Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer unveiled Windows Phone 7 on 11 October – a new smartphone in an already crowded market.  So, what’s the response been like in social media? In the past month, we monitored over 150,000 mentions of the Windows Phone 7 discussion, in real-time to gauge the mood around the new smartphone on the block.

Figure 1: Sentiment expressed towards Windows Phone 7 – 24/9 to 24/10

21.6% of mentions were scored as positive

2.4% of mentions were scored as negative

75.9% of mentions were scored as neutral

The great thing about our system is we’re not limited to single word phrasing in topic clouds which enabled us to pick up one of the stand-out positive conversations – ‘Windows 7 phone synch software’.

‘I am crying with joy. RT @daring fireball Microsoft Announces Windows Phone 7 Sync Software for Macs’ (Tweeted by Stephan Seidt 13/10)

There was also a buzz around handset innovation.  Word from Stephen Fry on new technology is very influential and he gave big thumbs up to the new phone: “Now, they get it: that all human beings are human beings first. You don’t judge the machines you use, or the houses you live in by listing their functions. The first thing you do is say how you feel about your office; when you buy a house, you do it essentially on the feeling.”

Other positive comment included:

‘Seven Ways Windows Phone 7 is Cooler than the iPhone by @MattRosoff http://read.bi/aVLK3S’ (Tweet by alleyinsider 16/10)

‘I just got my Windows Phone 7 yesterday (I live in France) and it’s a revolutionary device’. (Forum post on Kindle Community 21/10)

Mashable’s initial response at the launch was the phone ‘didn’t suck the air out of the room like the iPhone did back in 2007, but it is a formidable adversary’.

On the flipside, criticism that Microsoft used developer Robio’s Angry Birds logo without permission was one of the key negative discussion points, especially on Twitter.

‘RT @RovioMobile: We have NOT committed to doing a Windows Phone 7 version. Microsoft put the Angry Birds icon on their site without our permission’.

Other negative issues included its advertising strategy and the usability of smartphones.

‘So, what the Windows Phone 7 ad really is saying is “If you buy a WP7 phone, you won’t bother using it”’ (Tweet by Olav Haugen 14/10)

Microsoft pegged its post firmly in Google and Apple territory with Windows Phone 7, which was lauded for its design and innovation but there were also comments on the gaps in mobile OS that Microsoft needed to fill to.   Greg Kumparak on TechCrunch suggested third party app multitasking, copy and paste, and tethering: ‘If Microsoft can quickly crack away at these gaps whilst managing to not slip behind in other ways, I could quite easily see myself toting a Windows Phone in the future …’