Do you know anyone who is waiting with bated breath for Microsoft to launch Windows Phone 7 on November 8th?
Probably not.
I mean, it is awfully hard to explain to the masses why they should ditch their BlackBerries, Androids and iPhones for an untested Son-of-Kin.
Indeed, even the most shameless Microsoft fanboi is likely to think twice before taking the plunge into a dark world of endless mobile bloat that reeks like the haunted River Styx.
Mind you, Windows Phone 7 represents a parallel universe where traditional features like true multi-tasking and cut-and-paste simply don’t exist.
Now, even the spin-masters over at Redmond’s Fortress of Solitude have realized that promoting yet another iteration of Windows Mobile (without apps) is likely to be an uphill battle.
And that is why Steve “Balmy” Ballmer reportedly decided that every one of Microsoft’s 90,000 employees was to be dutifully equipped with a Windows Phone – like it or not.
But now Microsoft seems to be taking its free giveaway program to the next level by handing out at least 100 Windows-powered smartphones to AT&T store reps in Minnesota.
As the folks at Electronista point out, such a strategy is “relatively rare” in the industry and may be following the approach taken by Apple when the iPhone first launched in June 2007.
While this explanation is certainly plausible, there is one key difference: Apple’s sleek and sexy iPhone is a hot item that consumers (fanbois and noobs) all over the world lust after in the worst possible way.
It is doubtful that anyone could, or would be willing to say the same about Microsoft’s scrubby Windows Phone 7.
So, no, Windows Phone 7. I don’t want your number, and no, I don’t want to give you mine.
