While we've seen our fair share of sloppy marketing of Windows Phone by carriers here in the States, Australia seems to be taking it on the chin. We've mentioned the weak marketing efforts with stores continuing to push out other handsets and now it looks like Australia's largest carrier isn't making life easy for the Windows Phone either.
Madprops.org tried to purchase a Windows Phone from Telstra online and had some surprising results. It seems if you go to Telstra's website to buy a Windows Phone it's not the easiest task around. Telstra does give Windows Phones a category of their own and while Windows Phones are eligible for the penny shipping only one model is available online. The HTC HD7.
To buy the phone you have to choose a wireless plan (Small, Medium, Large and X-Large) that are listed just below the HD7 listing. But when you pull up the plans, the HD7 is no where in sight. It would appear the only way to buy a Windows Phone from Telstra is to find a store that has one in stock. Online, Telstra has the Windows Phones doing a vanishing act.
And Telstra isn't alone. Optus lists the platform as Windows 7, not Windows Phone 7. Even when the Australian online mobile retailer MobiCity offers a Windows Phone (the Lumia 800) they incorrectly advertise it as having extra memory options. While the effort should be recognized, it shouldn't be this hard.
While we've seen some great promotions on Windows Phone by manufacturers such as Nokia (as we've seen in Paris and Hong Kong) and HTC. Even Microsoft has done a good job at promotion with the Spend the Night Tour and sponsoring events like we saw on the Ellen Degeneres Show. But where Microsoft appears to be lacking is with the carriers. Somehow they need to light a fire under the carriers retail wing and get them excited about promoting Windows Phones as everyone else is.
Source: madprops
