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Windows Phone 7 "an ad-serving machine"

By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 28 Jun 2010 at 09:25

Microsoft has branded its Windows Phone 7 smartphone platform an “ad-serving machine” during a briefing to show off new features.

“For marketers this is actually turning out to be an ad-serving machine,” said Kostas Mallios, general manager at Microsoft's Live Labs, at an advertising industry conference. “It lets advertisers connect with consumers over time.”

Microsoft showed off three tools in the sales-blitz portfolio – Apps, Tiles and Toast – which give brand owners access to the front pages of handsets if consumers download apps from third parties.

With the Tiles and Apps feature, Mallios said, icons on the homepage would be dynamic so a brand could send out information about offers or new releases.

Should the message fail to get through – perhaps because the consumer has turned the application off – then a third tool, dubbed Toast, could be used to crank up the volume.

“If the app isn't running then Toast is a dynamic way of reaching people,” said Mallios. “Toast can enable an advertiser to push content out to the device.”

Microsoft says consumers can opt out of the services if they feel overwhelmed by the bombardment.

Windows Phone 7 is expected to be released in October.

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User comments

Sounds awful.

By rowanparker_uk on 28 Jun 2010

Opt out?

If this is going to be included, I'll opt out completely

No thanks, I really don't want a hand-held spam client.

No doubt they'll expect us to pay them for it too

By greemble on 28 Jun 2010

I get the occasional advertising in on my phone.It's Very irritating.It just puts me off whoever is sending the advert.Thus defeating the whole object of the exercise.

By Jaberwocky on 28 Jun 2010

That Steve Ballmer thinks advertising is a "feature" tells you how desperate they are.

Ads are an annoyance. I cannot think of a single instance where I've seen an advert and thought "I'll buy that" in print of through horrible flashing beeping buzzes.

Ads get in the way, are intrusive and put you off. Just look at Google. Now the first thirty pages when searching for a 1tb HDD are shopping sites. Thirty pages! How on earth does that help?

By bubbles16 on 28 Jun 2010

This is one case where following the iPhone is a bad idea

The ads are intrusive and annoying and guarantee the loss of my custom.

They provide a subsidy to developers, but I'd rather pay a few pence more and skip the adverts thanks!

By cheysuli on 28 Jun 2010

This is one case where following the iPhone is a bad idea

The ads are intrusive and annoying and guarantee the loss of my custom.

They provide a subsidy to developers, but I'd rather pay a few pence more and skip the adverts thanks!

By cheysuli on 28 Jun 2010

Do MS not want my money

When the windows phone 7 OS was announced MS touted that they were finally going to give something special and I looked forward to it's arrival but it just seems that they are now going out of their way to annoy people. First announcing that they would remove copy and past and now allowing 3rd Parties to bombard the phone with ads and even when you've turned the application off (indicating you don't want it running) they even go ahead and develop an extra tool to still bug you with an ad. Why do companies insist on annoying customers so much?

By koshthetrekkie on 28 Jun 2010

Shame

Yet again a company that could have done something right shows nothing but greed. Why the revenue from advertising has to be more important than a revenue from happy customers? This model works with Apple since every product has a cult following but Microsoft should know better. Windows users know how and when to criticise MS products and they surely will.

Shame, shame, shame...

By Josefov on 28 Jun 2010

Not just MS...

Blackberry announced an advertising SDK for their developers last week, Apple have iAds and Google AdMob.

Blackberry will also be tracking all devices on the move, to record traffic time / speed to the Blackberry servers, so that developers can use the data - this is an extension of the Dash GPS service, which used the information to suggest better routes or update the estimated time to destination.

By big_D on 28 Jun 2010

Shame

By Josefov on 28 Jun 2010

So you pay a fortune for the phone, and then a small fortune every month for the contract and you STILL get hit with ads!

No thanks!

By Grunthos on 28 Jun 2010

OK fine, but...

OK fine - but if it's going to just display ads I want it for free or a very good price.

By halsteadk on 28 Jun 2010

Its always a good idea to listen to what a company says to different stakeholders. I would imagine the sales pitch will be very different when aimed at consumers!

'Salesmen' seem to think we all want to be given 'the opportunity to buy'. I think they even phrase it like that in their training. I wonder whether they appreciate the opportunity to buy double-glazing every night on the phone? Maybe they don't make the connection.

I agree ads are a total turn-off, but someone somewhere is tempted by them, and in large numbers. IMO they must be semi-retarded, but they are the reason we all get junk mail, spam, and adverts on websites. I've long thought advertising-based business models would fail, but I'm still waiting - its like houses prices, they stubbornly refuse to fall the way I expect them to!

By davidsoap on 29 Jun 2010

There is no Shame, to earn Money !!

Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Home Screen going to support Advertisments!!
and its User/ Owner wish to allow advertisments !! What is user allow only certain Product Adv. if he is also getting some amount to watch those Adv. !!
I THINK THIS IS GREAT IDEA !! ( ALL WILL WIN)

By Ziddan on 23 Jul 2010

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