see it like this

    They are saying either their phone is so boring you only want to look at it for a few seconds or your friends lives are boring because you have no reason to respond to them like the guy in line was doing. He was typing not staring.

    Those live tiles do not give enough info to be useful other then to be annoying as they keep changing to fast and they are huge and boring. People kept complaining you couldn't have a desktop picture on the iphone so how would that look on this? You can only see a sliver on the right side.

    And what they didn't show is swiping to the right has a long list of app icons that scroll down forever and all the icons are the same color. Again boring and hard to find what you want since they all look the same you have to actully read the app names rather then just remembering a pretty icon like most humans do.

  1. MadGoat

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Feb 2008



    My take on this is that she's not interested in replying to her emails while others are. If she started to reply to her 9 emails, she would also be guilty of the stop and stare.

    P.S. the win phone's UI is 1990's ugly

  1. Paul Huang

    Mac Enthusiast

    Joined: Sep 1999


    As if the phone is going to prevent you from using

    Maybe there is some truth to it.

    To me, those who are likely to glue themselves to a browser or phone will continue to do so, and those who don't know where their piles are on the desk will continue to dig for their stuff (regardless of any organization exptert's help).

    Maybe it is so unusable. It makes you not want to use it. It makes you save electricity. It prevents accidents.

    Oh, call your insurance company now. Maybe there is a 'Windows 7 phone user discount'.

  1. qazwart

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Apr 2001


    They went with their strength

    They went with one of their strengths: The fact that their "tiles" update live information. Other phones are app based and their "buttons" merely show apps.

    Of course, the tiles themselves don't tell you very much. I just see an ever cascading micro tiles of faces on my Facebook tile. I see the number of messages in my mailbox, I see a few pictures from the news wires, etc. I still have to click on the little tiles to see what I'm really after.

    In the end, it isn't enough of a "delta" to get people to buy Windows phones. The tiles might cause people to stare more at their phones due to their ever changing display. A distraction much like a news ticker, but less informative.

    The real strength of the Windows Phone will be the XBox integration. That's Microsoft's killer feature. If I play XBox games, and I can use my Windows phone as a controller or as a way to continue game play or as a way to remain in touch with my game mates, I'm getting a Windows phone over an Android or iPhone.

    The main problem is that Windows 7 Phone came at least 9 months too late. If it came out back in January, it would have destroyed Android. At that time, most manufacturers and phone companies were frustrated with Android. Too many releases, bad leadership from Google, no direction. If Windows 7 Phone was released back then, HTC and Motorola would have jumped on it. Verizon would end its Droid program and moved over to Windows 7 Phone. People would be talking about how Windows 7 Phones will soon start to outsell the iPhone.

    However, that Window of opportunity has closed. The Droid has been a smashing success for Verizon and they aren't even interested in W7P. HTC and Motorola have no plans to manufacturer W7P. Even Nokia is more interested in Android than W7P. Heck, even Dell and HP have no W7P plans.

    W7P is a lot of good effort, and some interesting concepts, but it'll have a lot of trouble making a name for itself in a crowded market.

  1. JuanGuapo

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jan 2008


    Liked the first one.

    Esp. the guy who dropped his phone in the urinal. LOL.

  1. jpellino

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 1999


    OK but...

    iPhone home screen and dock app icons update all these things too.

    I can have email counts, call counts and FB etc. counts on my home screen and dock.

    Given the design, perhaps they are selling to those with poor eyesight.

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