I think investors should be exasperated.
Microsoft's top argument (to get Nokia to use WP7) last February, was that Nokia produced great hardware that would perfectly wed with Microsoft's mobile operating system. And then Nokia World came around last week, and all I saw was over-promise met with underachievement.
Neither of their phones (Lumia 800 and Lumia 710) has a front-facing camera, a staple of the modern smartphone. That has to be a glaring omission and/or strategic error in light of Microsoft's purchase of Skype, that would have provided a captive market for Microsoft in future video chatting / calls.
Then there's the disparity between the iPhone 4S and all mid- and top-level Androids that carry dual-core CPUs, compared to the single core CPU in both Lumia phones from Nokia. In fact, the Galaxy S-II (as well as the HTC EVO 3D, HTC Sensation, HTC Amaze 4G and the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide) has a CPU that is one full year ahead of the S2 Qualcomm CPUs that both Lumia phones use.
So let's say Nokia finally brings the Lumia 800 and 710 over to the US in 2012, virtually unchanged. This means that both phones will be running off processors that are 2 years old. If you're a current Android phone owner and are interested in a new Nokia smart phone, you're looking at buying a phone with virtually the same specs as the Android you bought in 2010!
Consider the thickness of their phones. The Lumia 800 is 12.1mm thick, while the Lumia 710 is 12.5mm thick. That's nearly an 1/8th inch thicker than the iPhone 4S and the Galaxy S-II.
The Lumia 800 even weighs more than the iPhone 4S, the Galaxy S-II and the Galaxy Nexus.
So it's no wonder then, that Nokia USA's chief went on record with the WSJ, saying that their tactic for the US market will be to go after first-time smart phone users, rather than convert existing iPhone and Android users.
That should really shake you up a bit.
In essence, Microsoft's mobile OS is not strong enough to convert any significant number of current smartphone users over to their platform. Given that newbies (aka late adopters) are the least knowledgeable in the differentiation between the mobile OS platforms, it is understandable.
After all, if you didn't know that your smart phone could video conference with other smart phones that were also equipped with a front-facing camera, then you wouldn't care if your Lumia 800 / 710 didn't have one, right? And if you didn't know that Android gadgets were remarkably like Live Tiles, but modifiable / scalable in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 (some gadgets already are scalable in 2.3.5 Gingerbread), then you would easily be led to believe that Live Tiles was an unique feature that no one else came close to matching, right?
This feels a lot like the path that Palm followed. Two smart phone models, lesser in specs than any top line, current generation smart phone, with limited apps, being driven early on by lots of smack talk from leadership, only to see market share plummet. At some point, Elop and Ballmer will have to answer to their respective shareholders, no?
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