Microsoft Cagey with First Windows Phone 7 Sales Figures

[Guest Lancez]

Microsoft has made its first official comment on Windows Phone 7 sales, revealing that handset manufacturers have sold 1.5 million phones to retailers and carriers in the first six weeks of availability -- although tellingly, the company declined to disclose any figures regarding actual end user purchases. In other words, it's possible that the OS developer has used some of that half-billion-dollar marketing budget into making some of these phones more attractive through subsidies.

The information was disseminated by way of a Redmond-conducted interview with Windows Phone Vice President of Business and Marketing Achim Berg, who also made sure to stress the reportedly positive feedback that the company has been getting from customers, along with what he considers to be a clever advertising campaign in the "Really" commercials.

However, combined with the fact that Berg didn't address units sold, it's somewhat disconcerting to hear statements like "We know we have tough competition, and this is a completely new product. We’re in the race – it’s not a sprint but we are certainly gaining momentum and we’re in it for the long run." To us, that sounds like less than a wholehearted endorsement, although we also know that a similar strategy of sticking-it-out paid off many times over for Microsoft with its Xbox gaming consoles (although not so much with its Zune media players).

source: Microsoft