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LG rep: Windows Phone 7 launch underwhelmed

Just a little more than two months after the launch of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, an LG marketing representative reportedly says consumers aren't quite getting it.

Josh Lowensohn Former Senior Writer
Josh Lowensohn joined CNET in 2006 and now covers Apple. Before that, Josh wrote about everything from new Web start-ups, to remote-controlled robots that watch your house. Prior to joining CNET, Josh covered breaking video game news, as well as reviewing game software. His current console favorite is the Xbox 360.
Josh Lowensohn
LG's Quantum, one of the first Windows Phone 7 devices.
LG's Quantum, one of the first Windows Phone 7 devices. Sarah Tew/CNET

In an interview with blog Pocket Lint, James Choi, LG's marketing strategy and planning team director, reportedly dubbed the launch of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 late last year to be underwhelming.

According to the site, Choi said that while Microsoft's handset OS was "very intuitive and easy to use," and appealed to "certain segments," the platform failed to live up to the company's expectations of grabbing consumer attention.

"From an industry perspective we had a high expectation, but from a consumer point of view the visibility is less than we expected," Choi told Pocket Lint.

That said, Choi noted that LG likes to balance out its lineup of phones on various carriers with more than one operating system, and that Microsoft had gone a long way towards helping LG to fulfill that goal.

"There is a need and demand from the operators saying there is too much 'Android' in the portfolio. In that sense, LG always tries to balance our portfolio, and that's not just in sense of hardware but OSes as well," Choi reportedly said.

Microsoft launched its Windows Phone 7 platform in Europe and Asia back in late October of last year, with the U.S. launch in the second week of November. In late December, the company announced that it had sold 1.5 million of the devices to mobile operators since the platform's launch.