In an interview with hosts Mary Jo Foley, Leo Laporte and Paul Thurrott on Twit's Windows Weekly show, Microsoft's Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela made some startlingly barefaced admissions about a corner of the market the tech company has been flailing with: smartphones.

The CMO only described the company's flagship 950 Lumia phone as "solid," and admitted that Microsoft needs to step its game up before it can design or manufacture a smartphone on par with Apple's iconic iPhone — or, as Capossela said, "move from an iPhone to one of [Microsoft's] phones." 

The problem? As the CMO put it, a universal draw, "some sort of spiritual equivalent on the phone side that doesn't just feel like a phone for people that love Windows."  

Capossela also spoke to the urgency of hooking in a younger generation of users (according to the Pew Research Center, 98 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 to 29 own a smartphone). Laporte himself invoked the popularity of the app Snapchat as an example (which, as Engadget pointed out, is not currently available on Windows' phone devices).

"You need Snapchat, you need Instagram ... you need Uber, gotta have it. There's 10-15 apps that you just have to have on the phone," Capossela added.

The CMO also cited prior successes, like with the company's Surface devices, and the need to recapitulate and package that magic.

Despite the challenges Microsoft faces in the phone market, Capossela believes that the company has the tools and the werewithal to produce a line like Apple.

"We need more breakthrough hardware work, we need more breakthrough experiences," said Capossela.

Via: Engadget

Source: Windows Weekly