Microsoft has shipped more than 2 million units of its new Windows Phone 7 software to handset makers last quarter.
A week ago, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said 1.5 million had been shipped. The company has yet to say how many have actually been sold on to consumers, however.
Microsoft also said there were now more than 6,500 apps for download by users from its online marketplace.
The numbers show pretty good momentum on the sales of the platform
“One of the key ways that we’ll measure success of Windows Phone is ‘Did we ship a phone people love?’,” senior product manager Greg Sullivan told the blog All Things Digital. He said Microsoft’s own customer satisfaction data showed 93% were satisfied or very satisfied. “That’s a really great number.”
Despite the strong start, Windows Phone 7 still running to catch up with Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android system.
Apple said last week 16.2 million iPhones were sold in the last quarter. Research in Motion said in December it sold 14.2 million of its BlackBerry smartphones the previous quarter.
Google, which gives away its Android system to phone makers for free, says 300,000 Android devices are sold daily, which suggest more than nine million are sold a month.
“The numbers show pretty good momentum on the sales of the platform,” said Al Hilwa, an analyst at tech research firm IDC, of Windows Phone 7.
“Anecdotally almost everyone who has seen the phone has commented on the style and fluidity of the interface. The apps numbers are excellent for this early stage of the lifecycle.”
Results
Microsoft needs some smartphone success, as it is expected to post a dip in earnings in its results today, as PC sales slow.
Sales of Windows 7 are still going strong, but are unlikely to match last year’s figures, which were boosted by a one-time deferral of revenue from pre-sales of the operating system, which was launched in October 2009.
“Microsoft is still a juggernaut in the PC business, Windows-based machines are still selling over 300 million a year,” Tim Bajarin, president of tech research firm Creative Strategies, said earlier this week.
“But they missed the smartphone revolution, and even though they were the first to really push the tablet, Apple basically redesigned it and left Microsoft in the dust.”
One uncomfortable fact for Microsoft: unless it posts blowout numbers, it will have a lower quarterly profit than Apple for the first time in recent memory. The last time Apple produced more profit in a year than Microsoft was 1990.
Last week, Apple announced a record $6 billion quarterly profit on strong-selling iPhones and iPads over the holiday shopping season.
Analysts expect Microsoft to post profit of $5.93 billion for the same quarter. Two years ago, Microsoft’s profit was almost double Apple’s.
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