Gartner: 1.6 million Windows Phone 7 handsets sold to customers in Q1 2011

May 19, 2011 | By Surur

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in 1Q11 (Thousands of Units)

Company	1Q11 Units	1Q11 Market Share (%)	1Q10 Units	1Q10 Market Share (%)
Android	36,267.8	36.0	5,226.6	9.6
Symbian	27,598.5	27.4	24,067.7	44.2
iOS	16,883.2	16.8	8,359.7	15.3
Research In Motion	13,004.0	12.9	10,752.5	19.7
Microsoft	3,658.7	3.6	3,696.2	6.8
Other OS	3,357.2	3.3	2,402.9	4.4
Total	100,769.3	100.0	54,505.5	100.0

Source: Gartner (May 2011)

Gartner has released some numbers we do not usually see from analyst companies – sales to end users. Relevant to us is the sales of Windows Phone 7 and the numbers do not look too bright.

According to Gartner 3.658 million Microsoft OS phones were sold to end users in Q1 2011 which is actually less than the numbers sold in Q1 2010, when Windows Phone 7 was announced but of course well before its release. Given the tremendous growth of the market itself over this period ( nearly 100%) this number should be incredibly disappointing.

Even more worrying is that Gartner goes on to separate Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 7 sales, saying:

Windows Phone saw only modest sales that reached 1.6 million units in the first quarter of 2011, as devices launched at the end of 2010 failed to grow in consumer preference and CSPs continued to focus on Android. In the long term, Nokia’s support will accelerate Windows Phone’s momentum.

This effectively means that even in Q1 2011 Windows Mobile outsold Windows Phone 7, which is rather hard to believe, given the massive marketing Microsoft has put into the OS, compared to the Windows Mobile days.

The numbers need more analysis, but the short of it is that consumers are not choosing Windows Phone 7, and that for Microsoft to succeed they need to do everything possible to change it.

Why do our readers feel Windows Phone 7 has so far failed to catch on? Let us know below.

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged market share, sales, windows phone 7

http://twitter.com/Snatchertas Tasos Greebo

BS, there were no WM6.5 for sale at all here.
Anonymous

Hey Surer. This one is easy. The main reason WP7 is not selling as well as we think it should is because of the places that sell them (Best Buy, T-mobile etc.) do everything in their power not to sell them. Either the sales teams play favorites or ignorant to the OS or the companies like Best Buy and Radio Shack fail to give them any exposure and if they do it amounts to an honorable mention in the least looked at part of the ad.

If the consumer stores don’t change their tune then WP OS is going out 6:30 style…. Bent over!
brian L

I can’t speak for anyone else who tends to comment here, but I personally have been a big fan of Windows Phone 7 but decided early on not to buy one until the first major update (mango). I’ve talked to a lot of people who feel the same way. For all the great things WP7 has going for it, more or less all the reviews summarised it as “great start, but still missing a lot of features”. Those missing features make it hard for average Joe to seriously consider a windows phone over an iPhone or android at the same price. I think we’ll all be waiting for mango for the show to really start.

Anonymous

Yes I like your take on this as well Brian. When Mango releases it should be interesting.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Sergey-Durnov/100000964100298 Sergey Durnov

First WP7 devices are not so impressive and OS is not mature. So these few million people are enthusiasts (btw, does this amount include MS employees?). I think we will see sales growing when Mango will be released.
http://fxfp.com/ Alex F.

Considering that Windows Mobile is much more widely available worldwide (while WP7 is still limited to a few markets) – this is not suprising. The better comparison would be to compare numbers of individual countries where WP7 is available – US, UK, Germany, etc.
http://profiles.google.com/hopmedic Richard Hopkins

A lot of us don’t have one yet because Verizon won’t release a phone.
Meekermoloko

I know from personal experience that there are people complaining about their Android phones. Mostly by people who aren’t very computer savvy. They complain about the battery life mostly, but also how slow the phones are and that it’s difficult to do simple things. They are either probably going to go to iOS or a WP7 for their next phones.

I’ve been to Best Buy and notice the WP7 displays and by just playing with the phone … it’s boring after the 30 seconds or 1 minute of trying it … which is usually the amount of time the average person will try something. They won’t know about the second menu unless by chance. iOS and Android have all the icons and pretty wallpaper that they look much more appealing for that amount of time.

With WP7 … you get the solid tiles and that’s about it. Retailers need to download IMDb, Netflix, ESPN, Flixter, Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Last.fm, USA Today, IGN, YouTube etc. for these demo units. Even if customers can’t access them … they need to see that they are available.

I’m glad I got a WP7 when it first came out … so now when Mango is available this Fall, I’ll only have one more year to wait before more variety of phones are available.

markiz

it boring just because there is no content, the UI is much less boring than say iphone. there, you only get a grid of the icons.
Couldn’t they just make a default hotmail account for those display phones, sync some applications, email and stuff? it would go a long way to show what the os can do and how it does that.
Anonymous

All the retail stores I went to had a similar experience too. They all just had the default applications on them and no additional apps. Right next to the phone was an iPhone loaded with about 20 games on it, so no wonder it was more appealing. Interestingly enough though, there were a lot of people who went into a Best Buy mobile store and started trying the phone out and liked it (maybe because I was looking at it too). Unfortunately they just took one step to the left and launched angry birds on the iPhone.

I was in a Verizon store back in February and I asked them if they were getting any Windows Phones anytime soon and they looked at me strangely and said “Windows Phone? What’s that? uhh, I don’t think so, no.” The Verizon employees are selling phones, yet they don’t even know about the different phone OS’s.

On the other hand, I was in an AT&T store shortly after the launch of WP7 in the US and although the salesperson said she was a blackberry kind of person, she talked about how she was sent to a presentation to learn about the phone, and she did a modest job of showing off the features. They had a few apps on the phones too. When WP7 launched, they had Windows Phone posters all over, so there was certainly a good amount of advertising. Although, my own parents sometimes call my phone an iPhone or an Android phone…..
Mamacita42

You are so right! That was the first thing I noticed when I went into a store about the demos and I suggested to MS on their FB page that they also pin live contacts and workable apps so customers will see the how the phone actually works. Please know that I also have an Evo and in the Android Market there is a WP7 UI clone called Launcher 7 and it is a top launcher app in Android. 95% of the reviews I read are all extremely positive and a good number say their next phone is WP7. Also some that want to convert to WP7 dont want to give up the FF camera or Swype. So lets see what mango does and more featured hardware.
My2cents

“Retailers need to download IMDb, Netflix, ESPN, Flixter, Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Last.fm, USA Today, IGN, YouTube etc. for these demo units. Even if customers can’t access them … they need to see that they are available.”
I agree with this 100%. MS needs to promote their phone by telling retailers to download these apps for the Windows Phone 7 model. Consumers will get to play with these, and this will only enhance their shopping experience and likely they will walk out with a Windows Phone 7. So for future shipments to all kiosk stores. Have a model phone with all the fine features. Also, perhaps pay incentive to sales person for promoting the Windows Phone 7.
My2cents

“Retailers need to download IMDb, Netflix, ESPN, Flixter, Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Last.fm, USA Today, IGN, YouTube etc. for these demo units. Even if customers can’t access them … they need to see that they are available.”
I agree with this 100%. MS needs to promote their phone by telling retailers to download these apps for the Windows Phone 7 model. Consumers will get to play with these, and this will only enhance their shopping experience and likely they will walk out with a Windows Phone 7. So for future shipments to all kiosk stores. Have a model phone with all the fine features. Also, perhaps pay incentive to sales person for promoting the Windows Phone 7.

Anonymous

I doubt anyone is incredibly disappointed. There’s a new android phone released basically every week, the market is flooded with them. There’s one for basically every price point no matter what carrier you’re on. WP7 has had one round of hardware released 6 months ago, and none of those phones are even available on the largest network in America yet. That’s no strategy for success- to such an obvious degree that frankly I don’t even think they expect it to be one at the moment. We’ll see what happens wrt to the long term plan when Nokia/Mango go live.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Andrea-Barbera/633833446 Andrea Barbera

I can only speak for the situation here in the Netherlands, where handsets are being sold without any supporting services like Xbox Live and Zune pass available. Despite high customer satisfaction rates, it’s not a situation that can be sustained from a point of view of sales people in retail stores. They will not tell potential customers that a half-baked platform is something people should buy into as ooposed to the fully functional iOS or Android platfoms. Yes I know it’s just a matter of time, but any month passing is doing more damage than anything good to be honest. Microsoft will need to put some serious marketing efforts into it once local services have launched.

http://chmun77.myopenid.com/ Koka

Agree…. WP7 is truly half-baked. Look at the amount of new features Mango will be adding. This show that MS did not even have the time to release a fully featured OS last year. As mentioned, the online services outside US is pathetic. I will get an Android / iOS anytime than a WP7.

http://twitter.com/kevatron Kevin Smith

If you live in the UK you’ll be hard pushed to even find a Windows Phone 7 handset. For all their marketing Microsoft continue to focus their efforts at home. The Nokia deal may change things in the long term. There are certainly a lot of people betting on it: http://www.in-traction.com/the-microsoftnokia-thing/
markiz

the problem is probably with the carriers, whenever someone indecisive walks in, they recommend either an iphone, or some new android. that’s from my experience. i have no other explanation.

Also, no new phones have been released in months now, and dual-core is on fire. if samsung were to release a wp sg2 equivalent, i have a feeling it would be at least a modest hit.

AnonGuy

Stop deflecting. The platform launched half baked. That’s thre biggest issue. It has less features than a feature phone with high end smartphone prices…

markiz

Oh, the platform has been released as a BETA at best, i agree. That’s why i’m still holding back and will be jumping the train only this summer.

but, again, from my experience, most people (that does not include people visiting tech-blogs like you and me), even the c/p is not something they would inform about when making a purchase. Most of them will buy the smartphone because it’s cool to pinch-zoom photos and because they have facebook applications.

AnonGuy

Copy and Paste is non-factor. People complained about it but it really
wasn’t that big a deal.

People take issue because the Facebook Apps and Integration on WP7 is weaker
than OEM Android Handsets (Sense/TouchWiz) and the Twitter Integration is
non-existent. The Facebook App has no Chat Support. There are no decent IM
clients on WP7 until Mango releases with WLM integrated. That’s a big deal.

WP7 has 1/3rd an MMS client and you can’t email videos off the device.
There’s no way to Sync Bookmarks or Documents via Zune.

Tons of apps are missing or impossible to implement until Mango.

Codec support is terrible so you can run into problems if people send you a
file that plays on another device because some Android devices (i.e. Galaxy
S handsets) have wildly superior codec support to WP7…

P.S. A lot of people who aren’t computer saavy visit tech blogs because I
push it in their faces. They get it in my Windows Live Feed and I tend to
link interesting articles on Facebook There’s also Twitter, among other
things.

http://twitter.com/jessiethe3rd Jessie Anderson

BINGO. I am finding that the carriers are not recommending Windows Phone what so ever. Sprint in the US tried to push my sister an Android device repeatedly even though she requested a Windows Phone. Why do think AT&T is doing random sales checks at Best Buy? Because Best Buy isn’t recommending the phones.

So yes – this is definitely a part of it. What’s missing as well is more “Killer Features” which really shine on the platform. Apple has simplicity. Google has low cost. Windows Phone has a pretty UI but it need more of that pretty to really pull in more consumers.

There also needs to be some cross sell synergy.

Have an Xbox 360 and Kinect on display at an Electronic store? Pay the store to put the Windows Phone next to it scroll through the online Xbox Live features

Selling Office in the store? Set up a kiosk with a Windows Phone next to it showing the Windows Phone 7 features scrolling through with the Office Hub.

People do not know what they do not understand.

While AT&T as a premium partner is pushing WP7 heavily it’s embarassing when a carrier like Verizon takes forever just to release a single device yet they have Androids releasing on a daily basis. Mend your broken bridges with Verizon and the Kin fiasco… get that handled quickly so you can set up a better CDMA pipe in the US.

Lastly – Android is selling because of the sheer number of devices out there. There are simply tons of options for consumers. We need more devices by LG, HTC, Nokia, and Samsung

Anonymous

I bet the Microsoft-Nokia deal really put a freeze on all its partnerships with other vendors. And they were probably cold to start with – only for the sake of not getting sued by Microsoft.
Anonymous

I agree. My sister in law tried to get an HD7 or a Dell Venue Pro when she went to the T-Mobile store in NY, and all they did was tell her how horrible the experience was and did everything they could to steer her to an Android device. She left and went to another store and got the same experience. It almost makes you think that Store employees are getting bonuses for every android device sold.

Anonymous

Or maybe the store employees are speaking honestly and from personal experience.

Anonymous

yeah because experience = truth… /s
there is no excuse, if you want a wp7 they shouldnt recommend something else. when my sister got her wp7, she asked me, i gave her advices, i told her everything good or bad, when there was a cheap android phone i just said “i wouldn’t like that, but if you do its ok, its your choice and you are paying for it” she ended up with wp7, and she loves it. she was the one deciding i just told her good or bad stuff about the phones she asked me.
Anonymous

No, experience is experience – as long as they are clear that is the basis there’s no reason for them not to give an opinion. That’s why you have sales people and not just cashiers.
Anonymous

BUT the person above said that her sister in law WANTED a wp7. she wasnt like “oh mr sales man please tell me which phone is good” its not the same trying to advice people than saying “experience is horrible bla bla”, when there is people who loves it like my sister. it doesn’t have features for alot of people (mango might cover alot of that) BUT some people just needs, facebook, send text, open emails, and of course calling people. and what if her sister in law used the wp7 before?how they can say its a horrible experience when she has used it before?.
and come on, you replied to a comment about how a person went to an At&t store and they didn’t even know the features of the phone.

I think if that sister in law had asked why like i had, they wouldn’t have known an answer.

maybe they even think windows mobile = windows phone. or maybe they think microsoft = evil.

so my point is, no matter what experience they had, it means nothing when a person goes and just want to buy what they want. if it was me, i would have just asked why, then if i get a smart answer i would fight it with what i know about wp7 specially since my sister has one. and since every person have different taste and needs, i dont see the need of “horrible experience” it really makes me wonder if they have used it. or they are like people who cant get out of their taste and offer a good opinion becuase its not what they like or think its good.
Anonymous

Look, if she’s old enough to sign a phone contract on her own she’s old enough to make up her own mind about what phone to buy. That doesn’t mean a salesperson shouldn’t offer advice. Who knows, the salesperson may have just dealt with a soccer mom upset that she couldn’t install Angry Birds on her WP7 phone. Or that salesperson may have had to deal with people unhappy with the very limited accessories available. Or that salesperson may have simply been hesitant to push a brand new system with no track record.

Think of it this way, if someone was to tell you they couldn’t wait to buy a shiny new Symbian phone you’d probably want to tell them why that might not be the best idea right now.
Anonymous

yeah BUT people with no understanding in how phone works would go by what the salesman tell them… and that was exactly what i mean, salesman have to do their job, and they have to give advice BUT they cant say “horrible experience and bla bla” just because they want to. i told you, my sister have a wp7 and she loves it, so why then is a bad experience for him? if you ask him he wont even know, i bet he will just go by “android is better” or something like that. a salesman cant go and “you cant buy thjis because this is horrible experince” and as you say i cant be like “dont buy a symbian!” i will GIVE points of what other platforms may be better, that doesn’t mean i will say “symbian is horrible so dont buy it” when my mom bought a phone years ago to my dad, you think she knew about it? she went for what the salesman said, and the price and the look. so people dont know much about it, and if you go and start saying “horrible horrible” it will not help other platforms just because thy want to think its horrible. why he didn’t say “oh, well… this phone doesn’t have copy paste, but it will come soon, it cant do skype video calls, but there will be an update in the end of the year that will allow it” “if you need it we have this and this and this phone, it comes with X os and it have those features…” bla bla. but you cant be like “oh… the experience is horrible, you cant get it, better get this because i say its better”

in the end the sister in law walked away from the store, so what kind of salesman was he?
im good at selling stuff, but maybe i know how to talk with lie/truth to make people buy what i say.

but anyway, you seem to defend so much how they should offer and insult a platform just because its new, or because its from microsoft, or because it isn’t android nor iphone.
hopefully some of those salesmen can educate themselves and get to know a platform before talking, specially since mango is coming which is a huge update.

Anonymous

Or maybe the store employees are speaking honestly and from personal experience.

http://twitter.com/purevibz jack frost

I was the first one to buy Wp7 at my at&t store and I had to tell the rep 10 times I didn’t want an iPhone and had to be the one showing their customers how WP7 phones work they didn’t have a clue.
meg2u

I agree! When I purchased my Focus in December, the salespeople at the ATT store weren’t even aware of the features! They asked me if I would like them to download my contacts from my old sim card. REALLY? I told them no, and when they handed my phone I entered my Live Acct and my facebook, and my phone was populated with all my contacts before I left the store! Both salespeople admitted they were iPhone users, and didn’t yet know what WP7 could do. I truly don’t think ATT staff is trained enough to “sell” WP7.

Anonymous

Can you really blame the AT&T rep though? I mean think about it, 80% of the people walking into that store looking for a smartphone are going to ask for an iPhone – for the rep it’s an easy sell and the customer tends to be extremely satisfied.

vangrieg

1.6 million isn’t bad at all. That’s rougly 50K per handset per month, and all the handsets have very limited distribution (number of countries and operators). This is actually comparable to Android.

You won’t see any substantial market share for WP7 until (and if) there are dozens of phones available everywhere.

Anonymous

They have loads of carriers worldwide and plenty of phone models (even if they are basically Android retreads), so yes, 1.6 million is pretty darn bad (that’s a bit over 500K/month by the way, not 50K). Given the fact that the market is much, much larger today it also doesn’t compare well to early Android or iOS sales

vangrieg

They have 10 or 11 phones in 17 countries or so. Which equals around 50K per handset. Android had 170 phones on over one hundred countries or so in Q1, according to Schmidt’s statement made in January, so you can easily see that its sales per handset aren’t much better.

Also, in the very same table you can see that Android sold a little over 5 million phones in Q1 2010, which is some 1.5 years after launch. So no, it wasn’t doing much better early on.
vangrieg

They have 10 or 11 phones in 17 countries or so. Which equals around 50K per handset. Android had 170 phones on over one hundred countries or so in Q1, according to Schmidt’s statement made in January, so you can easily see that its sales per handset aren’t much better.

Also, in the very same table you can see that Android sold a little over 5 million phones in Q1 2010, which is some 1.5 years after launch. So no, it wasn’t doing much better early on.

Geroinaustralien

“So no, it wasn’t doing much better early on.”

Wrong. It was doing MUCH better, because the market was much smaller back than. Is that so hard to understand?

Vinnie

You wanna know why this is true? The HD2 come out Q1 of 2010. It was a great device that was sold out and had a ton of buzz around it. It’s hardware specs were at the top of all devices out at the time. The same cannot be said for WP7. If a new WP7 device that had amazing hardware came out earlier this year then maybe the numbers could compete.

The problem is there is no announcement of dual core, 4G, front facing or 3D cameras, etc, devices that have innovative and new technology. Even if that technology is just a gimmick it’s beside the point, because that is still what people are talking about. This is the reason why Android is all the buzz in the mainstream media and consumer.

I am WP7 100% and would NOT consider switching OS, but I must admit the Samsung Galaxy S II sounds EXREMELY enticing based solely on the hardware… 1.2GHz dual core processor, super AMOLED 4.27in screen, supports 4G, 8 megapixel with 1080p recording, front facing camera, and it’s also world’s thinnest smartphone.

If a first of it’s kind super powerful device like that was came out exclusively to WP7 it would absolutely kill. I’m content with my Focus for now but I hope a device like that does come out JUST so other people can notice how great a Windows Phone is.

So to answer Surur’s final question: It’s not that WP7 hasn’t caught on, it’s that…
- a rehashed HD2 a year after it was originally released
- a rehashed Samsung Galaxy S six months after originally released
- a lame phone with a slide out speaker
- a generic LG slider
are what have not caught on. Low sales are not because of uninformed sales people. If any of the phones were truly groundbreaking they would get noticed and sell themselves, and the consumer would of heard the buzz around it before they even went to the store.
efjay

I’ve said it many times, carriers and OEM’s support is lacklustre at best. Carriers are pushing android whenever they can and OEM’s did the bare minimum with their devices and left it at that. Not all android phones are dual core, 1GB ram phones so you have to ask why are there no new WP7 devices with different screen sizes, cameras or form factors? Why no 7 Pro for T-Mobile, att, Voda, O2, Orange/T-Mo? No Super AMOLED Plus II phone?

I’m not surprised and its just another reason I hope MS buys Nokia, they CANNOT rely on their so called partners to give their 100% to WP7. Dump them and concentrate completely on Nokia who have no other OS to distract them.

brian L

I understand someone from AT&T said awhile ago that there’s a big gap in wp7 devices right now because OEMs are waiting for mango to release their next wave of devices. It certainly sounds like HTC are developing some pretty cool stuff, I don’t doubt that every other OEM is working on new devices too.

Nokia is not releasing phones before mango either.

Hussein

In every carriers store, the charger for the demos are unplugged, someone has locked them down. But Windows Phone 7 doesnt catch up because it doesnt support that many languages and the marketplace too. I’m from Sweden, both the language and marketplace doesnt work here, i can register an UK live account, but i cannot register my credit card. I bought my Windows Phone 7 because im loyal to Microsoft’s development and want to support them in making better products and its a good OS. But still, the OS needs full support for more countries. And i think that by half of 2012, Windows Phone 7 will have a marketshare right behind iOS, as Nokia is pushing out phones after mango.
http://www.facebook.com/ckeledjian Charles Keledjian

Yes, it is the carriers. When I went to buy my Focus Windows Phone, the first store didn’t have it, the second store only had a dummy of a HTC surround, then the third had it, but in limited quantities, and sale reps were unaware of its features, they could not describe any selling point about the phone, they insisted a couple of times on selling me an android instead. It was me that had to insist that I wanted the WP and after they activated it they thought it was quite cool. Additionally, WP7 has to compete in a market that is used to compare hardware specs, but in the case of WP7, having a dual-core super naughty processor won’t make a difference, except reduce battery life, because the phone is fully optimized to use the 1Ghz processor and its GPU. For this reason, MS needs to market the phone on its usability and features, fill the demo phones with fake data so it shows how it’ll look like when you own it, or do like demo iPhones do that play a video loop of the features. They need to inject some money to train and give better incentives to carrier sales reps, and they need to change their ad strategy to show more of what you can do, show cool apps, show games, show real life applications. I don’t think MS is doing their best at this, and it seems to me that they are holding on purpose until they have phones shipping with Mango, which is WP7 fully mature, because a lot of people simply does not upgrade the software. For instance, a friend of mine bought a Focus after seeying mine, he had an android before. He’s not tech savvy and not into music. He loves the Focus and started using it with almost no learning curve required, but he has never connected the phone to the computer, even less Zune and he hasn’t upgraded to NoDo and he doesn’t miss not having copy and paste anyways. Maybe in this forum most of us are eager to get the latest update but most people don’t care, so is better to sell them the phone with the update already. I think by the time Mango is shipping in phones there will be a strong push from MS and from carriers.

psge

Don’t get me wrong, the OS was released a year early but I have yet to go into any shop where a saleperson actually knows what WP7 is. Nevermind that it is not related to Windows Mobile at all. When people start to use the phone they love it, but you hardly ever see a working demonstrator in store much less a sales person that understands it.

Android is the OS of the moment and there are many good reason for that, it is an excellent OS with so much more choice than WP7. The real launch on WP will probably be 2012. Nokia joining the party and mango will be important but I think when WP8 is released then MS will start to gain sales and market share. The OS has so much potential but at the moment it is just that.

Personally I am very happy with the OS, it does what I need it to do better than any other (yes I have tried Android and iOS).

Anonymous

I had a friend ask what smartphone he should get and I suggested an HTC Arrive, he went to the Sprint store and they pushed him onto an LG Optimus S. The Optimus S was $25 cheaper and had a 600 MHZ Processor, and I think 512 MB of storage. The specs were horrible. When I asked him why he didn’t get the Arrive he said because they didn’t have the Arrive at the store.

http://www.facebook.com/harald.engels Harald Engels

Why carriers should touch Windows Phone7 devices? Because of the name Microsoft? Carriers are chosing what sells. And that are NOT Windows Phone based devices. Apple, Google and RIM are covering everything what a smart-phone user needs, so why adding another product line? The question “Why do our readers feel Windows Phone 7 has so far failed to catch on?” shows that some people may think that something is not normal with this disaster. But everything is fine. Consumers simply buy on what they trust and that is obviously not a Microsoft powered phone. The close deal with Nokia may deliver better numbers but I am doubting that Nokia smart-phones will ever reach 10% market share. And other hardware manufacturers will dislike the strong competition with Nokia so that Nokia and WP7 will become an isolated niche for business customers. So why any other hardware manufacturer should spend money for WP7 to support finally Nokia instead of going away with Android for free? Everybody out there who is still dreaming that there will be a great range of Windows phone devices beside Nokia should go to see a doctor.
Anonymous

Windows Mobile outsold Windows Phone 7 because WM is available worldwide.
http://www.urban-society.de hassia

I must admit I am a big windows phone 7 fan I have had a smartphone since the first blackerry looking htc. Then I tried in vain to convince my friends the wonders of having wifi on your phone.

The iPhone came out and everyone that were not convinced before have bought that in the meantime. I would wager that most people like one commentator already wrote, would like to access YouTube and Facebook, and music.

furthermore I think the platform is solid and I am a power user, I await patiently for the new phones coming out later this year. let us not forget there are more than one car manufacturer in the world, and they all seem to make a good profit.

Anonymous

Not all car makers make a good profit, some make little or no profit at all, others do well. Your analogy is seriously flawed.

Anonymous

I think a few others are hitting the nail on the head, WP7 is still incomplete, and I honestly have had people (women) ask me which phone they should get and I have always told the iphone is the safest option. I LOVE my WP7, but I cant genuinely recommend it to anyone, because I know deep down that the iphone 4 is more feature rich, and (arguably) just as easy to use. I have never recommended android though.

I got into WP7 because of Zune and Zune Pass, thats it. Here in Australia, its not even really available, you have to go through workarounds to get it, I mean, ‘normal’ users (not me) dont even get the music live tile to update; its useless. Microsoft needs to get the appstore, xbox games, zune store, zune pass in every country. I hope Nokia will help in that regard.

That being said, when mango comes out, I will be def be recommending WP7 to others. But not just yet.

markiz

Anyone asking anyone else for a recommendation for a phone purchase, is more than likely never going to use that many functions.

Anonymous

I suppose thats true, but what I would need is a compeling reason to give to them to choose WP7 over iphone, as it stands right now, WP7 = iPhone in terms of general features, but iphone has a million more apps… even stuff like a local bank having no app for WP7 makes it pretty useless next to an iPhone. So basically, I gave them my honest opinion, iphone was a safer option.

tiredofdelays

how many has verizon sold?
Anonymous

Well, most people already mentioned it: The OS lacks features. I bought a WP7 Device (HTC Mozart) because of the Xbox Live support (I am a gamer, I love my GS). The T-Mobile Salesman recommended me the device mainly because of its gaming capabilities. When I then started using the device I noticed that it’s missing a lot of basic features that even my cheap 20€ phone could do before: Customization. The device does not allow me to use custom ringtones, I can only decide between a black or white background. Now, it’s not stuff that would make me return the device but I find it surprising that a company can release a smartphone OS which lacks such basic features and it surely is a drawback to a lot of people. I have used the device for 2 weeks now and I am feeling more and more as if I should have bought a Android device instead… Here’s hoping for the Mango update, I feel that this might adress most of these issues and make me a really happy WP7 user.

http://www.blog.fludlyt.com Fludlyt

A lot of people I know will say the same thing. There certainly is a lack of customisation. I’m fine with what’s on offer but hopefully on the 24th they reveal more tile and background colours.

In terms of market share, in the UK BlackBerry’s are very popular due to BBM. People love the UI as soon as they see my WP7 device but when they find out there is no BBM or WhatsApp they loose interest. To them Xbox Live and Zune are nice additions but WP7 is lacking in the communications department. Not many will move to a device where they loose the IM network they’ve built up (even though they can still send a text message).

Hopefully with Mango and the sockets api all the popular IM apps appear in the marketplace soon after. I look forward to seeing how they’ll integrate Skype.

Fenley

I guess that makes it official, that Windows Phone 7 sales are rather abysmal.

Gartner thinks that Nokia will save the platform in 2012. I’m not sure how one OEM could do that.

Instead of staking all hopes in one OEM, what would save the platform is for Microsoft to add features at a blistering rate, at the rate that Google adds features to its Chrome browser. That’s the kind of speed that Microsoft needs.
Anonymous

Actually, I don’t think the numbers are bad, especially for a totally new OS.

It just needs time to get recognized in this market.

(I think the number is bigger than what Android has sold in the same quarter since launch, even with less competition. Am I right?)

Anyway, lower sales doesn’t mean much at the beginning, as long as you have happy customers that love the phone and recommend it.

We just need wider and better support as fast as possible, and the phone will catch up sooner or later.

I mean: More language support, more Marketplace support, more Zune support, more Xbox Live support, more Bing support.

For me, that’s the only thing that matters.

Features aren’t everything ..

But when you sell a feature that doesn’t work .. that’s bad!

WP is a great phone, there’s no way that it will not sell eventually if the whole experience was delivered.

And when you factor “Nokia” in, you don’t see anything but success.

So, stop worrying about the numbers until the end of 2012

Aceofspades25

The numbers are in decline. While Android and IOS are still growing

Anonymous

How is it in decline when WP started from zero?

Do you mean WM numbers?

I think that’s good news, because many of them migrated to WP (among other choices), and when WM reaches 0% Microsoft can focus 100% on WP

Aceofspades25

Yeah sorry I was comparing it to Q1 2010 numbers which was obviously entirely WM and had no WP7 component

Patrick Slar

The reason I won’t be buying a WP7 is because I don’t like microsoft’s products. I don’t like Hotmail, I don’t like Office (too expensive), I don’t like Bing/Bing Maps (the aren’t accurate). If I don’t like Bing or Bing Maps and they are uninstallable that is a game changer for me.

I also don’t like that WP7 adopted the ‘Apple’ way of doing things. I hate Itunes, call me crazy but I like to drag and drop my music and videos onto my phone, so obviously I don’t like putting everything on Zune. I like to drag and drop a pdf. onto my phone and know I can read it later. Also no mass-storage device, that is an absolute game changer for me!

Symbian is my ideal phone platform, unfortunately it is just ugly. So I bought a Nexus One.

WP7 really interests me, mainly because the UX/UI work is absolutely phenomenal but I really will never buy a WP7 phone until it becomes more open. I don’t mean open source, I mean let me put files on my device without a 3rd party, let me change my search provider, mass storage common. Open it up and I’ll probably buy one when it is more mature of course. If I wanted a locked down phone I would buy Apple, it is still more elegant and way further developed than WP7. As a side note I don’t really care so much about apps, I just need Skype WIFI calling, and some games I guess.
http://twitter.com/jimmyfal JImmy Fallon

As a beta tester for Windows Phone 7, (anyone who owns the current phone is basically a beta tester at this point, I mean really), this has been a GREAT start to Microsoft’s FIRST real attempt at building something really great from the ground up.

All the phone stores are basically ignoring Windows Phone which is a huge uphill battle in itself, but Microsoft did this to itself by letting the Iphone have this head start in the first place. Android came along with a half baked OS, that people flocked to simply because it gave then more choice. As soon as Mango comes out, and puts WPH7 on par with the rest of the offerings, the tide will begin to turn. The bear is back, and they aren’t letting this one go. You’ll see.
Aceofspades25

WP7 failed to catch on because it is currently unfinished. The lack of functionality on WP7 devices is alarming. It makes perfect sense to me that there were more WM devices sold, since Windows Mobile is a far more functional platform than WP7.

Has anybody even had a look at the sheer number of complaints on answers.microsoft.com?

What is even more alarming are the things that Microsoft stubbornly refuse to implement, like the ability to properly manage the content on your device.
Aceofspades25

WP7 failed to catch on because it is currently unfinished. The lack of functionality on WP7 devices is alarming. It makes perfect sense to me that there were more WM devices sold, since Windows Mobile is a far more functional platform than WP7.

Has anybody even had a look at the sheer number of complaints on answers.microsoft.com?

What is even more alarming are the things that Microsoft stubbornly refuse to implement, like the ability to properly manage the content on your device.
Jonnyjon91

Obviously the OS wasn’t finished. Mango seems to be what was promised from the beginning. It just seems a generation behind underneath all the gloss. It’s still fast and all that and the app store is becoming lucrative but i just feel like an unfinished OS plus sub-par. almost low-end hardware don’t add up.

Microsoft needs a flagship phone from each OEM.
Anonymous

I was surprised that Microsoft with all that cash cant gather more devs and speed up WP7 development. They are wasting money on ads. People buy a device based on features not because of ads. Ads only help when the product is on par with a competing platform. I am still on my iPhone 3gs (With each apple update the device gets slow, nevertheless its still more feature rich then the latest WP7 version). Got WP7 for my tech savy wife recently after Nodo was released. She was shocked to hear that it did not have Skype, her previous Nokia E71 had Skype. She constantly asks me to exchange our phones and feels the older 3gs is better to have. Initially she was confused with the way apps and in general the phone works, this due to the fact how the back button works and takes some getting used to. There is no search on the device. Once you have a bunch of apps you need to scroll scroll scroll to get to the app. The next must have features:

1. Improved UI navigation.
2. Group apps. Once folders are made available please make sure one can pin folders on the main page. Else its no use. Also do what iOS does for folders. Display app icons in the folder icon. Much like the people icon. Popular apps from folder display more often.
3. Ability to search within the device for apps or settings.
4. Make sure that you have every feature thats there on other competing platform.
5. Dont take forever to release updates. Release features as soon as possible.
6. Make live tile more dev friendly if it isnt. Very few apps seem to make use of it.

I am waiting for a Nokia WP7 device…. please MS hire more devs and speed up the development and stop wasting money on Ads.
Anonymous

Actually, if you do any sort of research, you would see as bad as that number may look, it’s ahead of where iOS and Android were at the same point, in a far more competitive market.
Anyone who thought WP7, two years late to the market and against two entrenched competitors, was going to be a massive success from the get go is a fool. No smartphone was a massive success from the get go.

This is going to be a long fight for Microsoft. They lost the mind share of consumers and Windows Mobile didn’t leave the best taste in consumers mouth. They’re going to have to fight and claw their way back to market share respectability. It’s still too early. Talk to me in the months after Mango and Nokia phones hit. If WP7 is still doing poorly at that point, then it will be time to worry.

Microsoft also needs to get off their ass and bring all of their services to a worldwide market. Too many of their products are centered on the American market. This is stupid. How can they expect to be successful in markets where they don’t offer their services. Bing is still a joke in Europe.

Anonymous

It’s also a much, much larger market. When you scale for the size of the market it’s far behind where Android and iOS were. Yes the market is more competitive but it is Microsoft who was late to the party.
Anonymous

It’s also a much, much larger market. When you scale for the size of the market it’s far behind where Android and iOS were. Yes the market is more competitive but it is Microsoft who was late to the party.
http://www.blog.fludlyt.com Fludlyt

If I had to choose one thing that bugs me about Microsoft it’s their lack of international support for their services. Not just in Windows Phone 7 but also in Zune. There is no podcast support in Zune internationally, you have to copy and paste an RSS feed to subscribe.

Music and video are understandable because of licensing but they need to improve the other incomplete/missing features so that the experience is the same in all markets that WP7 devices are available in.

Just Visiting

I realize that this is a tech site and it’s probably safe to say that many posting here are experienced smartphone users. However, I am not a smartphone user. I decided to get a smartphone last summer and the only names that I was familiar with, with regards to smartphones, was Blackberry and iPhone. Of the two, I decided on iphone simply because I didn’t want a BB, and then began to research, as I like to make informed decisions. The ONLY reason I know about WP7 is because I stumbled upon it when reading reviews of the iphone4 last July. From the perspective a paygo/feature phone users at large, whose knowledge regarding smartphones reaches to the basic point of knowing that a smartphone will let them surf the web, check e-mails, and play games, and I’d wager that many do not peruse tech sites for info – they simply see what the public at large is using or the all too familiar names come to their minds i.e. Blackberry, iPhone.

Needless to say, WP is my OS of choice, but I am still without a smartphone – not because of features; but simply because of something very basic or, some would say, superficial – aesthetics of the devices with the WP OS. Surely, I am not the only ‘general consumer’ who places importance of the ‘look’ of the phone that they carry…. I think that the general consumer/paygo/featurephone user is less concerned about specs and internal components (as they don’t have these types of specs with their current phone); they want something that will get them the basics at a minimum i.e. internet access, games, etc. and for $99-$200, plus a two year contract, I think it’s safe to say they want a device that looks good too. As much as I want a WP7 device, my money stays firmly put until a unique and attractive device shows up – waiting on you Nokia!

WP7, in its current state, is sufficient for a non-experienced smartphone user, as some experienced users as well. I’ve read reviews at Amazon – there are a lot a first time smartphone buyers who are thoroughly satisfied with Windows Phone, especially the Focus. I’m not so sure that Mango, solely, is what a first time smartphone buyer is waiting for; Mango is what experienced smartphone users, interested in WP, are waiting for. Try to keep in mind that there is roughly only 35% of cellphone users who are smartphone users; that remaining 65% is where the battle lies – and here is where most of the growth, for any platform, will come from. Microsoft has a few of things, maybe more, impeding widespread appeal of WP7 – lack of attractive looking devices, lack of support from carrier sales teams, advertising, only a handful of devices released worldwide – are some of these within Microsoft’s control to turnaround? Perhaps. The viability of this platform is solid, regardless of not having a huge marketshare at the moment.
guest

Am i missing something? The headline says 1.6 Mio handsets sold, while the Gartner article claims 3.6 Mio units sold, which would be quite a success.

vangrieg

Yes, they’re saying that 2 million of those 3.6 were old WinMo.

DA

In the US I would blame it all on their Marketing…. TV Exposure.

I watch probably on average 15 hrs of TV a week, for every 1 WP7 commercial I see 4 Android commercials and maybe 3 iPhones commercials.

Not the mention that i all the CellPhone stores, there is 1 WP7 at sprint and like 10 Androids. At ATT there are only 3 WP7 phones and like triple that in Androids. Att t-mobile there is 1 WP7 and a gazillion androids, In fact the phone they push the most is their MyTouch which is Android. Verizon, their is like a gazillion Android phones and we are barely going to see 1 WP7. … All this is wrong with WP7.

If they are actually showing more commercials they are doing it in the wrong audience.

In the Film industry the standard Marketing budget should be the same amount that it cost you to produce the movie. So if you spend 40mill on a movies your safest bet is to spend 40mill on marketing it. The might be true for the smartphone industry too.

Avatar Roku

It’s not marketing if Windows Mobile 6.5 outsold WP7. There are no commercials at all for Windows Mobile.

I think carrier and hardware availability is the main issue.

vangrieg

Regarding marketing, it depends on where you are. Outside the US you can still see ads for WM phones (I’ve seen a billboard advertising HD2 a week ago), and you can still see WM phones on store shelves, while WP7 phones aren’t available and the only information about them is in tech blogs.

The numbers from Gartner are worldwide…

Avatar Roku

Well I’m responding to a comment about US marketing, which I don’t think has been that bad. I see Windows Phone ads all the time. Microsoft and AT&T have obviously spent an enormous amount of money on marketing here.

The problem is that there isn’t much to market yet hardware wise. Not a single carrier in the US has a flagship Windows Phone. There hasn’t even been a new Windows Phone announced since last October. T-mobile has 1 phone in it’s stores. Sprint has 1 phone (not included in Gartner numbers). Verizon is just now getting 1 phone. None of them are flagship devices and they’re all from HTC.

On marketplace/appstore I’ll give Microsoft an A+. On the operating system I’ll give them a solid B. On the hardware front for 2011 so far it’s an F. They need to release hardware that makes Android/Symbian/Blackberry/iPhone users drool.
Avatar Roku

Well I’m responding to a comment about US marketing, which I don’t think has been that bad. I see Windows Phone ads all the time. Microsoft and AT&T have obviously spent an enormous amount of money on marketing here.

The problem is that there isn’t much to market yet hardware wise. Not a single carrier in the US has a flagship Windows Phone. There hasn’t even been a new Windows Phone announced since last October. T-mobile has 1 phone in it’s stores. Sprint has 1 phone (not included in Gartner numbers). Verizon is just now getting 1 phone. None of them are flagship devices and they’re all from HTC.

On marketplace/appstore I’ll give Microsoft an A+. On the operating system I’ll give them a solid B. On the hardware front for 2011 so far it’s an F. They need to release hardware that makes Android/Symbian/Blackberry/iPhone users drool.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=715591433 Barry Allott

I love my WP7 and that’s enough. I don’t care for anyone else, I don’t show it off to everyone I see, it works and thats great.
zoomia

I don’t find it surprising that Windows Mobile is still outselling Windows 7 phone at all, considering that most business users are also heavy Outlook users. Windows 7 phone does not support local syncing. It syncs with Outlook beautifully if you are using an Exchange server, or a service that is based on Exchange protocols. If you are an individual or business user with pop/imap accounts, the recommended workaround is to create a Windows live account, a process that is time-consuming, and requires constant juggling to get the right calendar, etc. on one’s phone.

I admit I’m a little bitter right now. I totally get the benefits of the cloud, but right now, the “ease” of syncing through the cloud is far outweighed by the difficulty of managing what needs to sync, and with which email address.

I am curious about whether sales figures include all the phones that have been returned due to this issue. There are many, many users who are very frustrated with this. I have not returned my phone, but I can also guarantee that unless this is resolved down the road, I will not be contributing more to Windows Phone sales. Instead, I will purchase an iPhone or an Android that will sync with Outlook locally.

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