WPCentral Interview: The 1st person to buy Windows Phone 7 in the U.S. (Richard Mungeer)

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

Monday was a big day with a few of us trekking around to find ourselves a new Windows Phone 7 device, including the elusive Samsung Focus.

Richard Mungeer was deemed by Microsoft to be the first person in the U.S. to pick up the phone, similar to Jourdan Templeton in New Zealand from the international launch.

We thought it was a cool honor by Microsoft, even if technically some AT&T stores broke the embargo and allegedly sold some devices on Sunday (curses!). Anyways, we had a chance to speak with Richard about the whole thing, including how it happened and about his phone choice (Focus), and about camping out at 1am in front of the store, in anticipation. That's right folks, he has us beat for dedication.

Take a read after the break for six short questions with the only person who can say "First!" here at WPCentral!

What store was that where you bought your phone? Did someone from Microsoft approach you about the photo?

I was at the Times square ATT store. I woke up real early for this one and got there around 1am. They let me in about an hour early for some photos and to receive the VIP concert tickets.

You chose the Samsung Focus, any particular reason?

A few reasons, one it’s really the only choice to pick from. No one is really in to a big speaker or a keyboard and even Paul Thurrott from windows weekly says the same thing.

You previously had an iPhone. What made you consider Windows Phone 7 considering the strengths and popularity of Apple's device?

Iphone and droid are really great phones but like to wrote to engadget if you’re a geek and really what to see a great new concept then check out a windows phone.

What's your favorite part of the Focus/Windows Phone 7 so far?

I love the wireless syncing of photos. So I walk in my house and I check my computer and all is synced.

Any favorite apps or games yet?

Ilomilo is fun and Zune is good to have on hand.

How does it feel to be famous, even if for a day?

Of my 15mins I think meeting some of the people behind windows phone was really cool and I forget his name but some head of ATT was a funny guy. Ohh and the free drinks and VIP tickets lol.

Thanks Richard for your time!

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been here covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, Microsoft Surface, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics and ran the projectors at movie theaters, which has done absolutely nothing for his career.

5 Comments
  • First! In soviet Russia WP7 bought me 20 days ago!
  • Great interview! Congrats to Richard (and Marco)!
  • Any person who calls another platform incorrectly, obviously never did his research. He was just a guy who thought "This looks cool" and camped out, just like he did for his iPhone. If he really considered Android, he would've known that the Android dev community is HUGE, with A LOT of ROMs and apps constantly made. If anything, Android is the "geek phone" it has a completely different design concept, it is different than any other OS I have used.
  • Man was talking about phones, after all, he bought a phone, not OS.
  • i wanna be the first to let everyone know richard mungeer returned his windows phone for the new iphone . (sorry rick but apple paid me to rat you out ahahahah )