The low carrier support and the lackluster hardware have indeed hindered the platform. As a college student with a Windows Phone, however, I can attest anecdotally both to the operating system's (mostly the UI's) popular appeal and, on the other hand, to widespread popular distaste for the brand itself.
With other, tech-ignorant college students as my data points, I have found that most people's first impressions of the OS are quite positive, ranging from "oh, that phone's nice" (and they aren't talking about the physical device, a bland, somewhat chubby HTC Trophy) to "that's the coolest phone I've ever seen." As mentioned, these aren't people into tech I'm talking about—most of them have iPhones because they wanted one, or everyone else has one, or because there parents got them, so they did, too. I thus do not actively promote my phone in any way—all I've been doing, when I've gotten these sorts of responses, has been showing someone what someone else texted me, or some other datum or whatnot.
When they inevitably ask—"what kind of phone is that?"—and I say "Windows Phone," they, just as inevitably, immediately lose all interest.
This may parallel, I suppose, the reason Xbox, for example, remains instead successful years after its introduction: one of my uncles called my dad on Christmas day this year concering some computer or network problem (my dad, as a software engineer, of course bears that burden in our family), and mentioned incidentally that he had gotten my cousin an Xbox as a gift. My dad, who used to work for Microsoft and still gets a discount on their software, suggested that he might have been able to save some cash had my uncle told him ahead of time, or that he could still save on games if he wanted. What did my uncle say, however, but "oh, I didn't know it [Xbox] was Microsoft." Indeed, my uncle to this day refers to Microsft in conversation with my dad as "the evil empire."
So yeah, I think the brand name itself, however irrational the reason, hasn't helped at all. Also, there isn't a single actual window in the Windows Phone OS... Time to change up the name.
I still can't believe that MS called their new phone Windows Phone 7 Series. They should've pulled an "xbox" and used a completely different name with no association with Windows. They don't realise how badly Windows Mobile tarnished the "windows" name in mobile.
With other, tech-ignorant college students as my data points, I have found that most people's first impressions of the OS are quite positive, ranging from "oh, that phone's nice" (and they aren't talking about the physical device, a bland, somewhat chubby HTC Trophy) to "that's the coolest phone I've ever seen." As mentioned, these aren't people into tech I'm talking about—most of them have iPhones because they wanted one, or everyone else has one, or because there parents got them, so they did, too. I thus do not actively promote my phone in any way—all I've been doing, when I've gotten these sorts of responses, has been showing someone what someone else texted me, or some other datum or whatnot.
When they inevitably ask—"what kind of phone is that?"—and I say "Windows Phone," they, just as inevitably, immediately lose all interest.
This may parallel, I suppose, the reason Xbox, for example, remains instead successful years after its introduction: one of my uncles called my dad on Christmas day this year concering some computer or network problem (my dad, as a software engineer, of course bears that burden in our family), and mentioned incidentally that he had gotten my cousin an Xbox as a gift. My dad, who used to work for Microsoft and still gets a discount on their software, suggested that he might have been able to save some cash had my uncle told him ahead of time, or that he could still save on games if he wanted. What did my uncle say, however, but "oh, I didn't know it [Xbox] was Microsoft." Indeed, my uncle to this day refers to Microsft in conversation with my dad as "the evil empire."
So yeah, I think the brand name itself, however irrational the reason, hasn't helped at all. Also, there isn't a single actual window in the Windows Phone OS... Time to change up the name.