30 million Windows Phone 7 devices sold by the end of 2011? Microsoft says yes (update: not exactly)
By Donald Melanson 
posted May 27th 2010 5:19PM
posted May 27th 2010 5:19PM
We've got to hand it to Microsoft -- when it sets a goal, it really sets a goal. As you can see in the slide above shown during a ReMix event in Paris yesterday, Microsoft is apparently expecting to sell 30 million Windows Phone 7 devices by the end of 2011, based on IDC projections. To state the obvious, that's pretty ambitious any way you slice it -- especially considering that the first Windows Phone 7 devices are still quite a few months away from hitting the market, giving Microsoft just over a year to reach that mark. Even more impressive is the fact that the figure apparently doesn't include other "Windows Phone" devices like the Kin, but maybe that'd just make 30 million a piece of cake.
[Thanks, Greg]
Update: Well, it looks like Microsoft may not be quite this ambitious after all. As John Paczkowski of All Things Digital reports, IDC says the numbers cited by Microsoft are actually for all Windows Mobile devices combined, not just Windows Phone 7, and even that figure is a bit off -- the actual number is 32 million. Microsoft itself has also now admitted the error, saying the slide was "inaccurate" and that it isn't providing any sales forecasts for Windows Phone.
[Thanks, Greg]
Update: Well, it looks like Microsoft may not be quite this ambitious after all. As John Paczkowski of All Things Digital reports, IDC says the numbers cited by Microsoft are actually for all Windows Mobile devices combined, not just Windows Phone 7, and even that figure is a bit off -- the actual number is 32 million. Microsoft itself has also now admitted the error, saying the slide was "inaccurate" and that it isn't providing any sales forecasts for Windows Phone.
Good luck with that.
@Snarf101
I'll be watching.
I hope I don't regret buying my Droid Incredible one the Windows Phones start coming out.
Oh, who am I kidding? I could never regret buying you! *pets Incredible*
@Snarf101
I am also am taking this ludicrous statement with a grain of salt. For as popular as the iPhone is it only sold 33million units in 2009. This new windows 7 phone has to sell as many with overcoming people view of the old windows 6.5 and older.
Don't get me wrong I am very interested in playing with the new OS but I doubt they will be able to compete on a competitive scale with a handful of apps and no flash support. Not to mention that the majority of high end Android devices (EVO, Incredible) will look very close to the Windows 7 phones
@Snarf101 Just like Bing Cashback which pays user to search (sort of). I think this goal is achievable if you pay user to use the phone...
@BecauseItsNotGoogle they need a whole lot of luck, they're a couple of years behind Android and iPhone
Microsoft is clearly in denial. First they fall to third place in US market capital- and deny that, and now they are setting an unreachable goal in a market they haven't even released their feature lacking phones into, and one that this dominated by the iPhone, Android, etc.They need to get a grip of reality and stop dreaming
@Snarf101
I'll take 1 Million!
@BecauseItsNotGoogle are you high or simply in denial? if nobody knows about Android what's left to say about WinMo??
Google beats Microsoft in smartphones, catching Apple | Reuters - http://goo.gl/z1Ys
@BecauseItsNotGoogle Oh you work for AT&T? no wonder your such a troll/douche
@Snarf101
I guess a few more big wigs at MS will be leaving after this doesn't pan out.
This article provides 100% of the USRDA of LOLZ.
@Snarf101
Yeah, that's a huge number to aim for. Still, you never know...
@BecauseItsNotGoogle It appears you like to cherry pick. i wrote "iPhone and Android", and i obviously speaking in the context of the smartphone market in which Microsoft aims to enter
@Mentat
They will build on a decent customer base of 6.5 users who want to upgrade. It's not a new platform stating from scratch.
That said, I think Windows Mobile is dead. Microsoft can't keep up with the innovation the other vendors are offering, and they can't leverage their Office monopoly the way they wish they could.
@UnixSystemsEngineer
What innovation? Seriously, that one always puzzles me.
What are the likes of Apple, Google, RIM and even Nokia offering that WM7 doesn't?
@Snarf101
Microsoft is on that GOOD SHIT...I'm talking mad crack laced with I dunno what...
As for the OS itself its new and its fresh but its not perfect. Personally as a consumer I have issues with the way it looks. I know I'm not the only one. MS still has a lot to do to prove to me that any Windows 7 phone will be as fast and as smooth as the iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4G.
@BecauseItsNotGoogle I would ask android 17 or 18? If 17 id say he is dead, and if 18 i would say she is with krillin
@TheLondonExchange why would microsoft try to prove anything to an apple fanboy? i think they are more worried about the average consumer than steve jobs' pitbulls... they are pretty clearly going to try to take the consumer and business markets over with this thing, and the fact that it is so well connected to Windows 7 (most popular OS ever) is going to be a big plus for this thing... oh yeah and XBOX LIVE!!!
@MarkAnderson
Your so right, I do have a WinMo phone but i'm in no way a MS fan. But I'm still at a loss to find what it is that Android/Apple/Nokia etc offer over my WinMo HD2.
I can install/change what I like, modify ROM no poblem, sync and tether to any device over bluetooth/wifi/USB. Edit Word/Excel etc. IMO other smartphones are behind WinMo no the other way around.
widgets for one. Multitasking. Cut, copy, and paste. Themeing.
Are those things important enough to keep me from getting one? Probably not.
release a Windows 7 phone, with sliding keyboard, large screen, HDMI out, SD card slot, a normal USB port for charging/data and ill happily buy one
Phones claiming to be for gaming need not apply. PSP was already hired for that role, and is better than you'll ever be.
@Becauseitsnotgoogle2
The Kin makes the G1 look like a beautiful work of art!
@TheLondonExchange
When did you use this iPhone 4G? I don't think anyone here doubts your blind loyalty to apple even to the point of comparing phones you haven't even seen officially announced yet. Don't be so quick to call others pathetic for having opinions when your fanboy flag is waving so clearly.
@Becauseitsnotgoogle2
Getting banned and coming back in the same day. Wow.
@TheLondonExchange
I have an iPod Touch and Windows Mobile 6.5. Can't remember the last time I used my iPod Touch.
It's a toy. You are right that WinMo doesn't have a lot of games. Of course, the iPod Touch doesn't have a lot of games that can keep my attention for more than 5 minutes. That's why I have a PSP.
Look, if you want something that is trendy, and has "fun" apps then yes, the iPhone/iPod Touch cannot be challenged. If you want a phone that you can work on, get stuff done, then WinMo is the best. If you want a little of both then Android is your device. If all you care about is emailing/texting/chatting then BB is what you want. Each device has it's own strengths and weaknesses.
@H264 You're close... it will be part of their "buy 1 get 10,000 free" promotion ;-)
@TheLondonExchange
Use a Zune HD with a tegra , which uses a 600mhz ARM11 core vs a 1GHZ snapdragon minimum( Cortex A8 core) and tell me that you have doubts about how responsive it will be. There won't be any lag. Android gets aquite a bit laggy on the lower end hardware. Worse than WinMo 5.0 was on my motorola q , and that thing was ancient hardware. And yes i have android 2.1 on a droid eris and there is still lag in places.
@Snarf101 :: Hey I was planning on saying that when I went to the comments.
@Snarf101 there won't be a luck involved. iphone and android phones are locked with one provider, at&t and verizon, tmobile. Windows have always been all carriers including sprint, and many more around the world. So yes, I believe theyll make it.
@Snarf101
Windows 7 has the highest adoption rate of any Windows so far, and Xbox 360 is the most popular of the HD consoles (As much as it pains me as a Playstation 3 owner to say).
Now we'll have a Windows 7 Phone, the general consumer who likes Windows 7 is going to seriously look into this phone.
Wait it's also an Xbox Portable gaming phone? the general consumer who likes Xbox is going to seriously look into this phone.
Oh it also has the best mobile office suite and companies that have been holding off upgrading their old windows mobile devices now can? The enterprise market is gong to seriously look into this phone.
I'm far more surprised that people are so one eyed with the phone market thinking it has to be iPhone app based or Android open based to even launch successfully. Unless iPhone OS 4.0 seriously wows me I'll be happily trading up my 3G-S to a Windows Phone 7.
@Snarf101 I like MS, but I hope they're not just bragging, now that Apple had surpassed their stocks. I still believe with Windows phone 7's XNA capability though. http://j.mp/xna-games-4-0
@TheLondonExchange
Right. So insults aside...
What innovation?
@Snarf101
Indeed. They'll be lucky to get 1/3 of that at best.
If they succeed with WP7, they'll have to really succeed with content, app-store, pricing, sexy phones - all at once. And it'll still take minimum two years (compare to Apple).
MS is betting too much on their marketing budget and deals.
But they forget, that everybody else is also advertising and everybody else is also cutting deals.
And the phones by everybody else (except Apple) will be much cheaper due to no licensing costs involved and much lower hardware requirements.
But at least they got more free advertising again by showing their slides.
That's more than the world's largest handset maker is able to do.
@MarkAnderson
Microsoft is good at the mass market. It took them 6 months to sell 100million units of windows 7 on 712 different devices so it's not that impossible. I sense their major sales will not be in US but the Asia. Android will move well in the US and iPhone too will continue to sell. In the end, more people start using smartphones.
@Snarf101 Awesome, popcorn time. I love watching Microsoft fall flat on their second place market cap face.
@Snarf101 - just do buy one get 2 free, that will do it.
@Snarf101 LOL no kidding. That's a pretty big hope for an OS no one has yet to play with.
I won't be surprised, actually.
Yes.
@disguised
I am a big Android fan. I am actually wearing an Android T-Shirt. But Windows 7 Phones is going to catch the eyes of the non-tech geeks out there and really set its eye's on business class. It's a VERY clean OS and its got an Enterprise name on the back of it. Microsoft.
Love or hate Microsoft, they have a legacy name and can use it to there advantages in the Enterprise market. And for everyone else. It's clean and new looking. And people LOVE new things.
@corylulu i am a big fan of the color blue. i am wearing a blue t-shirt.
@disguised
I just want to see more videos of the WP7 UI in action.... seriously....
@disguised
All of a sudden Microsoft's the underdog and you know how the story of the underdog goes...
Dont count on your eggs before they hatch.
@Quetzalcoatl dont count your eggs before you have any chickens
@jjrp123 Don't count your chickens before you have any evolution. Or, for our god fearing friends, god.
@jjrp123
LOL~
We all know how Microsofts ambitions go. Remember 3 years ago when Ballmer said WinMo would have like 80% market share and iPhone wouldn't break 5% market share? 30 million is reaching.... far. Maybe they should reach for something more realistic, like 3 million :3
@BecauseItsNotGoogle
He actually said: "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It's a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I'd prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get."
Hmmm.... seems pretty close to me.
@BecauseItsNotGoogle
"There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance," said Ballmer. "It's a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I'd prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get."