Sam OliverMicrosoft Senior Product Manager Greg Sullivan revealed to Ina Fried of Mobilized that more than two million Windows Phone 7 devices were shipped to carriers worldwide by the end of December. It's the first update from Microsoft since the Windows maker revealed it had shipped 1.5 million handsets in mid-December.
"We're still in the early stages," Sullivan said. "When people use this phone, they really, really like it."
He added that 93 percent of early customers indicated they are "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with Windows Phone 7. Based on customer satisfaction data, Sullivan said he believes Microsoft is on the right track.
The company did not, however, reveal how many of those shipped phones were actually sold to consumers. The total number represents handsets shipped to carriers, not end sales.
Regardless, the numbers are well behind Apple's iPhone, which recently had a record breaking quarter with sales of 16.2 million units over the 2010 holiday buying season. Windows Phone 7 launched in parts of Europe and Asia on Oct. 21, and in the U.S. on Nov. 8.
The shipment numbers for Windows Phone 7 are also lower that those reported by Gartner for Microsoft's own, earlier Windows Mobile 6.x platform in the third quarter of 2010, which amounted to 2.25 million units worldwide.
Microsoft will further discuss the launch of Windows Phone 7 when it reports its quarterly earnings on Thursday. Expectations on Wall Street are for the Redmond, Wash., software giant to report earnings of $5.93 billion which, if accurate, would lag behind the $6 billion in quarterly profits reported by Apple last week.
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85 Comments
Windows shipped 2 million phones, but Apple sold 16.2 million.
These are not the same things are they?
They've shipped 2 million and I've yet to see one in the wild.
Windows shipped 2 million phones, but Apple sold 16.2 million.
These are not the same things are they?
If you are referring to shipped and sold, in this situation they are because each of those smartphones shipped to carriers means a WP7 license sold to the vendor.
It’s too early to tell if WP7 will improve their position but I don’t think 2M is bad at all for this launch. MS was already floating around 10% smartphone marketshare with WM6 devices and a knowledge that WP7 was coming so I’d think they’d improve on that in the coming quarters.
They've shipped 2 million and I've yet to see one in the wild.
I have!
...in the hands of friend who was working for Microsoft at the time.
Personally, I sort of hope they do better than this. They put some real thought and work into that phone and it doesn't suck. Much.
Basically, I want Apple to keep doing backflips to stay ahead. Android is also a serious competitor, of course, but it's basically going to take us back to balkanized, vendor-controlled handsets that are a nightmare for both users and developers. If Google ever gets it together, I'd take another look, but it seems like Google doesn't have any incentive for that to happen.
"Shipping" phones to carrier stores is not the same as "selling" them. For all we know the channel is stuffed with them and they are collecting dust.