Windows Phone ad sees iPhone and Android owners trading insults at wedding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19vR1GldRI

Despite the massive marketing blitz, Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform has managed to regain but a fraction of market share lost to iOS and Android in years past. Figuring it could take a page from Samsung’s marketing handbook, Microsoft on Monday published on its YouTube channel a new Windows Phone commercial which takes a mandatory jab at Apple’s iPhone and its Siri digital personal assistant while also poking fun of Gorilla-sized Android devices from Samsung. The funny ad is aimed at boosting Microsoft’s and Nokia’s stagnant sales of Lumia handsets in the United States…

The two-minute video depicts an all-out brawl at a wedding, with guests first trading insults over their phone choices.

At one point, an iPhone-totting guest asks an owner of a jumbo-sized Galaxy phone to move his “enormous” device so he could record the ceremony.

“Aren’t you a little young to have an iPhone?”, another Galaxy users asks an old lady, subtly referring to HTC’s CEO dismissing the iPhone as not being cool anymore because your parents own it.

The highlights: insults such as ‘iSheep’ or ‘copybox’, in a clear jab at Apple’s walled garden philosophy and Samsung’s copying of the iPhone, with the crowd clearly split 50:50 between the iPhone 5 and Samsung.

The commercial wraps up with the “Don’t fight. Switch.” tagline in a subtle reminder that Windows Phone owners don’t need to resort to this kind of insult-trading as they presumably already carry the best device in their pocket.

Here’s Samsung talking Galaxy S4 design.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUiRThvCp8E

Despite a record high sales of Windows Phone-powered Lumia devices in the recent quarter, US buyers continue to avoid Microsoft’s phone platform.

On an annual basis, Lumia devices are down 33 percent as Microsoft and Nokia struggle to take Windows Phones off the ground.

And as smartphones outship feature phones for the first time, hardware cost is becoming the defining factor for first-time smartphone buyers in emerging markets.

Apple’s iPhone, which for the time being competes on the high-end, has seen its market share erode to a single-digit figure in emerging markets like Brazil and India. A year ago, Microsoft made much noise about Windows Phone outshipping the iPhone in China.

Research firm IDC predicted Microsoft’s platform would overtake Apple’s handset in the 1.33 billion people market this year, with various other estimates calling for Windows Phone becoming the world’s #2 smartphone platform in a few years time.

However, a recent Yankee Group survey paints a rosy picture for the iPhone, estimating it will surpass Android in U.S. market share by 2015 assuming Apple’s high loyalty rates.

So, was this ad any good?

It struck me as a funny take on the overall state of the wireless industry.

Meet us in comments.