Hardware
Microsoft Says It Has Sold 1.5 Million Windows Phone 7 Units
Microsoft is proudly announcing that it has sold 1.5 million Windows Phone 7 units and calls it a promising start. That’s a good number no matter how you slice it. However, as Ed Bott points out the question that everyone seems to be asking about smartphone sales these days is how many have been activated.
While that metric might be as meaningful or as meaningless as the next metric, it is the hot metric of the current moment as Google and Apple spit and spat at each other over activations. Google claims it is doing something like 300,000 activations a day. Apple disputes that. Waaa, wass, mine is bigger than yours.
The question in Microsoft’s case is whether or not these phones are actually in consumers hands or on store shelves waiting for consumers to purchase. Regardless of how you play the numbers game, the good news for all the players is that the market for smartphones continues to expand and there is still room for all of them to compete.
That said, I get nervous when I hear execs spout the following:
we are here for the long run; Windows Phone 7 is just the beginning
On the one hand the long game is important. On the other hand, this crazy mobile market seems to reward those who can make a big splash early and I’m not sure companies like Microsoft and RIM understand the power behind that.
Question for you GBM Readers. Who’s got or is planning on a Windows Phone 7 device?
Jesse B Andersen
12/21/2010 at 4:03 pm
I would buy a WP7 phone instead of an Android phone. The interface looks more polished.
Anonymous
12/21/2010 at 4:04 pm
Got mine in october, never been happier with a phone.
I was totally sold on the sexy UI, I have to admit, but the OS proved to be pretty solid as well (even if kind of incomplete). MS claims updates are coming fast and frequent, so I’ll just wait and see.
Anyway, I’ve got very high expectations towards any major OS right now: honeycomb, iOS and the ipad 2, wp7 evolution and even windows 8 (desktop and mobile systems are finally going to collide soon, with a flood of new generation devices to come).
The tech market has never been this interesting.
TryllZ11
12/21/2010 at 4:09 pm
I too find WP7 interface having an edge over the glossy looks of Android/iOS/Bada…MS Rules…with this..KillA UI
Jeff Jackson
12/21/2010 at 6:09 pm
Here’s Microsoft’s problem with Windows Phone 7. I’m a huge Microsoft Fanboi. I even have an HP Slate 500 on order. I’m planning to go Android when I retire my Windows Mobile HTC Touch Pro 2 in a year or two. The Google apps and openness are just too good to pass up.
GoodThings2Life
12/21/2010 at 8:14 pm
I’m planning on getting an HTC Touch Pro 7 once it’s available on Sprint. For now, I enjoy my EVO.
I will never be one, however, to underestimate Microsoft’s “late entry” to a market. They have a very lasting endurance quality, and they don’t stop until they conquer.