Microsoft has come under fire from Windows Phone 7 users for releasing a new group buying “Deals” service without support for its own mobile phone platform.
Deals will offer a Groupon-style service through Bing, giving consumers the chance to snap up a bargain in 140,000 cities across the US, but although the service includes desktop, iPhone and Android support – Windows Phone 7 users are left out in the cold.
Great feature and I’m sure it rocks, but I’ll only get to use it if I ditch my Windows Phone 7 device and move to Android
“Seriously, do you guys keep up with your own company?” wrote one commenter, John Bailey, in response to the official announcement.
“This should not have launched without Windows Phone 7 support. I’m very disappointed to see Microsoft promoting the iPhone – you can be assured that Apple will not be returning the favour.”
Other posters suggested the lack of a popular service might make people consider ditching their Phone 7 handsets in favour of rival handsets, a situation that Microsoft can ill afford as it looks to make up ground in the smartphone market.
“Great feature and I’m sure it rocks, but I’ll only get to use it if I ditch my Windows Phone 7 device and move to Android. Is that what you’re telling me?” wrote TorVez.
Microsoft said it would work to release a version for Windows Phone 7 later this year, but was relying on the WP7 team implementing support for HTML5 first.
“Thank you all for the feedback – as Windows Phone users we understand,” the Bing team wrote in response. “The functionality is based on HTML5 and will work with phones that support it, but today is being released for iOS and Android. ”
“Windows Phone 7 team announced that they will have HTML5 support in an update later this calendar year, at which point deals will work great on Windows Phone,” the statement added.
According to Microsoft, Bing Deals will only work in the US initially, but may eventually expand internationally, and will feature 200,000 unique offers in over 14,000 cities and towns across the US.
The company said the service would assemble leading offers from Groupon, Living Social and Restaurant.com as well as other “making it easier to discover, share and search for the best deals in your area – all from one place”.
The feature is powered by Dealmap, rather the Microsoft’s own technology and the company claims the daily top deals will generally offer 30%-50% off.
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