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Comment by ScottWhigham | Hacker News Reader

Here's one issue that Microsoft has to deal with - my Mom asked me, "What is Windows Phone 8.1 - is that the new Windows phone?"

Stop and think about that question from a non-tech perspective. My mom (or yours) likely has no idea that there's a difference between "Windows Phone 8.1" and the "Nokia Lumia Icon with Windows Phone 8.1 installed". Now contrast that with Apple or even the Android world - they don't have such silly branding problems. No Apple user says "IOS 8? Is that the new iPhone?"

Branding is important and to brand the OS with the word "Phone" in it implies, to non-tech/news people, that it is a phone (which it isn't - it's just the OS). My mom doesn't want a "phone with Windows 8.1 on it" but she might want a "Windows phone". She doesn't want a "phone with IOS 8 on it" but she would like an iPhone.

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> No Apple user says "IOS 8? Is that the new iPhone?"

But lots of users say things like "Galaxy S5? Is that the new Droid?" (Which is annoying, but doesn't seem to be hurting Android sales.)

> Branding is important and to brand the OS with the word "Phone" in it implies, to non-tech/news people, that it is a phone (which it isn't - it's just the OS).

This distinction would matter more if people bought the phone and the OS separately, but they don't. To the average user the phone and the OS are mashed together into a single indistinguishable thing. You get a new OS when you get a new phone, and you upgrade the OS by buying a new phone.

In that sense the "8.1" label is just a way to distinguish new phones from old ones. If your mom goes to a store and asks for a "Windows phone" they'll have no trouble understanding what she means; it's just a possibility she'll get one that isn't the Latest and Greatest.

But lots of users say things like "Galaxy S5? Is that the new Droid?"

I have a hard time with that. The question itself implies that there are lots of users who know what "Droid" is but don't know what a Samsung Galaxy is - which I, frankly, find difficult to accept. I would think it's 100:1 the opposite way - most users know what a Samsung Galaxy is but few users (relative to user base) know what Android/KitKat/ICS/etc are. So I can't really see your point here.

This distinction would matter more if people bought the phone and the OS separately, but they don't. To the average user the phone and the OS are mashed together into a single indistinguishable thing.

Absolutely - that was sort of what I was saying (yours is much clearer though). Microsoft trying to make the OS version something that people care about is just short-term thinking. People care about a specific version in only a few situations that I've seen: (a) when there's a big marketing campaign around that version, (b) as a reaction against negative press around a specific version, or (c) because they want to upgrade from a very poor experience in their current OS. Those are all short-term (and expensive) customer acquisition methods. Apple's use of "IOS" - the name, the branding, release timing, backwards compat, etc - is so perfect for Microsoft that I guess I don't understand why they don't just copy it.

> I have a hard time with that. The question itself implies that there are lots of users who know what "Droid" is but don't know what a Samsung Galaxy is - which I, frankly, find difficult to accept.

I think you're misunderstanding me -- I wasn't referring to Android, but to "Droid," the type of Android phone by Motorola sold in the US by Verizon. Verizon mounted an absolutely massive advertising campaign a few years back to promote the early "Droid"-branded phones. It lodged the idea in a lot of brains that "Droid" == Android, in the same way that "iPhone" == iOS. So you (or at least, I) still frequently hear non-technical people talk about all sorts of Android devices as "Droids."

That always happens with branding, the terms and concepts are never understood, think Xerox, Kleenex and even iPad; every copy is Xeroxed, every nose tissue is Kleenex and every tablet is an iPad. This sort of usage does not benefit the brand owner.

> Now contrast that with Apple or even the Android world - they don't have such silly branding problems.

I bet your mom will be even more confused if you tell her about KitKat. However I agree with branding issues, if you don't follow an ecosystem, recognizing a new version is very hard. The only exception would be Apple's iOS versions which is a straight numerical increment. When I using Android, I din't get it at first that versions were based off candy names in alphabetical order or that Ubuntu's releases are marked by Year.Day (14.04). Heck even Nokia's smartphone numbering system confuses me.

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