I've been a mobile consumer for about the same length of time as you, plus I worked in the industry far longer (I began poking around at mobile cellular devices as a job since around 1993 with the old Motorola StarTAC flip-phones and the old bag-phone carphones and such). I can tell you that I have seen Windows Mobile in shops (Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile... even stores like Walmart, Target, etc.). I'm not sure that I can buy into your premise that whole thing hinges on a lack of prominence in the mobile market--I would argue that Microsoft has ruined their brand and image over the years. The idea of buying a Windows Phone 7 device conjures the image of one of those clunky old Windows Mobile phones from Hewlett Packard tat were pushed so hard up until maybe a couple of years ago, or else conjures the image of Microsoft's Windows desktops and the bad reputation they have for bloat, slowness and myriads of problems onto a phone device.

I still think that you're just not looking at the bigger picture and myopically focused on the idea that Windows Phone 7 is supposed to be new code. I don't think the broader market of consumers will care about that detail. Ultimately, what you or I think matters very little--let's just look at the numbers and we'll see how things transpire over time. I suspect Microsoft may have slipped enough times to have lost this market, though. They've always been struggling with it anyway, so this shouldn't be anything new.